Thanks for the advice. I did noticed that the fucked up cylinders weren't spinning so I thought something was up. If I start it after installing the new cam and get no spinning am I just fucked or is there something I could do to save it?

The stock car racing guys, made an art form of getting power from standard parts, so yeah I reckon you'll be ok.   Mild cam usually means a 'towing cam' - just a bit more torque basically, nothing crazy.   Use break-in oil, or mineral oil at the least, with assembly goo on all the cam lobes, as u install it.   With the engine idling, check the lifters and pushrods are spinning as they open/close the valves. (mark top of lifters and side of pushrods, with some whiteout or similar.) No spinning = cam will wipe out in short order.  

I might be getting a new mild cam and lifters for cheap. Would this be ok to run with the stock manifolds and carby and would this enable me to tune for more power or would I still be limited by the manifolds? Also is there a proper run in procedure for the crossflow or does it vary depending on manufacturer?

G'day, read everywhere to avoid the non Bosch distributors, can the Bosch versions still be found/ brought new ? Haven't checked yet if mine is still original unit. But starting to look around for a new one. The car has a rhythm to its idle up and down and I'm thinking it will be dizzy/ coil ?   Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk    

probably find a new timing chain also, it will be sloppy most likely, a stock one will be fine.    i haven't done one before, but to get the cam out with the engine in the car, you'd need to pull all the lifters out, remove the distributor, remove the air con condenser, radiator and harmonic balancer (need a puller) timing cover should come off with sump on, but might be annoying when refitting with new crank seal advised and possibly a gear puller for the timing gear on the crank(although i've got these off without a puller several times with some gentle levering with prybar/screw driver etc)
cam should come out 

It is proper fucked. The surface is about 1 mm concave and has deep scratches all going in one direction. It has a band of putting on the bottom so I'm wondering if the lifter was stuck when I first got it running and it just fucked it. I've decided to put a new (used) cam in it as I can get one for $50 and the cheapest engine near me is $300. Any pointers on how to actually do the swap?

How dished out is it? Grab a pic with a straight edge ruler on it?   I've had worn lifters where the cam was still ok, (and actually still ran good too, but clattery).    

Yeah that looks pretty hammered    

Hey, today I pulled my lifters on my XF and now know that my cam is fucked. Anyone know where I could get a cam and lifters for under $300. Any usable cam is welcome

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/917722616108843009/1250710327625125888/IMG_20240613_170906_7.jpg?ex=666bee43&is=666a9cc3&hm=232b66304c5220c65780560a2aa96ec59f1f98088d784fca6f530957ac0dbef8& I think it might be cam time