The V8 Owners Forum -

Hi there
Wonder if sometime can help with a cam shafter recommendation –
I’m looking to replace my cam on my rover v8 3.5 as I’m getting intermittent lifter noise and am planning a very long overland trip so need the engine spot on / reliable. When I rebuild the engine the original cam and lifters we fitted were part of an engine rebuild kit and were aftermarket and therefore I suspect were not OEM quality.
I have a rover 3.5 v8 fitted with an edelbrock manifold and carb fitted to a Landy series2A manual box.
Looking on some of the well know parts sites it seems you can buy cam kits for 120quid which seems way too cheap. As I’m looking for oem quality I was thinking a Kent cam H180 or H200.
Would anyone have any recommendations.
Many thanks
Alex

Hello Alex,

The Kent H180 has the "Sports Torque" designation. This means that the camshaft is designed relatively consistently for torque. This is achieved through relatively tame valve timing but with a high cam lift. In other words, the valves open and close comparatively quickly. This is also called a steep valve lift curve. This, in turn, places heavy loads on the valve train, which in turn leads to noise quite early on. It's usually the rocker arms that you hear.

Otherwise, the H180 works extremely well on larger engines.
I can't say how it performs in the 3.5.

If it's important to you that the valve train runs very quietly, you should install a standard camshaft.

Regards, Frank

How is your valve train?
When I rebuild my engine my first rockers were crap - bigger bore than my worn OEM rockers!

Details here:
viewtopic.php?t=6474&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Also what oil are you using?
I found 10w50 better in my older 3.5 with dizy driven oil pump. 10w40w made the top end a bit noisy.

As mentioned above - the higher performance the CAM the more aggressive it is for your valve train.

The valve train is original. The rocker arm shafts are used standard shafts with low mileage.
The valve springs are Kent VS44.

I use the cheapest 15W40 oil available. I change it once a year or every 10,000 km.

Regards Frank