FYI: It looks like a significant portion of s54 Cat Cams are failing

[Obioban]

I was always warned that this car is “allergic to aftermarket parts”. Experience seems to be bearing that out, more or less, with some very specific exceptions — tunes, exhaust. But anything in the engine?!?! FOH, I ain’t buying it. BMW M fettled with the inline 6 until they couldn’t do it any better and gave up; and I’m going to improve upon that finished product?

🤨🧐🤔

Not likely.

maw

Lots of people have been running lots of schricks for lots of time without issue.

That said, a Schrick makes cams for BMW, so…

[Arith2]

That thread is pretty well known and sort of old news at this point. That group buy was the problem. I used it to actually order my valves to prepare for getting the cams. Where Schrick M taxes us, Cat cams doesn't. Companies have issues at a single point in manufacturing, however, they dealt with it well and fixed the problem. They aren't SGT. Has anyone had a failure outside of that group buy? THAT is what will really tell us the quality or the lack thereof. 5 failures that we know is NOT the majority. People have been running Cat cams for years without replacing followers. The title of this thread is misleading.

[Radekxpl]

That thread is pretty well known and sort of old news at this point. That group buy was the problem. I used it to actually order my valves to prepare for getting the cams. Where Schrick M taxes us, Cat cams doesn't. Companies have issues at points but they dealt with it well and fixed the problem. They aren't SGT. Has anyone had a failure outside of that group buy? THAT is what will really tell us the quality or the lack thereof.

Cat Cams are good company indeed, I have been running catcams after the failure and no problems 5k on it so far, these failures looks like where associated with that batch from groupbuy, they made improvements to their cams as well new cams ones come with polished lobes where before they weren’t.


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[maw1124]

Lots of people have been running lots of schricks for lots of time without issue.

That said, a Schrick makes cams for BMW, so…

Schrick is another notable exception. Turner used to be. I actually like hotter cams as a go to mod.

maw

[0-60motorsports]

That thread is pretty well known and sort of old news at this point. That group buy was the problem. I used it to actually order my valves to prepare for getting the cams. Where Schrick M taxes us, Cat cams doesn't. Companies have issues at a single point in manufacturing, however, they dealt with it well and fixed the problem. They aren't SGT. Has anyone had a failure outside of that group buy? THAT is what will really tell us the quality or the lack thereof. 5 failures that we know is NOT the majority. People have been running Cat cams for years without replacing followers. The title of this thread is misleading.

This, Very misleading title. I'll be ordering a set of CAT Cams as soon as I can 272/280 and will be using my original followers.

[LemansM]

Yes.. I did have a failure on non-group buy cast cat cams (not billet), re-using the oem followers. Cat Cams replaced them under warranty and I'm using new shrick dlc rockers with them now.

[Arith2]

Yes.. I did have a failure on non-group buy cast cat cams (not billet), re-using the oem followers. Cat Cams replaced them under warranty and I'm using new shrick dlc rockers with them now.

What was the duration and lift? How many miles were on the followers?

[Obioban]

What was the duration and lift? How many miles were on the followers?

Duration and lift seems meaningful/relevant. Mileage less so, since we're not seeing them wear out with mileage with stock/schrick (280/272s).

... unless we're talking, say, 400,000+ miles, at which point I'd expect the followers (not cams) to wear.

[LemansM]

What was the duration and lift? How many miles were on the followers?

The standard 288/280 12.75mm/12.50mm Lift. 80k miles were on the followers.

[digger]

Duration and lift seems meaningful/relevant. Mileage less so, since we're not seeing them wear out with mileage with stock/schrick (280/272s).

... unless we're talking, say, 400,000+ miles, at which point I'd expect the followers (not cams) to wear.

I think he meant mileage on the stock used followers prior to swapping which I think is relevant.

[Arith2]

The standard 288/280 12.75mm/12.50mm Lift. 80k miles were on the followers.

288/280 require follower replacement on either brand of cams. For whatever reason 280/272 seems to be the limit.

Mileage isn't really that important but like you said, a high mileage car will be affected differently. I would say anything above 100k should get new followers but then again, that's also relative to the condition of the engine. 150k could be just fine or a car with 50k could have spent most it's life in high rpms. Most have had success for many miles on 280/272s without replacing the followers and that's the point I make.

[terra]

288/280 require follower replacement on either brand of cams. For whatever reason 280/272 seems to be the limit.

Officially. But there’s a few of us who took the risk with Schrick 288/280s without replacing the followers and have no premature failure to report.

[jet_dogg]

We've no idea what success means in that context re: 280/272s. Is it defined as the opposite of failure?

The reason is the geometry is significantly different than the worn mating surfaces of the rockers. The mating surface on them as worn by the stock cams will cause premature wear on more radical cams hence the familiar recommendation.

Shops that give a visual inspection are not disassembling the valvetrain and mic'ing them with starretts. You cannot visually discern loss of material, measurements need to be taken. They're just looking at the physical condition itself.

I would always replace followers with different cams but that's just me. Do it right or do it twice.

[terra]

We've no idea what success means in that context re: 280/272s. Is it defined as the opposite of failure?

The reason is the geometry is significantly different than the worn mating surfaces of the rockers. The mating surface on them as worn by the stock cams will cause premature wear on more radical cams hence the familiar recommendation.

Shops that give a visual inspection are not disassembling the valvetrain and mic'ing them with starretts. You cannot visually discern loss of material, measurements need to be taken. They're just looking at the physical condition itself.

I would always replace followers with different cams but that's just me. Do it right or do it twice.

If the valve clearance isn't changing dramatically and the rockers are not visibly worn, realistically the extra wear isn't worth stressing over. A few microns will have no performance ramifications. Maybe you'll shave a few thousand miles of potential life off the valvetrain, but when "doing it right" triples the cost of the parts and adds several hours of extra labor, that's an acceptable trade off.

[jet_dogg]

Some contingencies along with conjecture, but as long as you agree it's a compromise.