At what milage the camshaft becomes worn

[PH430]

I have a Chim 4.3 1994 with 50.000mls. At what milage the camshaft becomes worn?

What camshaft do you recomand? I am thinking on a 885.

Thanks for al your help.

Pieter

[phillpot]

50,001


I believe 50 - 60,000 is considered a good innings, some last longer some less.

[Sardonicus]

Quite frankly "how long is a piece of string?" just to many variables to be honest the 885 is considered a good all round cam

[Mark.]

My 1996 is on 94k miles and still on original cam, I doubt it's right up there in the power stakes but it's reasonably swift enough, but it's not noisy or burning oil so it's staying as it is. At the last service the garage said it was one of the quietest and smoothest they'd seen.
I reckon you've got a few more miles left yet.

[Quinny]

My mate sold a Griff 500 at 106k miles... Still on original cam, and no reason to think it needed changing...
&
Another mate still has his 500 Griff, owned for 12 years, and on around 60k miles... Completely original and running well on its original cam

[JonathanT]

conversely I had my camshaft replaced at 28k on my Chim 450 that was regularly used. This second camshaft is now on 78k and seems to be going ok but I'm keeping my eye on things.

[semaj]

My 500 is now on 117k miles on original cam and shows no signs of impending doom.

[V8 GRF]

I don't think you can set any mileage, there are lots of cams above that have a great number of miles on them however my car had a new TVR Power cam fitted by a previous owner round about 15k miles as part of an upgrade.

I'm not suggesting the original cam needed replacing at that mileage, but after I bought the car with 19k on the clock by 35k the second cam needed replacement with several of the lobes having worn down to the point of virtually being round.

All down to the individual cam I'd suggest.

[Quinny]

The funny thing is, that although my mates are all on original cams...... By 50k my old Griff was on its 4th

Non were worn out, but there was a search to find the one that suited my other mods....

[swisstoni]

How much does it cost to to have the cam replaced out of interest? My 500 is in the 40k range so may as well be prepared.
Nothing fancy, just the standard cam.

[Alexdaredevils]

swisstoni said:

How much does it cost to to have the cam replaced out of interest? My 500 is in the 40k range so may as well be prepared.
Nothing fancy, just the standard cam.

It's pretty much the same price to have a fancy cam chucked in at the same time,

£800-1500

[zed4]

I've just changed mine at 60k, I was told the cam was starting to wear, but it wasn't bad, but a rocker was damaged which needed changing.

[Bassfiend229hp]

Alexdaredevils said:

swisstoni said:

How much does it cost to to have the cam replaced out of interest? My 500 is in the 40k range so may as well be prepared.
Nothing fancy, just the standard cam.

It's pretty much the same price to have a fancy cam chucked in at the same time,

£800-1500

Whereabouts does it for £800?

[Alexdaredevils]

Bassfiend229hp said:

Whereabouts does it for £800?

Depends who you talk to and what cash deal can be done ;-)

[carsy]

No one gone for one of these roller cams from the Wedge shop. No more worn lobes. Still on offer.

http://www.thewedgeshopstore.com/products/Roller-C...

[Bassfiend229hp]

Alexdaredevils said:

Bassfiend229hp said:

Whereabouts does it for £800?

Depends who you talk to and what cash deal can be done ;-)

I quite fancy changing mine when it goes to something that's a bit more like me...

...hairy and lumpy.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

As said, too many variables:

• manufacturing quality of the original cam
• how often it's driven
• quality and type of oil
• frequency of oil changes
• driving style
• etc

All you can do is drive it frequently (not easy if you also like to avoid salty roads in winter), change the oil at least once a year / 6000 miles, keep the revs below 3000 until the engine is fully warmed up, and avoid doing lots of short journeys. A car driven frequently and doing longer journeys could clock up lots of miles but wear its cam shaft better than one that is driven infrequently and/or only does short journeys. Mileage is therefore not a good measure of the state of your cam shaft.

One easy and cheap way of getting some idea is to get the car's power output measured on a rolling road - and better still, do it every year or two so that you notice any change. It's not so much the numbers themselves that matter, but the shape of the curves and where the peaks occur in the rev range. Peak power should generally be at 5000+, and peak torque at 4000+. Lower than this may indicate cam wear.

Mine has started to show signs of moderate wear at 73,000 miles (I've owned it since 56,000), indicated by comparing dyno graphs from 3 years ago and from a few days ago. The power is down a bit, and peak torque has moved down to about 3,800. I'll get it dynoed again in a year's time and if it has deteriorated further I'll consider having it replaced. I've followed all of the "rules" I mentioned above, but what about previous owners?

[peaktorque]

My 115,000 mile (well it'll be more than that as mileometer was broken for quite a while...........) is still on its original cam. I need to do a visual on it though just out of curiosity as for a weedy 400 it still goes like a train..