Jim Macklin wrote:
There is also the fact that the oil pump is at one end of
the engine and the cam shaft lobe that fails is probably at
the other [a guess] and the oil takes some time to reach the
journal and establish a full oil bearing.

Add a little sludge, maybe some cold oil and an over-revved
engine, and you get cam lobe /journal failure or the lifter.

Pilot error due to poor operation.



This is on an O-540. The cam lobe that wore is in the center of the shaft.

So how long is too long to sit? The longest my airplane sat between
flights since the O/H was one stretch of 7 weeks while it was in the
shop for corrosion repair on the belly. Second longest was also in the
shop for 4 weeks for a new interior. Other than that it has been flown
a minimum of every 20 days.

So if it is pilot error, I am all ears as to what I can do to improve my
technique. So far, no one has been able to tell me anything I did
wrong, including Penn Yan.