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What is the best way to break in new, or reground camshaft and all new tappets in a Flathead Ford V8? For an OHV engine that I built with all new parts several years ago, I used the following procedure which seemed to work pretty well: before assembly, coated camshaft and tappets with a 50/50 mixture of STP and SAE 20 non-detergent motor oil, primed the fuel system and insured that the engine fired up and ran immediatly, ran the engine at 2000 RPM for 20 minutes before allowing it to idle or shut down. Then, since it was an OHV engine with solid flat tappets, I let it cool throughly and readjusted the valves. The reason for the immediate start and run at 2000 RPM for 20 minutes is to work harden the cam and tappet wear surfaces. Do you think a similar method, minus the post-run valve adjustment would work well for a newly built flathead with OEM style non-adjustable tappets? Please share you experience. Thank you.
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I think you worry too much. When we set up a flathead rebuild, we put straight 30W in for the first 500 miles, and advise the owner to avoid steady high speeds. When the first oil is drained we put in 20W-50 for the summer. Just don't put synthetic oil in, if you plan to, for at least 5000 miles, or you will have problems getting the rings to seat. We assemble most engines with Vasoline, and have done so for many years. Unless you have a noisy valve, readjusting clearance isn't necessary. Running an engine will not "work harden" tappets, or anything else. If you reused tappets, they should have been put back in the original holes because of wear patterns. Cam problems in flatheads are rare, unless a poor quality aftermarket cam is used.
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