Pinto Cam and follower failure.
After having a look at a failed cam and cam followers on a Pinto engine I asked the owner what he believed was the cause, knowing the high standard that this person applied to just about any project he carries out. After a lengthly discussion he had the oil tested by a lab and the cam and followers tested for hardness etc.
The end result was that the oil used was a low phosphor oil that contributed to initial wear of the cam and followers and accelerated to a point that contaminated the rest of the engine. It has been established that the internal oil filter bypass valve had opened and allowed bypass of oil to the oil galleries damaging all main and big-end bearings, crankshaft bearing surfaces and block bores and pistons and rings had evidence of damage from contamination from the cam and followers. This also included damage to valve guides in the head etc.
A very expensive failure indeed. Very little was saved from the engine.
The names of the manufacturers of the cam and oil are well know names
and although the cam manufacturer did supply useful data about the cam material etc the oil manufacturer did not believe the data supplied by a Nata registered lab when the information was sent to them.
As the facts verify its fairly easy when you actually see the data for yourself, what was the cause but trying to get the oil company to even admit that their product may be the cause was nearly impossible.
The owner is not a gambler but stated that he wished he had a night at casino or a day at the races as he would have a better chance of return of the money involved and or one hell of a day/night to remember.
The engine was taken to the local tip along with the any oil that was to used for disposal.
If you are wondering the cam was a fairly mild grind using standard springs supplied with the cam in kit form.