Sorry about the engine problems, hope she will be back better than ever real soon. Just think it will be running as good as it looks.

At least you'll still be at the gathering! Sorry about the motor. But I guess in the end, you'll have a better running engine!

Sorry to hear that. It seems the motors in older cars didn't last as long. I wonder why that is?
Just a note. The previous owner of my 74 had the motor rebuilt. They "decked" the block. Unfortunately they machined the serial number off as well. They didn't, either protect that area, or they didn't restamp the numbers in.
He claimed it was the original engine but there's no way to know now. My casting numbers are right but that doesn't mean much.
Good luck on your rebuild.

Ouch

Cams in older engines will continue to go flat due to the reformulation of oil. ZDDP an essential additive to protect metal to metal contact areas has been removed from the current easily available oils. It is not needed in the roller cam engines and was shown to reduce the life of catalytic convertors. There are oils that still have the ZDDP in quantities great enough to protect the flat tappet camshafts. They are listed as "off road oils" and are not available at most chain stores. I use Brad Penn oil for a number of reasons. One of which is the high ZDDP content and the other it is US crude from wells in PA, refined in PA and packaged in PA all by the same company which insures that what they say is in the bottle is really there. There are also additives that can be added to present oils if you have a brand you would like to continue to use.

phillip, My engine builder told me the same thing about the additives.  From what he mentioned there is a huge on-going class action suit due to the damage being done to the additives being removed without notifying customers.  Haven't checked into that, I'm sure when it's settled 30 or 40 yrs from now, I'll qualify for $1.27 in restitution

I'll add to what Phillip said with this...I can't count how many cams I have replaced in '78 Chevies over the years, some with VERY low miles(20,000 or so). I firmly believe GM had a problem with the suppliers for those cams, or at least a "batch" of them. It appears they just weren't hardened correctly, and wore the lobes extremely quick.
On a brighter note, if the cam has gone flat, it doesn't mean a complete re-build, unless you would just rather go ahead and get it done. Replacing the cam and lifters, along with a good engine flush would get ya back on the road. Like I said...I've done plenty of that same deal back in the late '70s early '80s. New cam/lifters, and engine flush had them all back up and running for a long time.

Good Luck with it, anyway, and sorry it happened at this particular time. Better now than later, on the road to the Gathering....we'd never let ya forget about it if it had happened then!

Those cams Joel was refering to were Hecto in Mexico, the two center lobes were effected,one on each side of the center bearing if I remember right. It had to do with the heat treating of that center part or something like that

Mark, sorry about the repairs, but better at home than on the trip.  I have some concern with our PC and it's 165k miles.  Especially not knowing anything about it's history or repairs.

Take care and have fun with the group this weekend.

GaryC - '78PC Replica - Franklin, IN