[Need_for_speed]

Update: cam covers are off and my indie confirms that wear pads were very badly worn. He texted me pictures and...he's not kidding. Very deep grooves on all of them, and the little oil tubes on top were completely blocked with plastic shavings.
Money. Well. Spent.

Things I've learned from my PCA tech guy in the meantime:
- Most of the wear on these pads occurs during the first few seconds of engine startup. They are oiled pads, but they're one of the last components to receive oiling after engine startup because of the distance from the oil pan.
- Frequent oil changes (as if you needed another reason) help flush the plastic bits and prevent the oil feed tubes on the pads from clogging and accelerating wear.
- The wear pads are plastic to reduce chain wear.
- Catastrophic engine failure can occur from chain pad wear, but not from slipped timing (the 5 chain engines tend not to slip timing). The plastic bits from the pads can clog oil passageways as well as the oil pickup tube and cause oil starvation. Unfortunately, you may not realize it was actually chain pad wear that caused the starvation issue.
- There is some evidence that, outside of engine startup, pad wear is greatest at 2200-2500 rpm. So, keep the revs up, I guess.

I should be picking her up on Friday. I'll keep you posted.