Back in the 60s, my buddy suffered a broken Isky cam, in the engine! Fortunately, it did little other damage..

Paul

I feel better already.

-Gary Burnette-

Camshafts breaking in half when being dropped is nothing new.  As Frank said, it’s a material nuance.  I use to receive Melling cams a few years back that were frequently broken.  Haven’t seen any broken as of late but simply because the cam manufacturers recognize this and package them appropriately.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I've droped an old one before... Snaped like a potato chip!

The first time it merely bobeled back & forth.  Snapped on the second drop.

UPS probably dropped a truck on it, I doubt if merely dropping it would break it.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

New cam came in today one peice this time.comp packed this one much better than the last one.i have an old cam that i am going to drop just to see if it breaks.i didnt think cast iron was that fragile  Carl

Gary/Carl,

 Cast iron is brittle no matter where it's poured. You drop it, it breaks. Thats why I make my brackets and pulleys from Malleable. No good for cams though. Remember Isky and others used "Steel Faced" Hardfaced and other tricks, still based on cast iron.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

I hope their not getting their cam blanks from China, that would scare me.I don't like the sound of one breaking from being dropped. Maybe Ted or some of the others can chime in and give there opinions?

-Gary Burnette-

finally made up my mind on a cam. i ordered a comp cam ma 259-1 and it came in today only trouble it arrived in two peices what a bummer.i called comp and they are going to grind me another one.the package wasnt damaged but comp seemed to think it had been dropped.hope this isnt a bad omen of things to come  Carl

Daniel, I'm also running the beehive springs from comp cams but the heads have to be machined for these springs and my cam would be a little big for a stock engine.  My earlier post using the MA259 cam is a cam that really wakes up a mild to strong y-block.  These cams have excellent lifts @ 050" while keeping the running duration low enough for excellent torque on the street and carry the rpms thru 5500 no sweat.  The thing is what are you looking to do with your engine?  How big will it be?  what stroke, auto or stick, what gear ratio?  The MA259 cam is 232°@.050" 110 lobe separation built in 4 degrees advance, the lift is a little over .500" with 1.54 rockers.  I used this cam and it did great but with my bore and stroke I went to a larger MA267.  Keep in mind I've used the 270° 224°@.050" and the MA259 will clean it's clock.

-Gary Burnette-