Cam's

[Gunner41]

Morning all,

I need to replace my lifters/cam. I want to go OEM but that seems a bit expensive. Anybody have a good OE type that is California legal? I don't mess with smog and to tell the truth my truck seems to run better all OEM. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
97 Chevy 454 (7.4) Yes its a "J" series. If anybody would have the lift and duration of the OEM cam it would be great.
Thanks

[Tom]

Isn't that a roller cam? Can't say I've ever seen or heard of a roller cam going bad...

[95 S_Trucker]

I had a roller cam go on my 99, replaced the cam and all the lifters. Oil pressure slowly went down ever since. Finally replaced the engine after 2 years of low oil pressure.

Why do you need a new cam? if its worn, all the metal went somewhere. Rebuild or replace is imminent. Whether it be 2 days or 2 years, it will show its face.

I bought an OE cam from gm, it was pretty inexpensive, under 200. And 12 lifters under the sealed power brand.

[95 S_Trucker]

Here are pics from mine. It was a junkyard motor a previous owner had installed. I had the truck for 3 years at the time. One day out of the blue it had a valvtrain noise. Sounded like a collapsed lifter, so I bout a set of lifters, then I saw the cam. I didn't have funds at the time to replace or rebuild, so I put a cam in it. It got quiet and ran great, but oil pressure slowly went down. It got to the point of using 20W50 oil and it was still 4 PSI at idle. It was time. You can see the scored part of the cam that rides on the cam bearings.









What I installed Monday/Tuesday

[Gunner41]

Thanks guys.
The truck has the ticking noise and its driving me nuts. I checked the rockers like old days and found one spring that was well below worn. These rockers are not adjustable (I know y'all know this)so I replaced the spring. Didn't help. Trying to track where the noise is coming is a daunting task. Oil pressure is there but I'm going to recheck it strait to the block in a day or two. Granted this truck has 191K on it but I want more. One guy was saying fuel injectors but I don't think the noise would be that loud.
I found one video that sounded exactly like it but it was old and does not sem like it was resolved. Aghhhhhhh

[95 S_Trucker]

Fuel injectors are common on these engines, but they leak down into the engine after its shut off, (causing a hard start) or it will have a misfire while accelerating.

A fuel injector will not cause a valvetrain noise

Check your exhaust manifold gaskets. Check the exhaust manifolds for cracks. They can cause a tick sound too.

[Tom]

I wouldn't hesitate to put a good used cam back in there. I guess roller cams going bad do happen, but it certainly isn't often. People are still using Lt1/LT4 used cams in vortec motors to this day without issues and those are mid 90's grinds.

[Gunner41]

Whats worse is that this a California truck (yup surrounded by people in Prius's that hate my truck) and smog is just crazy. I need to go OEM. Because I'm not a mechanic but I'm able to repair and I have never replaced lifters before I heard that if you replace lifters that you need cam as well?
Thanks

[95 S_Trucker]

With roller camshafts, you can replaced lifters without replacing the camshaft.

[Gunner41]

So yesterday for giggles I dumped 2 qts of Marvel mystery oil in the engine. Yes I dropped two regular out. I was planning on 100 miles before oil change which is in a day or two. The ticking dropped 80-90%.... I also dumped some Berryman's fuel injection cleaner in the tank as well.
Yes the ticking is still there but very slight. I put a stethoscope and listened. The noise seems to come from L/S valve cover?
1. I pulled both valve covers and checked torque. Only one sucked and I replaced the spring. These are not adjustable.
2. Flushed the motor.
3. Fuel injection cleaner in the tank.
4. Used my shop vacuum to blow air in the exhaust and sprayed soapy water on the joints and found both my exhaust flange doughnuts are slightly leaking. My exhaust manifolds seem fine.
At this point it seems like its my injectors but the pressure seems fine or my lifters? I do know where to go from here and was hoping one of you real mechanics could point me in the right direction. Thanks