What oil to use and break in procedure when replacing a roller cam?

[72 440 Barracuda]

I am replacing the cam in a 392 Charger and deleting the MDS operation and doing an oil pump and timing chain (it has almost 80,000 miles and I am there anyway).
I am curious if anyone here has done a cam replacement in a new hemi. If you did what did you do for a cam break in? I am reading up on roller cams and its a little unclear if a new cam in an old motor (not a new or rebuilt motor - so the actual motor break in is not needed) requires special break in steps. In a flat tappet cam (cam replacement) the concern is around having the correct additives such as ZDDP (Zinc/Phosphorus) to prevent wiping a cam lobe during the breakin process. I have seen this happen on the flat tappet cams and a little prevention goes a long way. I am thinking I can add the additive (comp cams 159 additive) to the normal oil (0W-40?) during breakin, then change the oil and filter and I should be good? Does a broke in motor with a new roller cam need this much attention ? (or more?)
I know a lot of you have a lot more experience here than I do and I would like learn from what you found works best...

 

[BULL]

Subscribed

 

[Confuzed1]

Far as I know, you don't "need" any zinc additive on a roller cam engine since there's really no break-in per se. But it won't hurt anything to add it if you wish, especially if you plan on changing it anyway in a few hundred miles. After that, you should be able to run any decent quality oil as you would normally.

EDIT: There's also no need to run it at 2K rpm for the first 20 minutes either like you would on a flat tappet....since you're not breaking anything in. Hopefully you had the lifters submerged in oil overnight before you installed them? -That way they'll be full of oil and not need to be pumped as much up during initial start.

-I've built several roller cam (retro-roller) engines and just used the normal off the shelf synthetic oils with no issues at all.

 

[72 440 Barracuda]

Far as I know, you don't "need" any zinc additive on a roller cam engine since there's really no break-in per se. But it won't hurt anything to add it if you wish, especially if you plan on changing it anyway in a few hundred miles. After that, you should be able to run any decent quality oil as you would normally.

EDIT: There's also no need to run it at 2K rpm for the first 20 minutes either like you would on a flat tappet....since you're not breaking anything in. Hopefully you had the lifters submerged in oil overnight before you installed them? -That way they'll be full of oil and not need to be pumped as much up during initial start.

-I've built several roller cam (retro-roller) engines and just used the normal off the shelf synthetic oils with no issues at all.

Thats good to hear. That is what I would expect, but I got into the "assembly" lube question and started looking at what the Comp cams website recommended. Comp cams was promoting the use of their assembly additive even for a roller cam - not a real surprise, but my attitude is better safe than sorry. Even if its only cheap insurance for some peace of mind. I want to fix the problem and never look back.

 

[MiHiHemi]

I use Maxima RS 1040 since new rebuild.

 

[72 440 Barracuda]

I use Maxima RS 1040 since new rebuild.

I am assuming thats a synthetic?

 

[MiHiHemi]

I am assuming thats a synthetic?

It is. It’s the only oil my engine builder will let me put in the new 426 stroker.

 

[Hpindy]

I did a camshaft in mine last season . I did not use any special oil or break in procedure. I just used my standard 0W40 oil and fired the car brought it up to tempature. Then shut it down and double checked everything. Did another oil and filter change and that was it .

Sent from my BBF100-2 using Tapatalk

 

[vortecd]

I have always just put in the oil I planned on running for a roller cam. You can even throw a used one in with any lifters. There is no seated process like a flat tappet