I think you need to start looking at the bearings themselves they might be too soft, it has been an issue on some FE's wiping the softer aftermarket bearings. You may need to step up to a racing cam bearing with a harder bearing material such as Dura Bonds part# FP33T . The stock Ford bearings had a harder babbit on the shell then most after market cam bearings.

Also make sure the cam can be easily turned after install FE's are notorious for cam bearing issues if the bearings are not installed correctly, the cam has to spin easily by hand after install.

 

First set of bearings was Mahle bearings, the last two have been Federal Mogul.

 

Try the Dura Bond Racing bearings

Matthew

 

Did you view the photos of the bearing installs? Rough...

 

What do you mean rough? They didn't look beat to me when I got them back from the machine shop? Are you talking about the ones that were failed?

 

I didn't mean to bad mouth you...

What I should have posted is a combination of cam (polishing), bearings (either wrong or bad materials), oil supply (your finding of bad rocker arm and shafts - good find BTW) and install (your photos provided).

I think ( another bad situation) you just had some bad situations that stacked up on you. Not bad mouthing, just observing...

 

Oh I understand now! I didn't think you were bad mouthing me, just trying to understand what you were saying haha. I am on vacation right now, and I will keep you guys updated on what ends up happening when I get back.

I believe the only thing that makes sense would be the cam because the block was operating fine before it was rebuilt, and the only thing that would have changed was bearings(I used multiple brands of bearings, so they are unlikely at this point) and a camshaft.

However the plan when I get back is to:

Clean entire block.
Thread all oil galley plug holes (except one behind distributor). (Try to eliminate anything at this point)
Clean block and all parts.
Install a different camshaft and lifters. (Reground Ford Camshaft)
Reassemble.

 

When I came back in town for one whole day, I was able to finish disassembling the engine and talked to the cam shop again. They said they would love to tell me there was something wrong with another manufacturers camshaft but they said it looks perfect.

He recommended I bring (block with old cam bearings, new cam bearings, cam I have been using) it to a machine shop he's good friends with. He said one of the guys in the shop builds Ford big blocks all day. This was June 30th when I brought it in. The guy has looked at it for a couple hours but said he could not find anything obvious (checked bearing alignment, if oil galleys were clogged-they were not, and a few other things). He is going to further investigate over the next few days and let me know.

I hate seeing threads die without a solution, so for better or worse you'll find out what happened!

 

Hey everyone it's been awhile, but I found what caused those cam bearings to wipe out!

I took a new cam bearing and put the cam journal in the bearing with oil. The camshaft I have been wiping bearings out with seemed to spin smooth, until I put pressure on it. Then it became very rough and gritty. I tried the same bearing with two other camshafts, and they were silk smooth no matter how much load I put on them.

I then compared how the cam's spun in the block. I spun the one I have been having problems with, and it would spin smoothly but immediately when I let go of it, it would immediately stop spinning. I tried this with the other camshafts and they would spin a little further before gradually coming to a stop.

Finally, I felt I had found a problem. I put the engine back together with a delta camshaft, and new lifters. I ran break-in oil, changed it, then ran it another 200 miles.

I had to take the timing chain cover off, because the front seal wasn't perfectly aligned, so while I was in there I took the timing chain off to look at the bearings and they looked beautiful.

This is very rare, however taught me an expensive lesson, three machine shops and a cam shop, all looked this over, and found nothing. I hope this helps anyone with a similar issue, I could have built another long block for the cost of this mystery. I was constantly reassured the camshaft was good, however it clearly wasn't, and I had to take the leap, and follow my gut.

 

Huh. Thanks for the update!

 

I'm just as baffled as you!! First FE I have put together, but after this experience I feel I know more about them than any other motor!

 

Thank you for the update and glad you got it fixed. It still leaves the question of what was wrong with the cam? Maybe one of those unsolved mysteries..