# Weld cam lobes?



## vdubb33 (Jun 21, 2011)

was searching around and heard of people welding there cam lobes to the specs they want them i was wondering could this be done homemade or is there any shops out there that can do this?


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## WaterWheels (Aug 14, 2005)

Where were you searching around? In 1950’s Hot Rod magazines or old articles left on the walls of a repair shop that used to be owned by some guy named “California Kid”. Welding camshaft lobes and crankshafts to gain the lift, duration or stroke and offset desired is a lost art, and rightly so. People do not spend the time required to do something like that anymore for a few very good reasons. One is that you really have to know what you are doing to get it right. Not just the weld job itself but the lobes themselves, the ramps, the lift, the centerlines, rotation angle of the lobes, grinding and polishing plus the hardness. Then there is the design itself, are you skilled enough to not only do the work but to design the camshaft to be exactly what your engine requires? And then comes in availability. What you are asking about is way too much effort and risk when there are so many grinds out there to buy and good prices. If you do happen to get to the point where you *HAVE* to have a camshaft made to suite your engine exactly, many companies will grind one for you for a little more cost.

Crankshaft are still welded and ground in some cases to get the perfect setup, but that is rare now days. Camshafts were welded and ground by people in the late 40’s and fifties like my Uncle because you could not buy a performance camshaft. Quality was bad at best and the lobes were far from exact lobe to lobe. Then some of the companies started doing it to sell performance camshafts and the welded camshafts were much better. But once the number of different grind started to increase the art of making your own died out. You would have to have a really special built engine to require a one-off grind for it to run correctly. A camshaft that is close but not 100% right can still be used most time with adjusting other things to make it work, like follower gap. If you are at the point where you can’t use an off the shelf model, contact one of the grinder for help making one for you.


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## ps2375 (Aug 13, 2003)

There is a company (Delta Camshaft) that does this, adding metal and grinding cam/cranks to a spec. But homemade,,, find another way to kill your motor.


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

damm you guys I wanted to see sparky here bust out his harbor freight 110 flux core and blob some metal on a cam and show off his results.... You ruined the fun we could have had.


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## dragbike14 (Apr 25, 2010)

wantacad said:


> damm you guys I wanted to see sparky here bust out his harbor freight 110 flux core and blob some metal on a cam and show off his results.... You ruined the fun we could have had.


agreed... opcorn: im waiting get to welding chippy


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## Glegor (Mar 31, 2008)

wantacad said:


> damm you guys I wanted to see sparky here bust out his harbor freight 110 flux core and blob some metal on a cam and show off his results.... You ruined the fun we could have had.


now THAT would have been a sight to behold! 

have 8 different lifts and durations on one cam!

8-in-1 cam!


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## stntman (Sep 19, 2002)

I have run a Delta cam and loved it, If i had not found the cam i did when i did I would be running one again. Down the road though when and if I feel going a bit bigger and more extreme Delta will be my first phone call.

good product, they back their work, and i ran a 276 in my 8v and ran it hard loved every minute of it as well.


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## vdubb33 (Jun 21, 2011)

when i was into go karts and ohv motors on the briggs and stratton i used to weld my own cams to specs of a $250 arc cam saved alot of money and never had a problem of the lobes chippping of or f***en up my motor but of course these are little 6.5hp motors but i was wondering if it could be done on a larger scale but i will look into it more


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## Prof315 (Jan 5, 2009)

Web Camshafts does hardwelding but it cost as much or more than a new cam. This is NOT something I'd try to do myself.


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