Sorry 'bout the delay with my response, as I was out of town for two days.
Neal - I would like to thank you for taking the time to help me with this, your efforts are very much appreciated. There aren't too many people these days that would go way out of their way to help with a situation such as this.
I had tried to call Joe too, but the lady said that he was not in at the time. (Your quote) "The material used in his Hyd rollers is Nodular iron with a deep heat treat.", over a week ago when I had called Engle Performance Cams to ask about what type of core was supposed to be used for this particular grind cam that was for Mondello, he said that they use both cast iron and 8620 billet. I told him what had happened with my camshaft and he asked me what the casting numbers were on my cam, I had said that it is "EP-28", so he then told me that EP-28 means it is a cast iron core and was never intended for hydraulic roller lifters with those kinds of spring pressures, and that it surely would fail if used that way. I asked him if he was aware that Mondello recommends a spring pressure max of 140lbs at the seat, and 340lbs open, he said that he was not aware of that, and that an EP-28 would surely fail if used with roller lifters at these pressures. With that being said, I would have to say that Joe does not quite fully understand that the failed cam in question here, in fact, was NOT ever intended for hydraulic roller lifters (especially at their recommended spring pressures!), and is clearly NOT what I'd ordered, and it is NOT what I was billed nearly for $400 for! It clearly says "HYDRAULIC ROLLER CAMSHAFT" on my invoice. Furthermore, Mark Engle himself says, EP-28 casting is NOT hard enough for hyd roller lifters.
Here's something VERY interesting too!!! Take a look at the picture here:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3dc38b3127cce94fcab4aeab10000001610 This is of my failed camshaft, please notice the "RH6-14HYD" stamped into it.
NOW, look at this picture that was sent to me from a member of the realoldspower forum:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3dc38b3127cce94fc98102b5a0000001610
...this pic is of his billet steel hyd roller, and is exactly what I was supposed to get. Notice the same "RH6-14HYD", here's what it looks like:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3dc38b3127cce94fc989baae10000001610
(Your quote) "Joe stated thet there are only 2 billet cam cores availble for the Olds. Both are made by Crane. He cannot make the profiles needed with these cores. The lobes on those cores are too big. That is why they use the cast Nodular iron cores for these small street cams."
Clearly in the picture (link above) of the small street cam, it IS billet steel, and also a Mondello/Engle camshaft, so what's up with that???
Also, it is my understanding that Mondello does nothing of the sort to further heat treat any of the cams he gets from Engle, they are already finished and ready for use. Lynn had once told me something similar too, that they order pistons, and cams from a couple different mfgr's, then once received, they then do some Mondello's special machining work to mod them to their own specs, then sell them. Maybe on some items this might be true, but certainly not for his cams and pistons.
I agree that Joe Mondello himself has always been a respectable, reputable guy, who really knows his ****. However, these days, he spends all of his time teaching classes on engine rebuilds at the Mondello engine tech school, and has no part of anything to do with the product sales. Lynn has been fully in charge of that category of Mondello, and it is quite evident that Joe Mondello is not aware of just how many people have had nothing but problem after problem with the products part of his buisiness. Then again, for being 62 years old, he might not even be that concerned about it, who knows.
I did talk to Lynn about this cam with no reasonable resolution, he told me to send him the cam (at my expense), and he'd check it out, and IF it appears to have failed from being a bad core, he'd replace it free of charge. Well, that is NOT any reasonable resolution at all, I shouldn't have to pay for LYNNS INCOMPETENT, NEGLEGENT, and CARELESS MISTAKES, and his CONTINUAL BAD BUISINESS PRACTICES??? What about all the damage that was done to my engine from all of the shreds of cast iron material of that cam that trashed out the $1500 in machine work that was done just weeks before that cam was ever installed? What about all of the cam, rod, and crank bearings that were trashed from it? What about the 16 hyd roller lifters that I'd paid over $300 for? The list goes on, I'm NOT even asking for any compensation for any time or labor. I have all receipts to prove what was spent for the mentioned items, as well as pictures of these said items after only 7000 miles of mild usage, and as a direct result of the camshaft failure, NEED TO BE REPLACED!!!
I think it's very reasonable for Mondello Performance Products to pay for mainly the following items:
price of new camshaft
price of new hyd roller lifters
price of all bearings
price of all gaskets and seals
price of having crankshaft turned and polished
The term, "price of", means cash, does NOT mean, in house credit for Mondellos' products only. I do not ever want their products used in my engine again. Been there, done that.
Does this sound pretty reasonable and fair to you guys???
Thanks!
Robin
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