[ace.cafe]

Some strange terminology here from over the pond.

    A tappet to me is the rocker arm and adjuster screw   ( the tapping bit )

    A cam follower is what you call a lifter.

     Why does phosphorous in oil not needed for hydraulic followers / lifters?

     If I was a cam lobe and I looked up I would not be able to tell if I was pushing a flat base follower or a hydraulic one. Its job and appearance is the same except that the hydraulic adjuster takes up the slack.  So I dont understand you comment that the phosphorous oil will not be necessary on hydraulic followers?

    

I'm not sure about why the hydraulic lifters don't need as much of it.
It's just something that is mentioned by the oil companies as an explanation.
Maybe it's because most of the hydraulic lifters these days are rollers.
There have been numerous examples of heavy cam and lifter wear on solid lifter classic machines, which bear out the problem associated with the new oil formulations.

There are warnings all over the internet on all the classic car websites about it.
It's a pretty well known thing now.

But there are oils which still have sufficient amounts of these additives. You can still buy older oils from previous formulations, or you can buy "off-road" oils that are formulated for vehicles that don't have catalytic converters.
And some racing oils too.

The supposed threshold is about 1000-1100ppm or more, of ZDDP and phosphorous content for the older vehicles.

[Kevin Mahoney]

I agree that the issue is roller versus flat bottomed lifter. You can ruin a new cam with flat bottom lifter by not using the correct lube the first time you start it up. I don't think it is a big deal with a roller cam. ( I could be wrong here).

[clamp]

I have seen some special grease made for fitting cams into American iron engines.

    As an apprentice in the early 70s there were many engines with crap cams in England. The new Range rover would knock out cams in a few thousand miles and was a common job in the workshop. The followers failed also with crack thrust faces on the hydraulic followers which were a vovelty on English cars in those days.  Only RR would have those and they taped like hell on cold start ups
 
 The Ford overhead cam in the mark 3 Cortinas were similar and most accessory shops sold cam kits for these early engines.

      Not one cam job ever had any break in grease applied to it. If I fit cams today I use STP

     Thinking of my apprentice days reminds me of an American car we had in the workshop. It was a very powerful machine and would come in for repairs to the chassis. It would rip anti tramp rods from the chassis, the exhaust made me laugh as it was huge.   It was a soft top car and made a lot of noise.

       It was eventually traded in and stood in the back of the workshop for years till one of the mechanics bought it.

      I did not know what it was just a huge American car,---I know now what it was

       It was a soft top Shelby Mustang.

[Chasfield]

Clamp: regarding strange terminology.

I wonder if the blurring of the way the term "tappet" is used came about when engines transitioned from side valve to overhead valve operation. What few simple parts where there on side valve motors were all set low in the timing chest, and the cam following bit would incorporate the clearance adjuster. So, the term tappet kind of covered everything.

[clamp]

Side valve engines  had no push rod or anything really. The cam follower with its adjustable screw pushed directly on the valve stem. Consequently the clearances could be tight 4/6 thou as not much metal to expand.

      The terminology for adjustment of that configuration in my book would be just as simple as in adjust valve clearance.

      But  they too can tap and should.

       The 6 cylinder Rover engines in the 70's were both,-- overhead inlets and side exhaust.

        The foreman David Eastwood  said that tappets were made to tap and insisted on hearing them all gently tapping.  They did sound nice when they were done right and could'nt be heard in the car.

     If it took 2 days to do then it took 2 days . Cars were washed and delivered when finished.

    Sorry --long post.