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On 30 Oct 2001, at 20:17, Keith Park wrote: > You may want to read Bergs writings on the cams. He goes through painstaking > procedures for breaking in new cams these days and NOTHING will ruin a cam > faster than the cheap non-German lifters... probably your entire problem > here. I actually got to talk with Gene a few years ago about this. Here's what he had to say. Keep in mind that this was ~15 years ago and everything's changed since then: About cams: All the world's sources of VW cams can be divided into 2 groups, Isky and various OEM makers around the world. Their cams all have the same metallurgy, so you can choose any cam you want without concern for where it comes from. About lifters: There are many VW lifter manufacturers around the world, and there are almost as many kinds of metallurgy in the lifters they produce. If you want a lifter that will work with your VW cam, however, there are only 2 sources that you can buy from with confidence, either OE VW, from a dealer (or from Berg, his were OE VW at that time) or you can buy the 3 piece Brazilian lifters that come in the blue and white Eaton box. The latter were somewhat lighter, but they carry a downside in that there is a little snap ring inside them which can work loose and then work its way thru the filter screen and destroy an oil pump. This doesn't happen often; I have an engine that went 100kmi with these with no problem. The lifters which I had bought came in a plain brown wrapper marked simply "Made in W. Germany." They were junk and Gene knew all about them. He told me that they were too soft and just how soft they were. I measured it on a Rockwell tester we had at work and he was exactly right. The OE lifter that I measured was harder, right where Gene said it would be. I've followed Gene's advice since then and never been burned again. Today's story is different, however. The new cams are no longer made with the same metallurgy and Berg has had a terrible time getting a quality product that they can sell with confidence. I don't think there's much they can do about it since they just don't have enough buying power to dictate to the manufacturer's what they should produce. I think it's all about the fact that there are few aircooled VWs made in the world today, so VW doesn't have the clout it used to, but I've got to wonder what the BeetleMex engines use. Myself, I stick to reusing good used stock VW cams and Berg lifters. If you want a performance cam I don't know what you can do. I would at least ask the cam maker what he recommended for lifters and see if you can guarantee compatability if you buy both from him. - Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ------------------------------------------------------------------- List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list or mailto:help@vwtype3.org