Breaking In New Camshaft on 2.3l Turbo

[1984GTTurboVert]

I am replacing the head on my 84 2.3 turbo with a remanned head which didnt come with a camshaft, followers or lifters so i bought new ones to put in it instead of swapping my old stuff over. I have everything to cobble this thing together in a box and ready to go and then it hit me.
I forgot new cams require break in, and i never had to do that before.
What should i use oil wise for this?
Could i get away with just using the oil i currently have in it if i throw some zddp additive to boost its numbers and changing it later or will i have to drain it and put in actual break in oil for this?

[ccurtin]

What kind of cam? Roller or flat? If roller, regular oil is fine. If flat go get some break in oil.
I have a quote from Esslinger from years ago

"Esslinger start-up oil: For break-in, we use Lucas Oil 20w50 break-in oil ON ALL ENGINES WE BUILD AND DYNO! We actually see increased ring seal and component life with this oil over various other oils we've tried in the past, break-in or standard. In fact, we strongly recomend that even our shortblock customers purchase a jug (5qts) at the same time."

[1984GTTurboVert]

Replacement camshaft is an oem flat one as are the followers and lifters.
All the advertised as break in oils i saw on ebay were single weight for some reason, i couldnt find any "break in" oil at the brick and mortar stores just additives. Cant find anything at the stores anymore.

The oil i currently have in it is motorcraft f150 3.0 diesel 10/30w full synthetic, which has some zddp in it but not as much as an additive itself.

[1984GTTurboVert]

Bought royal purple 10/30w break in oil since it was cheaper than the jegs stuff in my search. Weird how i couldnt find any break in stuff at the stores, pep boys doesnt even sell anything for cars anymore around here.
Also picked up some risoline zddp additive for afterwards since i already use that in my tbirds oil changes.

[gr79]

Engine assembly lube is not the same as break in oil.
i used TRW assy lube. Permatex 81950 looks to be the same product.
Sticky like STP oil additive.
Ford A234 non roller cam 79 2.3T. Poured lube over cam lobes, top of lifters, valve tips, and followers.
Fresh 10w30 Valvoline conventional in pan. Changed oil after 100 miles.
Broke in cam for 1/2 hour per instructions.
Even though had no oil pressure on gauge first few minutes, all is well at 160k.
Have recent pics of the cam lobes. Assy lube no doubt helped save the engine rebuild.
Lifters were tapping...
Had the oil line connections from engine to remote filter reversed.
Even after many hose routing checks over and over and over before starting the new engine.

Worked in a Ford FT V8 engine plant in the early 70's. No break in lube or oil was used to my knowledge.
Just sayin..

[gr79]

Just for kicks, did a local online auto chain store search.
Found one Oreally store had Permatex 81950 in stock for 9.00.
Summit, others have it too.

[1984GTTurboVert]

Engine assembly lube is not the same as break in oil.
i used TRW assy lube. Permatex 81950 looks to be the same product.
Sticky like STP oil additive.
Ford A234 non roller cam 79 2.3T. Poured lube over cam lobes, top of lifters, valve tips, and followers.
Fresh 10w30 Valvoline conventional in pan. Changed oil after 100 miles.
Broke in cam for 1/2 hour per instructions.
Even though had no oil pressure on gauge first few minutes, all is well at 160k.
Have recent pics of the cam lobes. Assy lube no doubt helped save the engine rebuild.
Lifters were tapping...
Had the oil line connections from engine to remote filter reversed.
Even after many hose routing checks over and over and over before starting the new engine.

Worked in a Ford FT V8 engine plant in the early 70's. No break in lube or oil was used to my knowledge.
Just sayin..

Im going to use mellings mell lube assembly lube to put it together, maybe some graphite spray beforehand if I grab a can from work.
Wish I could just run it like they did back then but my gut tells me the oil they had back then had more of the thing I need and less of the stuff I don't.
I only want to do this once, Well see.

[gr79]

Mellings product should work by itself just fine.
Graphite might alter the chemical composition.

The cam needed a galley plug reinstalled at the camshaft's rear oil gallery. New cam did not have one installed.
Installed the FEL-PRO 8993PT1 head gasket dry. Did new head bolts and timing belt while everything was open.
Everything got torque wrenched to factory spec and procedure.
Felpro Permadry one piece v/c gasket has not seeped. The blue color looks cool.

Rear cyl head freeze plug sprung a leak hole once. A real bitch to replace with engine in car but 100% succeeded.

More is not always better. Overthinking can have negative effects.
Adding a remote filter and oil cooler was not worth it. Nor was a hv oil pump.

Pretty much bricked this 4 mo old pc last week by adding 24gb memory then taking off the cpu fan to clean fins.
Fans, mouse, dvd player ok, no kb, post, usb ports, no display signal.
Lucky reflashing the bios and reinstalling the four 2gb memory sticks brought it back to life none the worse.
Lots of hoops to jump thru to get there.
Cars can be the same. House mods too.
Tar paper over T-111 and under brown vinyl soffit curls up from heat.

Was ready to get a new mb and cpu per internet guesses of problem. Turns out they are fine.
If i wiped the cam, would have just gotten another.
I agree on the oil. SF was different. 79 owners manual says not to use any oil with CC rating.

[1984GTTurboVert]

The reason for the graphite spray is I might not be firing this thing right up after assembling it, I'm trying to set myself up the time off to do this whole job in a day but I might not be able to which means at least a week later, possibly more, to get back to it.
From what I understand some of these assembly lubes that arent paste will literally drip off the lobes after sitting for a few days and defeat the point of putting it on. It'll help the lube stick to where it is supposed to.
Car already had a black rubber valve cover gasket like the later 2.3 cars(not a ranger one) the metal inserts weren't embedded into the head/cover and should be fine to reuse.
I have a ROL no retorque headgasket set and a Detroit headgasket set to pick from, i cant guarantee the perfect flatness the felpro requires since i didnt machine this head but should be fine with either this ain't going to be a race car.
From what I've read I can reuse my factory headbolts, did that change?
I wasn't counting on buying new bolts but I will if I have to.

[gr79]

Was thinking about any spray can carrier solvent listed on the can.
Solvent reacting with the paste and making it thinner.
Plus having any graphite circulating in the oil. What happened to Arco Graphite oil?
Dunno about other brands, what i used is pretty thick aint gonna drip. Is red.

Dunked the new FMS anti pump lifters in regular engine oil.
Cam lube was done just before buttoning engine up.
V/c gasket has metal grommets.
First engine start after build was 3 years later.

The 93 Ranger here also is a 2.3. EFI, has the factory roller cam everyone talks about to use in 2.3's.
Weighs at least 500# more than the Mustang but gets off the line just as quickly.
5 speed same 3.45 gear nice torque curve less top end hp. Its all truck. V/c gasket has never leaked.

Car here is a weekly driver no racing or severe duty. Was not assembled in one day for sure.
Engine rebuild was inspired by McLaren M81 engines and the stock SVO/T-Bird/Merker turbo 2.3 builds.
Did add ARP rod bolts. Told machine shop (Holbrook Livonia Mi) may someday (prob never) squirt a bit of nitrous.
The cyl head was done at Total Performance Mt Clemens Mi.
Both work with Ford on hp and racing engine development as does Roush. Local Metro Detroit people.
Roush anything costs a lot. They recommended above and also partner with them.
Esslinger, Racer Walsh catalogs, and Ford 2.3 build books were used for how to and verify good stuff to buy.
Plus reading online what others have done and what not to do.
Durability, economy, good power, at the most reasonable cost with no doubts on assembly or parts quality used.

Checking my database record for parts used found new head bolts are installed. Pattern torqued them in steps.
There was something about torque to yield bolts deform, angles, and not to reuse per shop manual.
Did not want to chance all the time and money. If they cost too much would have passed but were 34.00 total (1997).
Few years later, when the v/c gasket was replaced, did check bolt torque and they were all tight.

[1984GTTurboVert]

Thanks for your input, the original head bolts arent that great looking after taking them out so i bought some.
I think studs are overkill for what i want and they aint cheap so bolts will do.
Ill see what happens when i get my assembly lube in the mail, since i have both new and old heads here at home to tinker on after work.