Bad news - wiped lobe on cam

The motor has been giving me fits in trying to tune it and get a decent idle. I decided to pull the Q-jet and rebuild it this weekend. I completed that last night without much trouble. It's a lot of work but not a big deal really. Take it slow and easy and take lots of pictures to go back and reference.

Anyway, while I had the carb off I decided to check out a few things. There was a little oil in the bottom of the runners in the intake manifold. Not a huge amount but enough to indicate that I had a leaking gasket that would need help someday. I pulled the valve covers and started checking the valve lift. It is possible that lash was not right or a lobe wiped. I turned the engine by hand and checked the valve lift on each one. Everything was looking good but when I got to the last one, #8 exhaust, it was showing a lift of only 0.200". That's less than half of spec. I pulled the lifter and the lifter is badly scored on the bottom and when I look down and put a flash light on the lobe it's clear to see that it's severely rounded.

Blast all! Now I have to tear the motor down and replace the cam. This was a Comp Cams XE268H and there have been reports on CorvetteForum of many wiped lobes on XE262, 268, and 272 cams. I'm going with Lunati for the next one. I just have lost all confidence in Comp.

Back from vacation

Back from 2 weeks personal vacation. It was nice to unplug and get away with the family. And I mean AWAY! A seriously long road trip up to Mt Rushmore and then over to Yellowstone. Amazing trip. This country has some tremendous beauty in it. Nearly 5500 miles later, it's nice to be back home again!