Cam follower solution
Turbo Mini Forums

My mate Graham Russell alertedme to somebody on here talking about the crapcam follower issue we have all been suffering with for the past umpteen years... I now have the solution. After years of brow-beating suppliers & manufacturers and getting nowhere, I decided the only way to solve the problem was to do the damn things myself. So I bought a cam follwoer grinder. Not at all easy, finally finding one in Australia. Shipped it here and is now up and running. Perfect, precision ground cam follower faces with the correct profile for correct rotation in use. I can do new and good condition used followers for all and sundry for a small fee. Sorted.

Apologies - I didn't give a contact... keith@calverst.com. New ones available on my website www.calverst.com. Ah - does that constitute advertising? Apologies again. I don't know how all this stuff works. IT idiot!

So are all the new followers out there today flat then? Even ones that come in cam kits etc?

dont cams lobes have a slight angle on them for lifter rotation?

Yep,

this should give help visulize what happens, also the lobe is often offset in relation to the follower to help rotation.


imagine if the follower was flat, the cam would contact right at the edge, so there would, be a point of high pressure so the oil film would break down.

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thats awesome joe

clear as day
makes sense with the oil film as well its like dragging a cube across sand vs a ball
the ball lifts and drives a "wedge" lifting it up vs the sharp corner with a shearing

also I woukld expect its a bit hit and miss which followers are flat,

I would expect somthing like Isky ones or minispare competion ones to be ok, but just standard ones to be an issue.

I think cam companys like kent and piper buy in followers en mass, so they could have flat ones, but I'd hope they check them... or are at least checking them now,

Keith, at the very bottom of this page is a become a TM trader link, that should sort you out with regards as being a trader on turbominis.

Very nice Mr Kalver, about time someone sorted this ............. Hats off buddy

are original followers flat from bl ?

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

Apologies for late reply. Bloomin' busy at CST right now.

Cams tend to have a very slight angle across the lobe - typically about 0.0007". I have my cams ground with a bit more than that to aid follower rotation.

A-series followers are supposed to have a radius on the face in the lorder of 52-82". Not much, but is absolutely essential for follower rotation. If the follower does not rotate then premature wear of follwoers and cam will be guaranteed. The followers are also at an angle in the block. Only 2 degrees but it is all done to ensure follower rotation.

The followers available from all the usual suspects come from one of two manufacturers. though the vast majority come from just one source. The follower faces come in all kinds of finished shape - everything except the correct one it would seem. Some are dead flat, some are flat but angled one side to the other. This has been going on for years now. I have tried time and again to gett he manufcatiurers to understand the problem. Seems they don't give a damn. Neither do the cam manufacturers. Better for them if things wear out quicker.

Isky followers have not been made for years. I believe they were manufacured for Iskenderian by Johnson Bros. in the States. I tried to get them to remake them years ago, but they were not interested. Too small a quantity it would seem. The ones MSC sells are 'Isky style' but are made by the same folks that amke the vast majority of the other followers. MSC also have followers made by the now Federal Mogal owned AE. I believe these are probably made in South Africa.

The followers available are not as good as the OE ones that were made in the UK. The cast iron is nowhere near as good a quality. But they are OK except for the face profile. Hence me investinga serious amount of time, effort and money to get hold of a proper cam follower grinder.

Sounds good KC.... So are you saying that good condition, factory followers, with a reground face are likely to be a more robust option than the majority of followers available at the majority of retailers?
I also didn't know the follower bores were machined into the block at an angle. That is very interesting...

Yep that is jolly interesting stuff!

yep something to think about and had this been available/known at build time id have done it

Yes Dave - the genuine OE followers, if not too worn, once refaced are excellent. Particularly from the base material spec angle. And to continue interesting things about cam follower bores - one of the reasons why some engines go better than others, particularly in teh A+ blocks, is that quite ofetn the cam follower bores wander away from parallel to the crank. Starts off OK at number one inlet end, but the time you get to 6, 7, 8 they may have moved significantly. Hence some weird readings when checking valve opening times. This is one of the reasons why I generally have them bored out in the race engines I build. They are trued up at the same time.

KC when you bore out the lifter bores, do you bore them out to fit an oversize lifter(from a differnet engine), or do you fit a brass sleeve and bore them to the orginal spec

thanks rob

everybody likes free stuff

i think my q got lost kieth ,are the stock british leyland/rover lifters flat or domed ? or have they changed over time?

thanks
robert.

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

interesting point about the lifter bore alignment in the block
i think i read some place to set the valve lash not by a set number but to when the valve actually lifts of the seat at the correct crank angle ignoring the actual feeler gauge number (infarct not evan using them)
my under standing is getting the valve from seat to seat at the correct times is more important than setting them at x number

id think if going bigger on lifter bore you might as well take advantage of the extra diameter and run a custom cam profile

i had thought about going bigger on my lifters but decided not to due to the shop wanting a million to do it and id already gotten the new cam

Edited by PhilR on 3rd Dec, 2014.

So do you have in mind what an 'ultimate' race follower would be Keith?

I seriously doubt it!