Cam is wiped out. Now what? How far do I go?

[71 SE3834V]

Got the rebuilt short block back. Bored .030 over. Crank polished up and all clearances were good.
I put the top end together and painted it.

[c00nhunterjoe]

What pistons did you go with?

[71 SE3834V]

Engine is back home.

[Dino]

Looking good!   

In case anyone is wondering, the engine bay paint is not high gloss but has a satin sheen to it.  I have to admit I love that color.   

[firefighter3931]

Nice work....looks great in there. 

Dirk ; fabulous job on the engine bay 



Ron

[71 SE3834V]

Forgot to mention it was just done with rattle cans! Looks great considering we did minimal prep work. It's not a show car after all. The engine compartment looks better than the rest of the car. 

[Dino]

All credit goes to Jeff for doing the majority of the prep work and doing it right.  You should see all the parts he redid, they look brand new!  The pictures really don't do it justice.   

[71 SE3834V]

Ran the break-in Thursday. Dialed everything in, installed p.s. belt, filled the system and called it a day.
Checked the vitals today. Warmed up the engine. Checked all settings & readjusted the carb. Timing is at 15* base with total coming in at 32-33* @ 3,000 rpm. Stock points distributor. Engine sounds good. Ran new vacuum lines so the heat works and went for a ride. Ran it a couple of miles up and down the road. It runs good so far. Pretty peppy and I only got into it about half throttle. Ran out of daylight. I'm going to get it out tomorrow and put some more miles on it before it turns cold mid week.
Any recommendations on how to run it? The info I have is to run at cruising speeds (35-40) and punch it a number of times and decelerate to seat the rings and throw the oil around. Don't run at steady speeds and no low speed hard throttle for awhile.  

[Kern Dog]

In 2006 I had my car tuned on a dyno at a local shop. The man thought my Mopar 509 cam was "old tech" and suggested a cam swap. He suggested a Comp 285HL. I installed the cam, read the instructions and followed them. A few months later a lobe failed. Summit racing covered it under warranty. I installed another Comp cam of identical specs. It failed within a year. I saved the 509 and decided to put it back in. During this time, I kept running the engine, never taking it apart to clean the debris that was floating around in there. The engine started using more oil and smoking under full throttle. I decided to tear it down. The cylinder walls were glazed and the rings were worn out and sharp on the edges. The oil pump had crud embedded in the rotors. There was fine dust/debris in several places that could only be removed by total disassembly.
In 2011 I rebuilt the engine and it has been fine since. I switched to a different cam and better OIL!

[Kern Dog]

Any recommendations on how to run it? The info I have is to run at cruising speeds (35-40) and punch it a number of times and decelerate to seat the rings and throw the oil around. Don't run at steady speeds and no low speed hard throttle for awhile.  

It used to be believed by most that you needed to "baby" it for the first 500 miles.  
It is NOW believed to drive it now like you plan to drive it from now on. When I put my 440/493 back together 3 years ago, I started it up, let it warm up as I cruised around, then WOOOOOOooooooo!!!!
No problems since.

Oh, I like the satin finish on the engine bay. Late model Mopars are like this too, as if they spray the base coat in there and skip the clear. Looks nice to me. 

[500Jon]

You are not alone! (MJ)

Camshaft failures, the curse of us all.
So what to do???
Dig deep and go ROLLER!!!
Crower Street Rollers are sweet.

Great job on the Charger, just how it used to be, fix it, rattle-can it, AND DRIVE IT!
Oh how I wish for the 80's again, a resto free Zone LoL!!!

I went basecoat and clear, it looks all wrong but hey, I'm past caring.