did car manufacturers break in flat tappet cams?

[eldubb440]

I considered having some old lifters cleaned and refaced to use again. I still might for milder builds but for the new cam for the red car, I went with a hydraulic roller to alleviate the anxiety.

roller cams make my cam break in machine obsolete

 

[RemCharger]

roller cams make my cam break in machine obsolete

Inspiration to production time was too slow!

 

[69 Sleeper Bee]

Good question. If they did I guess it would not be the 20-30 minutes at 2000 RPM deal.
It would be interesting to hear from anyone who worked at one of the engine assembly plants.
I did hear once about a factory (I think it was Ford) that turned each the engines with an electric motor.
This allowed them to break the motor in, monitor oil pressure etc.

I'll ask my neighbor that worked at the Ford assembly plant about that when I see him next Saturday for lunch.
He left today for the Barrett Jackson auction in Palm Beach this weekend.

 

[Don Frelier]

I have a friend who owned an engine machine shop for a few years.
He had a sim test machine which would spin the engine and circulate heated oil.
A perfect way to break in a cam.

 

[oldkimmer]

I broke in my first Mopar cam in in 1980. Then about 100 Chevy cam in there small block trucks. Kim

 

[AR67GTX]

$60 and a Fram filter



Back in the '70s we never heard of breaking in a cam. I don't know how many. We removed the radiator, water pump and timing cover, intake and valve covers and threw in a new cam and lifters, sometimes not even new lifters! Several times we did a set of lifters on an old cam. Not one problem.

I hadn’t really thought about it in a while but back in 70 a friend helped me do a cam swap in my 64 Sport Fury in the dormitory parking lot. When done we simply fired it up and drove. Same when I swapped a Ram Air III cam into my 75 Trans Am a few years later. Just fired it up a drove without any break in.