Reply With Quoteouch, light springs buddy. I have good ones here if you need them...
If you have triple springs good luck...
Brian
I did it again!
I've got my longblock all together. I took a break from the engine to put my Caribbean back together. I had ordered some length checkers from summit a few weeks back.
Today, I decided to go out and get the lengths. Wrong! The checkers I bought aren't worth a crap. Evidently they are only intended for light spring checking, because they were bending badly as I was trying to adjust them out.
What do you guys use for checking lengths with heavy springs installed? Do one of the cam Cos. make a strong enough set? Please don't tell me I have to pull the head off to install light springs again!!! Tell me there's a way!!!
Thanks in advance.
ouch, light springs buddy. I have good ones here if you need them...
If you have triple springs good luck...
Brian
Do not need to pull the head off to install light springs.
Put air pressure in the cyl.
Or very carefully feed some small rope in the cyl and bring the piston up gently. That will keep the valve from opening.
AAARRRGGGHHH!!! jawdrop I'll need a 5 foot bar to compress the springs!!! This damn engine's never gonna run at the rate I going!
Sometimes I feel like I'm banging my head against the curb! I just have to keep telling myself "patience, Jackass, patience....
Brian, how 'bout those light springs?
Thanks fellas.
Got them right here, along with a chromemoly checking pushrod.
Brian
You shouldn't need to open the valves to check the length. The proper pushrod length is when the contact point on the valve is about 1/3 the diameter of the valve towards the rocker. I think that might be confusing the way I worded it. The rocker tip should be contacting (at zero lash/lift) slightly to "up" side of the valve tip. After that adjusted correctly then everything should be alright.
Heatseaker...... By the way... I'm sure you have a new cam installed... If it isn't a roller, you'll need to break that cam in with at least the inner springs removed! You don't want to subject a flat lifter cam to such high spring pressures during break-in. During the break-in process, your cam is experiencing one of the most extreme wear periods of it life. You don't need all that extra spring pressure for breaking it in.
I just use old replacement pushrods that don't have the tip welded in the end. Remove the tip and shorten the pushrod. If you need the pushrod longer, then install a little spacer or a washer between the pushrod and the tip. Play with the length's till you find what you need and then order the good chrome molys. I like to use the full tension valve springs as this is more "real world".
The proper length pushrod will make the smallest pattern on the valve stem (near the center). Just use a mark a lot pen, color the tip of the valve and then open and close the valve several times by turning the engine over. Look the pattern the rocker arm wiped off the valve stem tip. Play with it till you get the best pattern. For stock length valves and MOST normal base circle cams, a manley $15 length checked will come pretty close. But not perfect.
Lakes, the cam(roller) was run on another engine with these same heads for about two hours, so it should be alright(I hope).
I have a borrowed "Geometry checker". It centers the roller on the valve stem at exactly half lift. It's supposed to be the shit.
The pushrods that came with the package(heads and cam) are too short. I think that's from a combination of things. One being that I had to use .090" head gaskets, due to the o-ringing the block already had done. Another could be deck height?
Brian, what length is your checker? I'm thinking I'm going to have to make up a set of checkers from some old stocker pushrods, if I can find some. I don't want to destroy the set I have, maybe I can off them. They are Comp chromoly 3/8" .080" wall thickness. Comp says to send the checkers in after adjusting them to the right length, and they will make a set exactly the same length. I'm going to get two each extra, in case of a catastrophy.
After stepping back for a while(which I should do a bit more often), I was able to use one of these checkers I bought for the intake. I'm going to modify the other to get the exhaust.
I've found that I don't get max lift at the optimum pushrod length. When I get the checker adjusted to center the roller over the valve tip at mid lift, I lose about .010" lift at max lift. Does this sound OK? I also discovered that I don't get the advertised lift at the valve. That probably is due to the pushrod angles?
Thanks for all the advice guys!
Posting Permissions