Update on my 72’

[Tim972]

I originally dropped it off at a friends body shop in December and he was going to work it in between other jobs, with a tentative completion date of around April.   It was getting front fender patches, both rear quarters and wheelhouses and some rust repair at the bottom of rear window and some Mulsanne Blue color.  But, Covid-19 hit and he decided to shut his shop down in March when Michigan shut down. So unfortunately it’s been on hold, til who knows when.  So I got the 402 back from  the machine shop in January, all freshened up. Nothing crazy, .030” over, heads rebuilt, crank just needed a polish,  mild cam and Performer intake, trying to keep the cost down.   Set it up on my run stand to break it in and wiped one lobe on the cam.   I’ve broken in dozens of cams in my life, this is the 2nd flat tappet cam that I’ve had that went bad.  So back to the machine shop it goes to get inspected, cleaned out and going hydraulic roller now. So sadly, my hopes of having the car done late this summer are pretty much gone, it’s looking more like next spring.  

[1970mcss]

That's a huge bummer, good luck going forward....

[1Bad454]

Wow.. Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately with the lack of zinc in oil these days its tough to break a flat tappet cam in. Even with camshaft break in additives. Hopefully things will turn around for you soon. 

[Tim972]

Thanks guys, with all this down time the wait is the worst. As soon as it’s back hopefully I’ll have some better updates.   

10 hours ago, 1Bad454 said:

Wow.. Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately with the lack of zinc in oil these days its tough to break a flat tappet cam in. Even with camshaft break in additives. Hopefully things will turn around for you soon. 

From what I’m hearing over and over, unfortunately it’s inferior quality flat tappet cam cores.  I didn’t really believe it before, but I sure do now.