Flat tappet cams potentially become extinct

[rikkitik]

 "Borrowed" from bbodiesonly forum, thought might be of interest here

Following this on another forum. Interesting and sad. Does not look good for American made flat tappet cams. For those that don't know CWC is pretty much the last U.S. camshaft core provider...at least that is my understanding. The near future there will be a shortage until cams cores are sourced elsewhere. The owner of Bullet and some engine builders are trying to get the word out at least.

[cuda hunter]

Very unfortunate.

[tparker]

That seems odd. I just bought one from Hughes Engine. I believe they grind the cams there and already own the machinery that does so. Even if demand is low, I would think there is enough demand to keep it going for a while. Maybe we all should be stocking up. 

Other than the angles, what is the real difference between roller and flat tappet cams? Meaning, what makes flat tappet cams unproducable while roller cams can still be cranked out. Pun sort of intended.

[Shoooter]

Guess everyone has to buy modern hemis 

[rikkitik]

That seems odd. I just bought one from Hughes Engine. I believe they grind the cams there and already own the machinery that does so. Even if demand is low, I would think there is enough demand to keep it going for a while. Maybe we all should be stocking up. 

Other than the angles, what is the real difference between roller and flat tappet cams? Meaning, what makes flat tappet cams unproducable while roller cams can still be cranked out. Pun sort of intended.

Not to burst your bubble, and no insult intended, but Hughes have their cams ground by contractors. They were ground by Howards Cams (not sure if they still are). You can still find their full lobe specs in Howard's lobe catalog (since Hughes "secrect sauce" recipe doesn't give you the "advertised" duration, or .200 for that matter). I'm not sure that Hughes has ever machined/ground their own cams.
Regardless, it's not a matter of grinding the cam, it's a matter getting the material to grind.
Flat tappet cams start out as cast iron "blanks". Roller cams are typically machined from billet steel, so the FT vs Roller cam cores are completely different materials.
The iron blanks can be obtained from other foundries, so "extinct" may be an exaggeration, but they are likely to be in short supply, for a while at least.
Each type of cam has it's good and bad points, it would be unfortunate for any to drop out of production.

[rikkitik]

Guess everyone has to buy modern hemis 

😅.........😉
Not likely 😎

[Chryco Psycho]

Most flat tappet  cams are cast , rollers are harder billets steel .
Not all engines simply accept roller cams either , the big blocks are more user friendly , LA blocks not so much .

[Bill Rolik]

For the engine in my 340 Cuda convertible, I directly took the hydraulic roller route, for custom lobe selection as well as to eliminate any other issues. I am however using Comp Cams adjustable rockers, so it will be necessary to provide more clearance in the pushrod holes because of the taller lifters, which change the pushrod angle.


Bill Rolik