I toured the Tonawanda engine plant back in the mid 80's. I think they were building Olds V8's on the line that we were touring. We were able to see the entire engine assembly, which was pretty cool. I wish I could remember more. Seems to me after assembly the engines were on stands of some sort and test run on NG or propane. I'm not sure if the engines were cooled or not and I think the test duration was just long enough to verify that oil pressure was good and the timing was set, along with no abnormal noises or major issues. The engines were not on the assembly line at this point. They were moved to a different room and there were a lot of them in this room being tested - "gas masks" clamped on the intake plenum and exhaust hose hook-ups were everywhere. Data was collected and that was that. I don't think the cams were broken-in by today's flat tappet standards.
I found the photos that are dated 1972 that show the Buick engine plant. The text was printed on the backside of the photo;
When I worked in a Tool & Die shop. We hardened all our dies to 62 Rockwell on the C-Scale. This hardness proved to be the best ware factor on our fabricated tools. The company experimented with 400 series stainless steel. But it could not be hardened at the 62 Rockwell level and could not ware as long as tool steel. At another shop, I hardened tool steel to 56 Rockwell C-Scale for firing pins on hunting rifles. We kept the hardness lower because of the shock of the bullet being fired. This approached worked very well. Also did a firing pin for a hand gun. In that case we used Mild steel and case hardened it to 58 Rockwell C-Scale. We found the case hardening worked very well on the firing pin surface and the mild steel underneath took the bullet shock very well. I have always been intrigued with metallurgy and it's finished properties. Vet
I know I'm fairly new to the Buick forum, but, I have to say, I don't understand WHY cam break-in lubrication needs to be used? If both the cam lobes & lifters are hardened at the same Rockwell and both are provided with the same amount of oil lubrication, shouldn't that is all that's needed? The 2000 rpm number, where did that come from? I fully understand breaking in piston rings and the need the cross hatch the cylinder walls. I just don't understand the cam break-in procedures and why we have to have it. Doing a lot of heat treating in my day. Our take is, you make the cam surface a little harder than the lifters. Reason for that, it's much easier to replace lifters than replacing a cam. This holds true for a lot of parts that see a lot of ware. Just like valve guilds. I've seen bronze distributor gears. I don't get that. I always prefer a steel gear. Same holds true about not wanting to have a nylon coated timing gear. Had one of those fail. Maybe some smart people on this forum can explain to me about the nerd for break-in Cam liberation oil and why the 2000 rpm rule. Would love to know. PS, when I built my 327 high performance 1964 Corvette engine. That was rebuilt on a Navy ship during a deployment. We had to hide the engine because it was not authorized to do such work on a Naval ship, lol. No way we could fire up the engine to brake-in the Cam. Back from deployment, we took the engine to the Navy hobby shop, installed the engine in my 56 Chevy Belair, fill her up with oil, water and other fluids and fired up the 450 HP engine. Ran fantastic. Is this just plain LUCK??? Vet (Navy)
The cam only receives lube oil by splash. Back when, I believe we had better quality lifters and cams, it MAY not have been an issue back then to get it to two grand so the cam receives oil and promotes lifter spin. Plus valve spring pressure plays a big role also.
Well like I said, of course we pre-lubed every moving parts of my engine. Maybe being a 1964 engine, parts were build much better. I read an article some years ago that GM had some real problems hardening parts. An investigation turned up GM changed their heat treating procedures to save $$$$ but this turn up to be a real Fubar. It sometimes seems, as time goes by, so does the years of learning curves seems to go by the way side and reinventing the wheel starts all over again. All I know, is in 1970, I didn't have the option of using brake-oil nor following the 2000 rpm rule and the Chevy SB was the strongest engine I ever ran. Maybe I was just luck or parts were much better made in 1964. Although most of the parts I replaced were factory GM parts. 1. TRW pistons used by GM 11.1/4 CR. 2. Cam, 30/30 Chevy Duntov solid lifter. 3. Perfect circle chrome molly rings. 4. GM intake and exhaust valves reconditioned. 5. Clevite bearing. 6. Original crank, and rods, untouched. 7. Chevy High volume oil pump. 8. 409 Chevy mechanical fuel pump. After market: 9. Accel electronic ignition. 10. Offenhauser Low profile tunnel ram intake manifold. 11. Headmen headers 12. Beehive valve springs & aluminum retainers. 13. 650 cfm Holley, spread bore, double pumper. 14. Go fast water in the radiator. Lol Raced it a lot, only broke one GM rocker and replaced lots of clutches. Vet (Navy)
Knew a guy that built lots of engines in the 80s/early 90s and he said all he ever used on cams was ATF....and dumped a quart in the crankcase for "break-in". Said he never lost a cam and they were like mirrors so nicely polished. I tried to argue with him.... Most was Chevy stuff but he said he did do one Buick 350 and one 455. But he did say he kept motor at "fast idle" for a while after starting.....
I had a shop install a new Crane cam in my Ford 390 FE. This was 1972. He ran it at 2000 rpm for 20 minutes. So back then it was "a thing"!
Definition of a Cam: Has the ability to elevate your emotions to a higher state, when the huge thumping of the cam coming from your cars exhaust hits your chest and ears. Very similar to the base sound of heavy hitting rock music. Effects on your emotions: Floor the gas petal, offend. Go WOT, to clean-out the carbon build-up and hear that huge QJet sucking in huge volumes of air. Look for the kid with the rice burner and blow his doors off. Gun it down the streets, while keeping a sharp eye out for the cops. Stop light Hot Rodder. Now where is that Chevy, Ford and Mopar I need to teach a lesson too? Who says Buicks aren't fast??? Come see me, I live on Bullet strip boulevard. Look for the 7-inch-wide burn-out strips. Ever notice, your right hand seems to be glued to the shifter all the time. Anybody like this???? Vet. I know, I haven't grown-up yet, LoL.
