Re: Bendix Treadle Vac Study- Serioius Business!!

Posted by fred kanter On 2011/6/6 21:27:27

To Craig,

In my opinion the BTV has gotten a bad reputation due to poor workmanship in rebuilding. IN the 50's 60's there were tens of millions of BTV equipped cars on the road and not a rash of accidents/failures.

If there were a number of rebuilders of flat tappet (vs. modern roller tappet) engines and some recently rebuilt collector car motors self destructed within 1000 miles would you propose all flat tappet engines be replaced by late model Chevy 350's ro Ford Modular engines. There would be no more cam and eventualy entire engines?? Or would it be more reasonable and prudent to instruct rebuilders to coat the cam with break-in lube?

In fact this has happened already. We sell 1000's of new and rebuilt cams a year and in the past 10 or so years experienced warranty claims saying a few lobes were soft as they were destroyed.
If you know about hardening it is like saying 3 slices of a loaf of bread were not baked...impossible. The problem is that the rebuilders were not coating the cams. Since that we have included cam prelube and instructions with every cam. Now we have perhaps one claim a year, we have educated the rebuilder.

We've sold over 15,000 BTV kits over the past 40 years with very very few comments that the unit failed. We include Bendix prepared instructions that of course to not say to block the return channel with silicone.

Any system, brakes, carb, oiling, air cond, electrical etc will have disasterous results if fixed in a haphazard or incorrect manner. That is not a call to throw out original and modify.

If someone fillled your modified system with motor oil or trans fluid adn you lost brakes in 100 miles wouild you modify it again or find the cause??