TDI Pumpe Duse PD Cam Bearing Oiling and Related Wear (eddif)

[James & Son]

Could It Be as Simple as Plain Old Parkerizing.

I thought i better do an update on the above post. Why? Because If i was buying a stock cam I would want to know this.

Put Rod bearings posts up in tabs so you can read them in order 192, 222, and 224. By the time you read 224 he has narrowed the essence of success to 1)breakin 2)parkerizing and 3)touching up the cam profile and finish 4) Delvac 1300 super

If you read go back to his own thread, he is talking about what material the cam is made out of and if it is steel you can't nitide it like alloy iron. This is because it looks like he is going to have swains nitride it, see post 192. Now if you nitride it is a good thing to touch up the surface to make sure you get rid of the compound layer which is the thin white surface layer which can be problematic.

So he sends to somebody else for this and they not only clean the surface up but give him a lazier ramp and then parkerizing.

My own opinion is this. Nitiding is a waste of time although it might be helpfull on a cast iron cam with high spring pressures. The pd does not have high spring pressures and open pressure is 147 lbs with a .366 inch lift. I have reduced my spring open pressure to 125 lbs open and it has made very little difference on follower wear.

So whats left. Whats left is what he states in 224. It is up to you to decide. If you take all the information I have provided in the last 3 pages of this thread I think it can be narrowed to one thing. The stock cam can get 100,000 miles? or 150,000 miles? or 200,000 miles. I can buy a stock after market cam made by the oem manufacturer for less than $300.00.

I got a question. Can you consistantly get the stock cam and lifters to 200,000 by parkerizing only?

 

[eddif]

You just have trouble when a head designed to have the cam pushed up into full support cam bearing caps, is pushed down into reduced area support ( even if you try to provide bearing shells). Then narrow the lobes and try coatings on followers that are being rapped on by hydraulic followers with limited contact area.

IMHO anointing the cam with coatings will not overcome engineering errors. Adding a slight angle on the lobes will also ( IMHO ) only increase wear. Absolutely read about Buick Nailhead engines and flat angle cams / flat followers. The discussion should help you understand why stock VW cams do not break in, but wear too soon (due to narrow lobes etc). I have mentioned these things many times, and I have confidence in the information.

eddif

 

[icecap]

You just have trouble when a head designed to have the cam pushed up into full support cam bearing caps, is pushed down into reduced area support ( even if you try to provide bearing shells). Then narrow the lobes and try coatings on followers that are being rapped on by hydraulic followers with limited contact area.

IMHO anointing the cam with coatings will not overcome engineering errors. Adding a slight angle on the lobes will also ( IMHO ) only increase wear. Absolutely read about Buick Nailhead engines and flat angle cams / flat followers. The discussion should help you understand why stock VW cams do not break in, but wear too soon (due to narrow lobes etc). I have mentioned these things many times, and I have confidence in the information.

eddif

I agree with you about the engineering errors. As far as I'm concerned this engine is an improvised Rube Goldberg patchwork to keep up with stricter emission regulations until 2007 tier standards put it out of its brief production. I just put a Colt Stage 2 Parkerized cam in mine as part of the 140,000 Km's timing belt job. My car has an unquestionable service history and always had 505.01 oil with either Castrol TXT or SLX to no avail. Since I worked in an industry that extensively used AAS oil analysis I decided to sample from new with every service. At 96,000 Km's my sample showed a sudden doubling of the iron from the previous sample. Since I had an advisory to monitor the situation I resampled at only 8,000 Km's and by that time my iron had increased 5 fold and was going exponential. At that time I was just into my extended warranty but VW refused to do anything about it since I had no symptoms other than the UOA report. Maybe they should hire an engineer from Honda to teach them how to build an engine. My son in-law drives an Accord that has 300,000 on the odometer and has only ever had basic maintenance. It passes emission tests, doesn't use oil between services and he would not hesitate to drive it coast to coast and back again which is more than what I was able to do with my VW PD engine for fear of a potential cluster F*** of a trip.

 

[James & Son]

Eddif;

The discussion should help you understand why stock VW cams do not break in, but wear too soon (due to narrow lobes etc). I have mentioned these things many times, and I have confidence in the information.

Maybe your not aware that the follower is not flat. The follower( made by INA Germany both for OEM and after market) has a .625 dia.center flat on top with the edge tapering .0006 inch( convexly) to the outside diameter of the follower top.

If you expect a flat lobe to run against a flat follower it has to have a large width such as the ALH has at 16mm to 17mm. This prevents digging in.

If you expect to successfully break the stock cam in so that the cam is running elastohydrodynamic oil film on the closed dwell and on the flanks and nose you have to improve the stock surface texture(Ra), surface lay. The stock cam roughness specs and surface waviness specs do not allow for a fast breakin especially the closed dwell. The nose and flanks of my cam broke in at about 45000 miles and my closed dwell at 80,000 miles is still not broke in and is still contacting. The wear caused by the closed dwell interferes with the nose conformity to the follower.

You need a cam to breakin in 150 to 200 hours or about 8000/10,000 miles at 2000 rpm.

That is why I am suggesting the conversion coating of a manganese phosphate (parkerizing) to solve the slow closed dwell break in. The hardened steel cam if it is ground rough along with several white papers that I have provided in resent past posts show that this combination destroys any hope of EHD lubrication film developement.

In contrast the parkerizing will break in in a short period of time and smooth the surface ( especially the grinding lay because it is a conversion coating and modifies the surface). This allows all surfaces of the lobe to breakin very quickly by not only modifying the surface but filling in the valleys allowing the film to develope and at the same time allow the gradual flattening of the hard steel mountain peaks over a long period of time.

Ford V6 cam roughness spec is .15 micrometer(Ra). The stock oem roughness spec is .5 Ra micrometer. Ford cams take 150 to 200 hours to break in. Like I said my cam is still contacting the follower in the closed dwell. The follower in the closed dwell uses EHD lub. film as well but my has still not developed yet.

By parkerizing the stock cam you will have a better chance of breaking in your cam so that full EDH film developes on the entire lobe. Go back a page and look at go fasters cam ( i own the car now). It has 270,000 miles on the stock cam, followers and bearings. Why. Cam has runs its whole life with full EHD film on the entire lobe. The number 4 cylinder lobes are starting to show light contact in the closed dwell only. That will be another story sometime.

Edit: note the roughness spec the lobe width of 13mm and break in procedure. I believe this is a flat follower flat cam. Design wise this the cheapest way to go. BUT, if you have narrow lobe you have to consider the problem of digging in especially as you say with a cam that is being pushed up and down in the cam bearings.

http://www.stle.org/assets/document..._through_Thin_Film_Coatings_and_Polishing.pdf

 

[James & Son]

Icecap: would you mind posting a picture of the lobe after breakin. Use 5K resolution and the close up function and use cloudy day type lighting( indirect) with or without flash. Takes some experimentation. Thanks.

 

[icecap]

Icecap: would you mind posting a picture of the lobe after breakin. Use 5K resolution and the close up function and use cloudy day type lighting( indirect) with or without flash. Takes some experimentation. Thanks.

OK will do that in the next month or so. Leaving next week for a round trip to Kelowna about a 7 hour freeway run.

Have a question seeking some advice. While doing the timing belt everything seemed perfect as both the crank and cam lock slide in effortlessly so I know I have it set bang on. It started right up and ran very nice and smooth and taking it for a road test seemed to have more power. I hooked up my VCDS and checked the Torsion Value and found it to be -2.0KW. I reset the torsion value to 0.0KW but was surprised that it seemed to idle a bit rougher and lost a bit of power during the road test. What would you do, live with it at the ideal 0.0KW and put up with a slightly rougher idle or set it back to where I started at
-2.0KW?
Thanks

 

[James & Son]

Did you set your rocker arm clearance.

My own opinion after reading a lot of threads and postings is ,that just as the stock cams, the after market cams can vary a bit in timing. In other words just as in engine building where you degree your cam for best performance you can do it with the PD as well. You are not only affecting the intake and exhaust valve points of opening and closing you probably have a modest effect on the rate of pressure build up due to affecting the injection lobe position as well.

So yes it is best to explore going negative by keeping track of your fuel mileage which is best done with a vasectomy( I think thats the spelling). Just remember there are limits to the torsion setting and not to exceed +/-5 degrees( thats getting close to the default) or you get a default value that goes to zero.

 

[icecap]

Did you set your rocker arm clearance.

My own opinion after reading a lot of threads and postings is ,that just as the stock cams, the after market cams can vary a bit in timing. In other words just as in engine building where you degree your cam for best performance you can do it with the PD as well. You are not only affecting the intake and exhaust valve points of opening and closing you probably have a modest effect on the rate of pressure build up due to affecting the injection lobe position as well.

So yes it is best to explore going negative by keeping track of your fuel mileage which is best done with a vasectomy( I think thats the spelling). Just remember there are limits to the torsion setting and not to exceed +/-5 degrees( thats getting close to the default) or you get a default value that goes to zero.

Yes I adjusted the injector rockers using the Frank06 method of bottomed injector backed off 1/2 turn. Adjustment was done when the tip of the cam lobe indexed with the roller pin (can't remember if it was the intake or exhaust lobe I used but worked from a print out from this site). As I said, it ran beautifully and had more power according to my butt dyno, until I reset the Torsion value to 0.0KW from -2.0KW.

 

[James & Son]

You just have trouble when a head designed to have the cam pushed up into full support cam bearing caps, is pushed down into reduced area support ( even if you try to provide bearing shells). Then narrow the lobes and try coatings on followers that are being rapped on by hydraulic followers with limited contact area.

IMHO anointing the cam with coatings will not overcome engineering errors. Adding a slight angle on the lobes will also ( IMHO ) only increase wear. Absolutely read about Buick Nailhead engines and flat angle cams / flat followers. The discussion should help you understand why stock VW cams do not break in, but wear too soon (due to narrow lobes etc). I have mentioned these things many times, and I have confidence in the information.

eddif

I did end up buying a cam.

I expected the lobes to be flat. To my surprise. see link for discription

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=440514

 

[James & Son]

This is going to be a bit cumbersome a topic as well as controversial. You will need to read my post linked to above as well as this link. I need you to read the following link to understand the follower coating wear, specifically called graphitization.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=441194

I want to discuss cam shaft requirements for proper break in regards to roughness and edge preparation based around whether you are breaking in a cam with a taper or cam that is flat.

we may have to jump back or link information gained here back to to the lub thread to discuss proper oils or oil requirements for proper break in as it is all related. Since that thread is ongoing.

These issues will be more important to to the cheap after market cam buyer or cams without the phosphate coating, as they are the most sensitive to the following at break in

1) cam roughness and edge gouging of black coating

2) graphitizing( wear) of black coating on follower.

3) oil film thickness of break in oil.

I feel the above are the 3 main things that one needs to be addressed to successfully break in especially the cheap uncoated cams. I have just broke in my Febi bistein and will provide my experience and results when I have the time. But others please start and provide your thoughts or experience.

 

[Sella Turcica]

If this is any help for this thread, here's the link to my cam replacement thread. Link to photos in posts #32 and #33.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=440847

In summary, 505.01 oil since new (dealership 5w30 until about 100k, then 5w40 after that), started noticing slight cam wear at 85k and it finally chewed through the lifter at 145k miles. That's when I had everything replaced.

 

[James & Son]

Sella Turciaca: Lets start with your replacement cam. Seem to remember it was a colt.

Edit: for others: I want to make it clear hear. I am bringing up the above/below three factors because they determine how long your cam will last. Some of my opinions have been stated in the links except for lubrication film thickness of break in oil. If you want to save some dollars and want to install a cheap cam then you should participate on this thread so you can get the full answers to the following. I will participate to help get this kick started and set what I think are some base line requirements for each of the following from the scientific literature. If not enough people are interested then it may not accomplish the goal of reliable long life non-parkerized after market cams. Eddiff stated his view above and said he didn't like taper lobe cams but I beg to differ since i now have the experiance with both. I say both should work since I have Go Fasters 432,000 kilometer car to prove it( believed to be a flat stock cam and is well documented as such from his posts, see post 1707 for pics). I know colt has more than 1000 colt II cams out in the field and I just broke in my cheap febi bilstein( both have taper lobes). Now Franko6 has more than 1200 cams out in the field and last I know he was uncommitted to one or the other so I do not know if his cam has a flat or taper grind but it seems the parkerized cams by both have been successful. I feel the uncoated aftermarket cams can live past 100,000 miles if the following are addressed.



1) cam roughness and edge gouging of black coating

2) graphitizing( wear) of black coating on follower.

3) oil film thickness of break in oil.

 

[Sella Turcica]

Yep it was a colt. No tune or mods, just cam/bearings/lifters. Ran the ZDDP for 150 miles, drained oil, added 5w40 Pentosin HP2. Will probably change it a bit early (say 7k mi) to be on the safe side and get an oil analysis from Blackstone.

 

[James & Son]

Cheap Febi Bilstien Cam Taper Lobe Break-in Method

 

[James & Son]

Yep it was a colt. No tune or mods, just cam/bearings/lifters. Ran the ZDDP for 150 miles, drained oil, added 5w40 Pentosin HP2. Will probably change it a bit early (say 7k mi) to be on the safe side and get an oil analysis from Blackstone.

Sounds good, With a find grind and parkerizing and a .010 inch radius reduction on the cam base circle: makes up for what I had to do as shown above.

 

[boxbeam30]

I hope my post is not out of line; I have an 05 BHW with 175k miles and worn cam and trying to determine best course of action aside from just replacing cam, brgs, lifters. Reading the article on polishing, it appears there is benefit mostly to surface finish both with the DLC and polished only lifters at ~0.04 microns. The test regime may not be representative for the PD engine is instructive. What is the surface finish of the OEM lifters with the DLC coating? Is it plausible to inprove the finish of the cam lobes to ~0.04 microns vs 'Parkerizing' or do both? What is the thought with the lobe chamfer and/or finish as it reduces effective load area? What about augmenting the lubrication as noted by eddif in #1691 or Rod Bearing in #1694? Might an add on kit be evolved to do this using feed from the turbo line perhaps(bulkhead fitting through cam cover for instance)? Is 0.25 mm base circle reduction adequate or is it too closely tied to oil viscosity? Are bearing 'adjustments' no longer a consideration to control cam movement (saw refs to valve and injector timing)?

 

[James & Son]

You have asked some very good questions.

During breakin I feel there is a chance of edge shearing the black coating.

Yes you will lose an additional .020 inch if you use a diamond honing stick on the edges.

My febi bilstien has lobes that have a .0006 inch taper always high to low towards the injection lobe side of the cam lobe. That means the exhaust lobes on the cam sprocket side have a left to right taper(cyl 1 & 2) and the exhaust lobes on the flywheel side have a right to left taper( cyl 3 & 4).

This slight taper is to increase follower rotation which is especially needed on the base circle of the cam lobe. The taper allows non gouging rotation on the opening lobe flanks side of lobe but cause gouging on the closing flanks.

I feel a .010 inch wide x 5 degree chamfer put on with the honing stick will prevent this wear which I have seen happen at initial breakin.

Regarding the cams supplied by colt and frank6. Here is why when they grind the cam .010 inch off the base circle by is helpful.

The height of the valve stems is such that the hydraulic lifter is compressed .020 to .030 inch. By removing .010 from the base circle the hydraulic follower is only engaged .010 to .020 which increases the bleed down and reduces the hydraulic drag of the follower on the base circle.

A lot off heat is been generated on the base circle especially when the injector fires and causes the cam to be pushed down in the bearings.

Your question on roughness applies to non parkerized cams. here is why. If you parkerize then a .4 micrometer Ra(roughness average) is good enough as the phosphate will chemically react with the surface and make a polished surface rougher. So this is the main reason all after market cam grinders parkerize because they can't grind there cams better than .4 Ra micrometer.

The ideal roughness for a non parkerized cam is .3 to .2 Ra. It then will break in to .1 Ra finish which is suitable with the oils we are using. Again this is from the scientific literature.

Unfortunately all the after market cams are coming thru at best with a .5 Ra finish and worst case is absolutely disgusting. My febi was in the .5 to .8 Ra finish so from the literature which said a cross the lobe roughness lie was better than the circumferential lie, I sanded the lobe with 1600 grit sand paper( wet sand with water and a bit of soluble oil). This fine a sand paper will only work by sanding across the lobe.

Now the idea is to knock down the high asperities so your Ra ends up at .4 to .3 range and a proper breakin will do the rest.

Now that is where my breakin oil and proceedure deviates from the norm for good reason but i will leave that for another post.

Edit: do not use a courser grit as you may start to change the profile of the cam itself. This is why across the lobe with a fine paper works. It only works to generate a lower average roughness and does not affect the profile so be consistent.

 

[boxbeam30]

Has there been any investigation using TiN or TiC using vapor deposition on the lifters or cam or are these too brittle given the application? I found Frank06 listings for his products, cam, brgs, lifters. Has there been any feedback about the efficacy of the modified bearings or the use and finish of hard chrome on the cam and the effect on the lifters over time? Although his listing notes nitrided lifters are these are actually DLC? Has anyone tried 'superfinishing' of lifters and/or cams without DLC and Parkerizing? It appears the original Parkerizing is somewhat obsolete and DIY versions are probably less controlled/rigorous than industrial controlled variants; are there other 'brands' or versions suggested, thickness, chemistry, etc.? I am familiar with the use of zinc phosphate to form dendrites on the surface of steel wire used for cold-formed fasteners, etc. It serves to retain soap and oil lubricants that attempt to reduce wear of steel tools in the forming process, usually remains attached, and burnishes into the surface of the resultant parts. Are there cam versions with an already modified base circle, Frank06 or others?

 

[boxbeam30]

Sorry, I just re-read James & Son posting about already adjusted cam base circles. Answers one of my questions. I know there is a lot in this thread, have only gotten through ~50 pages worth. Obviously a lot of thought has gone into this issue over much time by quite a few involved/interested parties on a variety of fronts.

 

[James & Son]

I ran across this material today all in one location.
Just remember this is from a stand point of material parameters, shear stresses( before and after break in) and lub. perameters( base oils) with or without additives as it does not mention that parameter.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=E_...=film strength verses traction in EHL&f=false

Cam roughness is one of the key parameters in whether the cam will break in. If you stress the contact during break in and cause elastic deformations in the root of the asperty it will not break in. You need to reduce the load or stress so only the tops of asperities are snipped of at distance that will not cause the root deformation and cracking.

how zddp may help in this process is not explained here. I know zddp increases friction but reduces wear. But remember it may take upwards of 10 minutes or more to establish a sheet protection but it happens after the fact of asperity collision not before.

It makes sense then that the proper parameters for breakin and EHL are met even when using zddp.

I used 13 cst mineral mono grade( mixed 11.4 & 14.8 wt non detergent motor oil ( no polymers to shear down) and ran motor rpm( crank rpm), no load, 1 hour at 1375 rpm or 2.5 meters/second at the cam lobe using an commercial blower to keep the temperature at 88 C. I also had added 4 ounces of ZDDPlus to bring the phosporus level up to 1800 to 2000 parts per million. The motor ran 1 hour at 1375, one hour at 1300 and one hour at 1225 rpm. I shut it down and again the next day ran it for 2 hours at 1200 rpm no load using the blower although because of higher ambient the temperature of the coolant was 89/90C. 5 houts total.

The next day my wife drove at highway speeds and returned for another 5 hours.

I drained the oil and pulled the valve cover and took the picture.

I put in a low traction ester oil ( Renewable Lubricants 5w-40 CJ4) which has high thermal conductivity and reduces the EHL load spike at the exit of the contact reducing stress and heat.

Replaced the front breaks this week end and the boot on cv joint that was 3/4 torn around the small clamp. Thats enough for me for a while i hope.

Edit: I want to point out at this point without pulling the cam i am not sure what the follower coating looks like( there seems to be very little black transfer at the nose but it is early). I can only compare what i have seen from this cam to my previous at different mileages. My previous cam was rough even at 35000 miles and i could still see a groove pattern at 33000 miles just prior to black coating wear through, pickup and scoring especially #1 and #2 exhaust. I have a cam belt change coming up in two oil changes or about 20000 miles which will give me the opportunity to see how my cam followers will look.

 

[James & Son]

If you read this, you soon realize why success is a hit and miss proposition when you realize one simple fact. Anything passing through the contact can't be larger than .1 to .2 micrometer.

Cams are being manufactured to .5 Ra or worse and the filters only filter to 6 micrometers. Initially the cam should not be rougher than .3 micrometer roughness at the worse case or else the asperity is to large to snipe off low enough to get the .15 micrometer breakin smoothness and the cam actually gets rougher than smoother as explained.

After reading this I an installing a 1 micron (average) by pass filter asap.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=E_j... EHL&f=false Edit use link in above post

Ok, I thought I was done until the research by this guy(see chapter23 and i think his testing, it is in chapter 21) showed me galling was caused by indentations from wear bits passing through the cam and follower contact oil film which is only separated by .1 micron oil film.

A 1 micron by pass oil filter is necessary and will help in 2 ways. 1) it will get grit out from previous cam wear. A magnet may help as well. 2) I will be able to adjust the by pass orifice size to help reduce base circle drag and wear and heat by the hydraulic follower.

Here is some extra reading in this regard. I will have more to say when I have taken some oil pressure readings after my installation which should be done shortly.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-201/

 

[j.clarkson]

Pd

We can do some things though.


Contrivance is the name of the game. The problems are so bad that you have to use all sorts of un-natural efforts to fix the flaws. A more natural fix would be a new head, but the odds on that are a little low. If the problems were not so bad, the most natural solution would be just a better oil. Oil will not totally fix the PD though.

So I continue to contrive other solutions.

eddif

are there tdi pd engines without a camshaft and bearing problems or are they all badly made in my case (BKC)

 

[CrAzYDr1veR]

4300 miles i had the rpm limiter at 5800 maybe it was that...

 

[James & Son]

are there tdi pd engines without a camshaft and bearing problems or are they all badly made in my case (BKC)

If you read my post 1730 I am just about one year into my make "the cheapest cam I could buy" work and last.

I am trying to prove, [the right combination of cam roughness, cam and follower break in with home brew break in oil, bypass 2 micrometer oil filter and ester type base oil] will solve the PD cam problems.

My first OEM cam lasted 80,000 kilometers and was replaced under warranty, which then eat the lifters at 56000 kilometers. I kept it going by replacing exhaust followers every 50,000 kilometers until I researched the heck out of the issue and replaced with the cheapest Febi cam I could find at 204.00 US.

Will be replacing cam belt shortly and will be checking followers.

4300 miles i had the rpm limiter at 5800 maybe it was that...

I would check if all oil plugs on the rocker shafts are still pressed into place as this is known to happen on the BRM( that picture looks to be PD). Either you had binding or lost oil pressure on 4 and 5. The use of reuseable bolts here in N.A. has caused binding in a couple of cases.

Edit: just noticed that it is 1 and 2 bearing gone. That actually makes more sense if a plug has fallen out of a rocker shaft oil port end drilling.

 

[CrAzYDr1veR]

Edit: just noticed that it is 1 and 2 bearing gone. That actually makes more sense if a plug has fallen out of a rocker shaft oil port end drilling.

all plugs in place and i never had low oil pressure , new bearings and polished the cam to remove imperfections, 10w60 oil to raise oil pressure and it happends again.
Since it only destroys the lower ones it has to be from the force that the injector make when they are at full load...

 

[James & Son]

I think I can solve your problem with the cam bearings. The tin layer will stand up but only when the bearings have established enough surface area to support the forces you are generating.

The way this is done is to gradually increase the injection loads on the bearings over many kilometers. I will explain. The copper layer is very soft when the bearings are new and must be compressed to form to the contour of the cam journal. You need to do this by gradually increasing the injection loads.

Now copper gradually hardens due to heat cycles. You need to increase the bearing support area by gradually increasing the injection loading which causes the copper to conform gradually to the journal diameter. This has to be done over 0 to 30000 kilometers. I know if you try to do it to fast you will destroy the tin layer.

The copper is self conforming and self limiting, when it reaches a point where the surface area can support the maximum load it no longer yields but due to continued heat cycles hardens and takes a permanent set.

Now Oil Hammer has said the cam bearings take a permanent set by 60,000 miles. So you see these bearing need to be broken in but how fast is up to you. I think gradually to 30,000/40,000 kilometers is probably necessary in your case. 20,000 Kilometers is not enough.

 

[James & Son]

you can look at this modification to increase oil flow.


and this one to reverse the lower bearing.


This will get oil to 8:00 and 2:00 o'clock positions and increase oil flow at high rpm. You need to drill a oil passage from the oil groove to rocker arm oil passage as shown. On #1 bearing cap use Franko6 no drill modification. Groove is .093 or .125( width) x .040( depth) inches. I did it on a turn table using a woodruff keyseat cutter. You can extend oil flow to 8:00 if you reverse lower bearing as well and recess back of bearing shell to 8:00 oil slot. To make new tab on bearing read discription on picture.

For oil you need to talk to Terry Dyson( google) and also William W. Garmier of Renewable Lubricants. They can set you up with an oil that is shear proof and can support the loads you have.

Edit: you can also put the bearing tabs in with a fine tooth hacksaw blade but milling is better.
Edit; www.dysonanalysis.com
Edit: note, ignore wasteshape bearings, that can only be used on a stock engine solve another problem.

 

[James & Son]

This thread by ediff relates mostly to the cam life from 100,000 miles to a 150,000 miles.
ediff felt his cam survived due to catching the copper wear and blocked oil slot at 4:00 o'clock position on the cam bearing.

But at 150,000 miles his cam started to wear or what is refered to final wear faze which is opposite to the initial breakin faze. there are different stages where the final 10,000 miles can wear very quickly to final faiure of both the cam lobe and lifter.

Up to now putting in a cheap cam was pretty much a 100,000 mile guaranty to early failure based probably around rough cam grinds and the operating enviroment. This is exactly the same problem the oem stock cams have had, although it is hard to know how many rough cams were produced for the 2005 to 2006 pump-duce originally.

I brought up the fact to Franko6 that my cheap febi brm cam had a taper across the valve lobe parallel to the cam rotational axis or radial to the direction of the grind and i knew this was intentional because the 1 and 2 cylinder lobes were mirror image to 3 and 4 cylinder lobes.

Frank checked with his cam grinder and said that his cam along with a number of well known after market suppliers had this taper. Colt cam was the first to mention that they were putting this taper on back in 2010.

You can read more details here.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=468200&highlight=James+Son&page=3

 

[shaark92]

I had Steve Glover R/R my cam at 158K miles in Aug '16. Now right at 190K. No problems noted.

Here today trying to determine if 507.00 in the '06 TDI will be bad.

Thanks for pinging TD ... he's a good man and has put me on RLI for my 2011 6.7 PSD F350. I'll ask him this question. I have nearly a case of the 507.00 Amsoil for the '12 TDI which is sitting awaiting the buyback deal. sigh, don't want to, but I can be bought.

 

[James & Son]

Heres the pictures of go fasters cam.



I think it is still early enough LOL( 432,000 kilometers) to help #4 cylinder closed dwell beginning stages of pickup.

As you may or may not know I own Go Faster's 2006 Jetta which i bought as my second car now owning a grey and red 2006 jetta. At the time 3 years ago it had 429,000 kilometers and now it has 460,000 and i decided to change the cam bearings last weakend and also have a look at how the cam was doing again and compare.

What do you think.


Edit: cam bearing #1 on right is just faintly showing some copper but cam journal is blocking oil port just as ediff posted that started the thread.
As I pointed out in previous post, by changing bearings eddif was able to extend the non wear zone of his cam to over 150,000 miles and I believe he reached 200,000, if he would like to verify. I have pictures of the cam lobes as well which I will post if I can free up some room on my pic album.