Cam follower re-grinding

As long as the stellite pad has a good grip on the cast iron then reground will be as good as the originals when new. I get mine reground when fitting a new camshaft.

Try Newman Cams as they can regrind the cam followers for you, as I have had many of mine done by them

Hi Tony

I think club member Peter Shand does follower regrinds but would pay to check although he may reply when he sees your post. I,m getting some starter gear and special clutch machining done by him shortly. Excellent value and top quality work.

New one piece cam followers from AN are very expensive at £540 a full set and as yet unproven but they and RGM appear to be out of stock of the old ones so worth refurbing if possible.

I used to get mine done at work in the toolroom but now retired so I no longer have access, got them to do the worst one first and then take that same amount off the remaining 3 and tell me how much they took off. Then if required I could adjust the push rod length.

If I needed a set done today I would use Peter Shand.

Newman Cams are a very good company, and I arranged a tour of their facilities, for the Surrey section a few years ago. I did an article for Roadholder about our visit. Ken Newman, now runs the company, as his father Dave is semi retired.Their phone number is 01689 857109, their web site is www.newman-cams.com

The pad is not Stellite, its is an iron based, not cobalt, hard facing material. A grinder will need to know this to do a good job. 

If anyone thinks tappets are over priced, then feel free to ask a Grinder here in the UK or anywhere else on the planet and see what they would charge to grind all over. I asked 9 grinders in the UK, 8 refused to quote and the one that did would have resulted in retail prices for an engine set being close to £1000.00 - that is based on just one operation.

The new tappets are not iron based, the material they use is traded globally by the lb. It is a special alloy. 

Cam followers are extortionate in price, but are they? If you were to talk to the people who know you might find that the old ones were being sold at a loss.    I imagine they are difficult to make not least because of the tip.

Whether the tip is Carbide or Cobalt I don't know, I would have to bow to Ashley on that one,  but whatever the tip is it is likely it would require a different grinding wheel to the rest of the follower which was cast iron. The iron needing a " normal" grindstone and the tip possibly needing a softer green wheel.  So apart from being a complicated component to produce there must have been further issues with grinding, this should have reflected in the final cost and I always thought that for what you were getting the two part followers were a bargain.                                                           The price of the new one piece followers comes as a bit of a shock but it's probably due to small batch production, cost of materials and the fact that most companies approached weren't interested,  which doesn't  leave a great deal of room for negotiation with regards to the final cost. 

Yes, just the one working mine on the planet. They are not made in a small quantity either. 

I can regrind your followers if they are flat faced, haven't made the tooling yet to tackle the radius followers.

Regards

Peter