ok ive got the thing(460)tore down to te bare block,everyting looks ,well ok,all the bearings(rod/main)have the copper look showing through,i did the pennie scraping trick on the crank journals and it didnt leave any marks behind,but the cam is another story,,this thing was in bad shape!you know that mirror finish on the lobes ,its there on half of each lobe the other half has some nasty,nasty pitting parts of it even looks like parts of it it was tapped with a hammer!whats up with that?..each piston has 460 stamped on it next to the pin,,like just strokin said,ty,so that does mean there stockers right..other than the cam (nasty pitted cam)and of course the bearings looks good so far!...thanks ,tom

 

Well, a lot of the cast iron cams aren't that pretty to look at to begin with. The shiney portion is due to the fact that the cam lobes are gound on a slight angle and the bottom of the lifters have a radius (curvature) to them. This promotes the rotating action of the lifters so they don't just sit and wear in one spot till they wear out.

 

if they look like rust pits it is just because of porous cast iron. If they look like tiny nicks it can be from over revving, or weak valve springs.

 

ok thanks for the help guys