crane cam 753905. To use or not to use?

[Myron_23]

rebuilding my '91 and thought about the crane cam 753905 but read about some horror stories. then thought about the comp cams 68-231-4 but also read some stories about this one also, not as many but still some. What do I do? Stock cam, or Hesco, but I read that the Hesco is the same as the comp cam and also made by them to. Anybody have anything to say about these cams, and any recomendations. The motor is thirty over and thats about it for now, there will be a bigger throttle body, header and exhaust coming eventually so I was thinking a little bigger cam would be nice. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks
Myron_23

 

[English XJ]

I have the Crane 753905 waiting to go into my stroker engine build and have thought over the reported problems quite a bit.

I'm still going to go with it but with a few precautions. I'm going to stick to the stock valve springs, use only semi-synthetic oil with good anti-wear properties and possibly fit roller rockers after break-in.

I've discussed the problems with a well-respected engineer who is a personal friend of Lee Hurley of Hesco. Although he was plugging Hesco products, he basically said it was a friction problem. Flat tappets, high ramp angles on a cam, incorrect break-in, wrong oil choice and stiff valve springs all contributing to the problem. He says the Hesco cams have a better designed series of angles on the lobes and I would have bought the sales pitch and the cam if I hadn't already got the Crane cam.

I'm still fairly confident with the setup I'm going with, it's for street and off-road driving so I'm hardly ever at the rev limiter or even Wide Open Throttle.