anyone have any insite on the ohc sprint engine cams from egges.or is there another supplier i havnt found yet any info would be appreciated.

In addition to Egge, there is a guy in Utah who sells them. His name is Jerry Woodland. He and Egge both have the same source for the cams which was a foundry in Turkey. They blanked out a few hundred of them several years ago. There is also a company called Kanter, who I believe may have also use the same source.

From what I know, there was a little bit of a miscommunication and the best cam they could grind from the blank was an "E" cam.

When you break in a new cam, you must use new followers. For those, the same two sources are you best bet. Make sure you always use a Zinc additive in the oil, and don't ever think of running synthetic oil. I also would recommend adding a bottle of GM EOS with every oil change.

If you want a performance cam instead, you'll have to make some adjustments to the head in order to maintain your geometry. Performance cams are ground on original factory cams, so the base circle is smaller. There's only one good source for performance cams, unless you want to try one of the other "name brand" cam grinders. I can tell you, though, that their grinds are just mimics of their SBC cam profiles, and they are not well suite to the OHC.

thnx quenton 4 the info. ill look in to all the names u gave me.
i would love to keep it stock if i can so im not sure bout the E cam.4 the sprint engines did they not stop at the d 4 the cams and the E was the perfomance one at that time or no.i dont really wana change to the 455 id love to keep it stock but it has never ran right since ive gottin it .the 4,876 dollar rebuild has really gottin to me so im trying to be patience about it and stay origanl.
yes thats how i boke in the engine when i put it in the car so i know that was done right. thnx for the info again appreciated

E cam is the stock 68 Sprint cam. (Also used on 69 Sprint with Auto Trans).

I know this is kinda the wrong spot to ask this but... What are the drawbacks of running synthetic oil? and the benefits of zinc?

Zinc has qualities as an extreme pressure, anti- wear additive. Zinc compounds react with metal to prevent scuffing and wear. From what I have read, a level of about 0.12% is enough to protect most engines under normal use.

In the Pontiac OHC, the contact between the cam and the follower is constant metal-to-metal. It's not like a typical OHV application. The follower has a constant contact zone against the cam because it does not spin. The cam and follower have "sliding" contact. Zinc was part of the design criteria at the time the OHC was developed. Most of the OHC designs today use "buckets" that drive the valve directly off the cam. The buckets are designed to spin based on the cam profile. If an OHC design uses a follower, it's a roller follower.

As a comparison: In the OHV, the follower (lifter) is constantly spinning, reducing the metal-on-metal sliding contact to almost nothing once properly broken in. The contact location is constantly changing on both the lifter base and the cam. As long as the pressure applied through the lifter onto the cam doesn't cause "slipping" (as you would have with a new cam and heavy valve springs) the surfaces will smooth each other out and will roll rather than slip. But there is still a very slight amount of slip that is required to get the lifter to rotate. The small amount of Zinc used during break in embeds into the mating surfaces. Zinc is then needed to assist the oil in preventing that small slippage from turning into a wiped out cam.

Virtually all synthetic oils have no Zinc, or too little Zinc for the OHC. Plus, bearing clearances and designed-in clearances for the cam oiling system were developed with non-synthetic oils in mind. Synthetic oils rely on much smaller gaps to accomplish their wear prevention. Lash adjusters were designed with controlled gaps and metering holes that don't cope with synthetic oil, either.

Appreciate the info, picked up a Sprint Converable with 55,000 miles on it. I see Lucas makes a Zinc additive. Would it be worthwhile to add this or something similar at every oil change. I would like to never go into this engine as the miles are so low and it doesn't burn/leak any oil.

I have only read about and used ZDDPlus. I can't comment on Lucas products, except for the old joke about why they serve warm beer in Britain.

http://www.zddplus.com/

I thought I would post this for someone a little too modest to do it himself.

OHC Dyno Run

I know it's not exactly related, but since this is about OHCs, I thought it would be nice. Too bad they never sounded that good from the factory.

That's a cool video Q! If they sounded like that from the factory, more would have been sold!
So, why do they sell warm beer in the UK?

Ever own a British car, particularly a "Sports" car, such as a Triumph or MG? Their electrical systems were made by Lucas.

Lucas also makes all the Refrigerators in the UK ...

I've owned several (Triumphs) and they deserve the bad rep they have!

Oh I know all about Lucifer (prince of darkness) electric systems. However I didn't know they made a fridge.

lucas
Lose and Unsoldered Conections And Shorts
L U C A S
as we at the shop refer to it lol

I spoke to the owner of the engine building shop that I have used for all of my machine work for many years. He recommended using Break-In Oil from Joe Gibbs racing instead of using an additive. This has been their practice for a few years, and their customer's success rate on initial break-ins has increased dramatically. They also have a product called "Hot Rod Oil" that comes highly recommended.

I don't usually offer opinions about stuff I haven't tried, but in this case I feel very confident in their experience with it.

Sounds like he was well past the factory 7500 rpm redline!

Just barely past the factory redline (5700 rpm). Now don't you wish you still had the original OHC?

thought I read somewhere it was 7500. Have to go back and re-read my old Firebird books. Darn

I loved that engine! It was the dollar/horsepower ratio that led me to the first V8 I put in the car back around '82 or so. Honestly, I'd love to have another Pontiac w/ that OHC. Maybe a Sprint this time.

Tom

6,500 for the 230; 5,500 for the 250. The Sprint is a nice upgrade and Pontiac left a lot of potential in the motor for guys like TOHCan to discover.

The bottom end in stock form is good for more than 500 BHP. It's got forged rods, too.

Aside: I interviewed for a job in Cedar Park many years ago at MD Totco. Are they still located there?

I believe Totco is still here. I drove by there a few weekends ago and saw the facility. Funny, I sold them some office furniture many moons ago in a previous career.