From Hughes Engines
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World of Mopar wedge engines
Issue #14 The end of the flat tappet cam is looking closer every day
Personally, I haven’t had problems with flat tappet cams other than when the government “We are here to help you” told the oil companies to reduce the amount of ZDDP(zinc) in the oil and did not tell consumers who were using the oil. Other than that, I like flat tappet cams and they, along with lifters, are lower cost - always a good thing! Lets look into some history of flat tappet cams + lifters…
Flat tappet cams have been used in cars, trucks, tractors, and marine engines for over 120 years with very little, if any, failure. They have been used in high performance and race engines for that same length of time. Again, with little or no problems. Now we even have mechanical flat tappet lifters with very tiny oil squirt holes in the bottom to make sure the cam/lifter interface gets even more oil. All the odds of successful break-in and life in their favor.
But what do we now see? Failures right and left! So much so that cam core suppliers are phasing out flat tappet cams. WHY?
It all boils down to laziness by the consumers. People don’t want to read and adhere to instructions anymore unless it is on their electronic devices, and even then it’s hard to find someone who will properly follow the rules without skipping a few steps.
Our cams come with 12 pages of instruction on cam shaft installation and break-in! All common practices that have been used successfully for 120 years, but people won’t read it if it is printed on paper.
Ok, you asked for it, the cheaper flat tappet cams are, or soon will be, history.
