Hi Guys, I thought I'd let you know that the valves in these heads are 11/32"and are under cut. What Manley used to call race flow. The pushrods I was using and will probably use the same kind, but obviously shorter with this roller cam are Manton 3 Series 11/32 x.120 wall and again I am using Performance Quotient aluminum adjustable roller rockers, 1.75 ratio. I don't know how I could get the valve train weight down any lower, and it shouldn't need to be in my mind since this is a street motor that will get occasional bracket race use and I will try to keep it below say 58-5900 since these things are so fragile. It's kinda frustrating that all of you seem to thinks that obviously I had the wrong springs on there from Pro Maxx. Fine. I took those off, because everyone here was saying that they were too strong for the flat tappet cam and that is probably what killed the lifter. Again fine that's in the past now. But the springs I ordered are close to the numbers that Brent said at first would be best for a billet core hydraulic roller cam and Morel hydraulic roller lifters. Now it seems that you guys are telling me that these new springs are all wrong and there is no way to shim them to get the spring pressures to numbers that suit some of you. Where do I buy these magic springs that you guys are talking about? That will have the correct numbers at the open and closed measurements. I thought going to a cam manufacturer that had been around for decades and getting their recommendation for lifters and springs for this application to be used between say 2400 to 5700 rpm was a good idea. They have been making them longer than me and most anyone that I have talked to. Yes they don't "specialize" in FE engines but they have been making parts for them for quite sometime I would think. I live in north Alabama and there aren't a bunch of machine shops close and I can guarantee none of them that are within 150 miles are well versed in FE motors. The closest FE guy is Blair Patrick, he's just 45 miles away but I've never seen any of you guys mention him, and I don't know anything about him. For the most part I have built my own stuff and I've made maybe 1000 passes on the track thru the years and only floated a valve once to the point of piston contact and at that it didn't do anything but bend a valve and ding the piston enough to replace it. And I routinely turned those motors 6500-7000. Once again, I appreciate all the input, but I REALLY don't want to send my heads off to have them built.
Just for the sake of asking, how would I check the valve spring pressure with them installed? I just bought a tool to use in a vise or I used it in my press. It is a BCS gauges that reads from 0-1000 psi. Can I just get some shims and put them under the spring and put all that in the press with the tool and measure at the given heights? If so, That's easy.
I don't mean to sound angry or pissy here. I'm just a bit frustrated at spending a LOT of money on this and each time I order something I have to wait forever. And then when I get as close as I can find to what people say I should use and then they say OH NO you have the wrong parts.
Thanks again
Dave
Hi Dave, I was out of town sorry for the late reply. Not saying the springs are "all wrong" but they may not be the right ones, and honestly you have some data missing to be 100% sure
Any time I spec a set of springs, I start by measuring the available space between a standard retainer with standard retainers, and allow for a planned locator thickness. That's the intended installed height.
I measure every single valve to see how much variance, and the tallest and shortest. It's easily changeable by +/- keepers, shims, etc, so you look for something that works for all 16 THAT'S the step we are missing, and to be brotherly blunt, I won't buy springs until I do that, period
Second, we have tried to deduce installed height (guess) based on the advertising specs of the heads in this thread, and when we did that, my two scenarios are logical, but not actual, so still sort of stuck
You need a valve spring micrometer to do this
After I come up with an installed height, I look at spring specs and have a plan on how I will shim them, in theory
THEN...I check pressure at that planned installed height, and open, and coil bind for every individual spring in the set. I keep track of all, and assuming no goofy springs in the set, I move them around to complement the various installed heights to get pressures very close once installed
To do that, you need an accurate pressure tester with height measurement. Generally the cheap ones aren't that good.
That's why I mentioned it might be smarter to just drop them off somewhere, or even ship the heads to someone like Brent or me and just get them back right. If you are Brent's customer, I'd recommend him, he can make them very right
FYI - Coil bind heights can vary by .020, pressures by 10-15 lbs, and if you don't know your current installed height and planned pressures, you can see how that Howards salesman just sorta guessed, especially with typical salesman ability, or lack thereof. My gut says you can make them work, but there is some blueprinting that needs to be done first, never mind a variety of shims to get to your final result anyway
Like Rosanne Rosanna Danna said....It's always somethin