mat2495 Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Morning all, Started stripping a 3.5 v8 for inspection, as it hasn't been run in some time, and found that a nearly half a dozen of the lobes on the camshaft have worn nearly round, it was achieving maybe 1/16th" lift at the cam follower, while the rest are managing the original 0.39" iirc. I was just curious if anyone can shed a little light on this as I can't see why it would have worn this badly, there is no pattern to which ones are gone either, both on cylinder 6, one on 7, one on 2 etc. Any thoughts or have i completely lost the plot? Thanks, Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltan Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 "They all do that Sir!" Is this engine new to your ownership? Nice clean insides or dark and stained with a million mile history of no oil changes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Seen this one before, probably as a result of not putting the followers back into the correct hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 When the engine becomes heavily clagged up the followers stop revolving the way they should, and this can give such a result. Also the followers becomes dished as they wear, and this will reduce lift. Have you had a look at them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Cyl No 7 is often worse than most - something to do with oil feeds / flows Cams do wear, as some have said its cam followers being reused / swapped on work done but often its either just plain old mileage and a lack of regular oil changes With Rover V8s its not "How Good" the oil is its more "How Often" its changed Use a decent oil and change it and filter regularly and the differencee is vast Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat2495 Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 The engine is new to my friends ownership, bought in a otherwise nice 110 that was a non runner. Its pretty black and gungy inside, and yes all of the followers are dished on the bottom. I wouldn't like to guess at the mileage, as the clock says 1700! Removed one of the cylinder heads to take a look at the bores, and they were okay, no pitting or scoring, but one of the valves appears to have melted slightly. The part i couldn't understand is how it got this much wear seeing how i wouldn't run in this condition. Whats the consensus, worth rebuilding or start looking for a replacement? one of my concerns is that the missing cam and follower material will have ended up somewhere soft and important like the big ends or the main bearings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelw Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 All the parts you have spoken of are pretty much off the shelf replacement parts, it really just depends on how much you want to spend on it? put £500-600 of new parts and a couple of weeks(if you do it bit by bit) to do it and you will have a nice serviceable engine that will do another 70,000miles, the problem with S/H engines is that most are worn out and often the case with older cars, the older it gets the less maintenance it sees and it is run on a fix what's broken attitude, would not surprise me if you bought another and had same or only slightly better when opened up. If you want a good reliable engine, spend a few pound on this one, or buy another(costing you again), and potentially have to re-build that one instead It's all money and time just depends on what you want from the engine once it is running also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 No Don't waste time and money on a 3.5 Buy a 3.9 Serpentine unit complete, for my money the best V8 BL ever produced cross bolted block square / close to stoke bore = revvy and likes to Rev Crankshaft driven oil pump No squeaky drive belts Can be had for little funds, straight repalcement more BHP & Torque and THATS woth a rebuild On the rebuild Composite heads and Valley gasket ARP Head stud kit Duplex timing wheels and chain + Bludy good powerfull engine Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Nige, I didn't think you could get duplex chains for the serp units? I certainly couldn't for the 4.0l P38 unit I have when I rebuilt that, it was stock or stock (or blue box!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 You can for some serps - ire serp + Dizzy, but not the narrow case 4.0 / Sagem systems Don't ask me how (Cough 5.2 fun) I know http://www.v8wizard.com/Camshaft_timing_chains.php Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagwit Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 With Rover V8s its not "How Good" the oil is its more "How Often" its changed Use a decent oil and change it and filter regularly and the differencee is vast Nige Just Google "zddp cam wear" and you will immediately find that oils that are low in ZDDP causes accelerated cam and lifter wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 They all do that, and Rover 8's will run quite sweetly with unbelievable wear so it masks the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 You can for some serps - ire serp + Dizzy, but not the narrow case 4.0 / Sagem systems Don't ask me how (Cough 5.2 fun) I know OK, thanks that makes sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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