Re: Oil restrictors in a SBC, help

[Doug Odom <dlodom@charter.net>]

Richard, The restrictors are for the valve train not the camshaft lobes. 
The cam is lubed by oil thrown off the rods. The most common reason for 
a camshaft failure is not being broken in correctly. You must use a lube 
on the lobes and when it first starts you run it at a min of 1500 rpm to 
fling enough oil off the rods to lube the cam. I run mine at about 2k 
for the first 15 minutes.
   Doug Odom in big ditch
Richard Kensicki wrote:

> Anyone have an opinion on using oil restrictors for flow reduction? 
> I've pulled the motor out of the Vette I bought to get to the rear of 
> the block just to check this.
>
> The engine is a  race motor and ground down the the first 2 lobes on 
> the cam in a short period of time. This original cam was a solid 
> lifter cam. The second owner found the cam problem and replaced the 
> cam with milder hydraulic cams; twice; and suffered the same problem 
> along with severely worn lifters. He never checked for oil restrictors.
>
> I know the theory of what the restrictors accomplish but does a stock 
> SBC have any type of restrictor plug? I'm replacing the cam with a 
> solid lifter cam with the original lift/duration. Should I keep the 
> restrictors I have? In the Stef's Fabrication catalog their 
> restrictors use an .060 hole to reduce flow by 70%. The ones I have 
> have an .093 hole. Will this be OK?
>
> Have more questions but will hold off until tomorrow.
>
> RichK