I had my factory pushrod fail after a cam change. The pushrod wore 1/4 inch, but the cam lobe was still fine. It was a stock fuel pump, not a high performance one. I bought a new rod from Mancini's and a new stock pump, but I am afraid to use them until I figure out what caused the failure.
Besides the metal possibly being soft, is there any possibility that the arm on the fuel pump is bottoming out and causing excessive friction on the cam side ?
How does the cam side look & lastly have you measured a stock cam pump lobe vs the new cam pump lobe.. I wonder if there could be any measurable differences that can be causing excessive friction from **** machining