Cam Follower Inspection

They don't look too good. 

Firstly, the followers (as far as I know) are made as matched pairs, so you could be looking at an expensive rebuild here. Are the follower bores OK? 

The chamfer should be at the front so that oil returning from the head can fall onto the camshaft, and hopefully find its way between cam and followers.

As for the satellite pads, they can be ground flat again, but you/the machine shop need to grind them in the direction of cam travel ie. from the chamfer.

Good luck, and hopefully not too many more horrors awaiting you.

George 

I've recently fitted a Jim Schmitt BSA type follower, cam and pushrod kit and I'm so far well pleased.

You can contact Jim at  jim@jsmotorsport.com

Dave

Camshafts and lightweight lifters for Norton Motorcycles - JS Motorsport

I have their sump reed valve breather in my 69 750. Very happy with it.

Eddie Cross

The price of the Cobalt / Chrome followers is not cheap - they are not cheap to manufacture, the raw materials are not cheap either, and they have to work on all cam materials, from stellite weld, chill cast and steel, which is the hard part. Might be why you don't see others selling them new. 

The odd collection of tappets above are not shot and could be recovered, the damage they show is from debris, either glass bead or chill cast shot, from above the tappet which scores the tappet as it works past the tappet body. The chamfers to the rear may well have prevented them looking a lot worse. No matter whose or tappets you fit, if the engine is not clean neither system will last long, and the engine they were taken from needs stripping and cleaning. 

If you need to get parts vapour blast or shot blast, clean the parts and when you think they are clean then clean them again. Personally I would get them soda blasted and if the facility says it is the same as vapour blast then walk away. 

Nothing is cheap these days. However Andover seem to be the only source of followers and oversize followers are unavailable. Not that long ago a set of four followers roughly cost the same as a camshaft.