A. G. Olphart

The color coordination is great!

"yeah, its a good product,but to use it correctly you need to run the engine up to operating temp before squirting some into the intake, untill the exhaust starts belching smoky oil clouds and shutting the engine OFF while its still hot, something thats difficult to do while the engines NOT installed," Interesting... not "fog a little in each cylinder', but a "kill a few mosquitos" type fog. .

Boat dealers have a product called "fogging oil". which is specifically designed for cylinder protection during the off season. _

It isn't just soaking the lifters in oil. A person has to work the lifter plunger up and down until the lifter no longer emits bubbles... The lifter now has oil, not air, inside. Now when the bottom of the lifter is raised by the camshaft, the push rod is also lifted (rather than compressing a pocket of air). Grinding the teeth off the distributor gear isn't difficult, just takes a grinder with a relatively coarse wheel. Have to take the teeth off because they mesh with the cam, and we don't want that during prelube. Since your lifters are dry, the object is to bring some sort of pressure into the system and fill them a bit. You will also fill all the oil galleys, and thus should have almost instantaneous oil pressure for the bearings. I don't know the relationship between lifter plunger travel and cam lobe lift, but if the lifers are dry, you will have way less than nominal valve timing and lift until they normalize. Jon's exaggerated example is a pretty good explanation of how a hot reground cam is made... They cant really stretch the lobes, so they grind a bunch off the back, and make the lobes look taller. A final thought: if you decide to reuse the old cam in your 305, consider resurfacing the lifters as previously discussed. No two blocks are machined in exactly the same manner, so the established wear patterns are no good. It is starting over. .

I hope you've got it right too! Summit did include cam break in lube to butter the lobes and lifter bottoms, didn't they? Have you prelubed the engine? Old school used to put the lifters in a can of oil and work the plungers up and down to fill them with oil... that way the engine would fire right off without a prelube. (Assembly lube kept things slick until the pressure came up, and filling the filter with oil ensured that it was up fairly quickly). During assembly we adjusted the rockers on each cylinder (on its' compression stroke) to take up the lash plus about 1/2 a turn. A few slow revolutions by hand would allow the lifters (which had been fully pumped up, as described above) to "bleed down after placing initial preload on it." Main points (were there any?)-- 1)lash is taken out while lifters are on the heel of the cam, not on the lobes. 2)engine should be prelubed. I ground the gears off an old distributor and spin it with an electric drill until the pressure comes up. (A screwdriver like shaft won't work... the dist. housing is needed to seal the system and allow pressure to build). 3)I don't know why pumping up the lifters has fallen into disfavor- it always worked for me.

Terrible discoloration of the chrome from welding... I'd use some kind of bolt on mount.

You're screwed-- Unless you have relatives in most every town in the USA. Your wife's numbers 1 and 5 are killers. Since you do have relatives in Sacramento, how about North on I-5 about as far as your wife considers to be "within commuting distance". SCCA's Thunder Hill is at Willows, and there used to be auto crossing in Sac. .

A little research on high RPM valve springs and their life span may be in order. (Unlike Grumpy, I don't have a link for you). There is a reason that racers change springs a lot. If you don't like adjusting valves, you really won't like changing springs. Edit: This is only a part of what Mikelly referred to. .

Venture... If I read Michael's post correctly, yes, a Pantera treatmenjt should help: "Here’s a paradoxical (but verified!) trick: remove the hatch lid of the Z completely, turning your Z into a mini-El Camino. The exhaust smell will go away (for various reasons)." The Pantera has the flying butresses of an El Camino, but covers the bed. Should still work (in my none too humble opinion) as the shape is more brick like, and no longer has the absolutely horrible hatch angle. .

Pretty Great! You have an almost roadworthy Z and only a 5 post count. Maybe the search function does work. Congratulations! .

Since it sat for a while, the problem might be crud in the gas tank/ fuel system; hanging a U turn could have caused it to act up by stirring things... .

The bigger, thicker one on the left looks like an exhaust valve rotator. Valve is rotated to minimize/ even out seat and valve wear. .

For casting numbers and such: http://www.mortec.com .

Is available: You can buy a cam with the lift built in to it, designed to work with 1.5 rockers. No, I don't think your stock springs will work for any of Crane's Z cams. "UDHarold" (Harold Brookshire, used to own Ultradyne, & designed Comp's HE268 per posts on Chevelles.com) recently designed Holley/Lunati's Voodoo line of cams. He mentioned in passing that cams with similar acceleration rates need similar springs. Logically the bigger cams in a series open farther by holding the rates over more duration; thus it doesn't seem like a good idea to try less spring, even on the smaller cams in a series. I don't see the Z cam you have been looking at- .420/.433 lift. The smallest Z cam that I see listed on Cranes web site is the Z-256-2 (part number 113501) which is 206/218 @.050 with a lift of .432/.459 on 1.5 rockers. That cam, which shows a maximum RPM of 5200RPM/valve float 5800, calls for 114 pounds on the seat (spring pressure with valve closed ), 34 pounds more than your current springs spec out for new. Based on the RPM you want to turn, the Z cam you might be led to consider is the Z-268-2, but it probably likes more compression than I think you have, and although the max useable RPM is more like you want (5800) it wants to cruise at 2600-3000. If you are running about 8.5:1 compression, I'd also consider Lunati's Voodoo 256, part #60101LK (kit). You could possibly even get by with your current springs, but how tired are they? From their web site: http://www.holley.com/types.asp?type=526 _________________________________________________________________ 60101LK 256/262 213/219 .454"/.468" 112/108 1000-5500 60101 Description- Hydraulic: Best mild Performance cam. Works excellent in TPI fuel Injection applications. Makes approximately 19" vacuum at idle. Great for Performance oriented marine applications and heavy towing applications. Perfect "Street Rod" cam. Has slightly noticeable idle, works with stock converter, A/C, power brakes and stock valve springs in most cases. _________________________________________________________________ Perhaps some other board members have favorites for (near) stock engines? .

Hi Tony- AFIK, lift is lift, the springs and valves don't much care if it is the result of a .500 inch lobe on your cam using 1:1 rockers, or a .250 lobe using unobtanium 2:1 rockers. Personally, I wouldn't even hunt for 1.7 rockers... that's big block stuff. I bought 1.6s, and have since found that pretty much whatever duration and lift a sane person would choose to use on the street is available for 1.5s. The spring stats you quote are pretty wimpy. They may not bind until .550 lift, but that does not address the RPM they can handle at that lift. It is a really good idea to use the springs specified for the cam you buy. If you use other than the rocker ratio recommended by the cam manufacturer, you may require more spring. (As per above, the valve and spring don't know where the lift came from, they only need to travel the required distances in the time available at the RPM you wish to turn). If you want to run stamped rockers and big lifts (not a great idea from valve guide wear standpoint) you should verify that the rockers have slots long enough to handle the cam/lift you choose. Again, head gasket thickness is dependent on engine clearances. Most anything will fit, but it may not be optimal. The crank seals are not that forgiving- you either have an old style crank with the bigger seal area, or the newer smaller version, which also requires a different flex plate. I was asking about measurements just to verify displacement... a lot of guys have bought 350's that measured out to be 305's. They all look the same.. Does your engine say 5.7 on the bellhousing flange? HTH. Edit: I forgot to mention that running other than stock rocker ratio can require modification of the push rod holes through the heads; all I had to do on mine was elongate the holes (closer to the rocker studs) as Vortecs use rail style rockers. I don't know what all is involved with a guide plate engine... if the plates are cut deep enough for 1.6s or not.

For a daily driver with an OD tranny, that truck cam might be fine, and it won't cost you $250 to find out. (It also works happily without cutting the valve guides for higher lift). Here is a really neat program, if you want to check out cruise RPM: http://racingdownloads.com/racing_software-22.html At one time there was a pretty fair market in crate engine cams: New take outs, from guys going immediately to the 'HOT' cam and beyond. Might be worth looking into. .

Tony- You haven't mentioned what you are looking for from this engine: highway mileage cruiser, or track car. You have a truck engine, which would be great on the highway with an overdrive transmission; bad idea if you want to race. If you want a bit more of a performance cam, now is the time; just find what your engine's CR is, and don't go wild with the duration. The guy's here: http://www.chevelles.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13 like UDHarold's new Lunati/Holley Voodoo cams. UDHarold doesn't like anything bigger than the 268 on the street with power brakes, and it is probably too big for your CR. Here is a neat calculator: http://members.uia.net/pkelley2/DynamicCR.html Have you figured out exactly what engine you have (bore diameter?), and what the compression ratio is supposed to be? If not, this site may help: http://www.mortec.com/ How far down in the cylinders are the piston tops at TDC? The right head gasket for your engine is dependent on all these factors. (I think most SBC's start out with pistons approximately .025 down in the cylinders). If they are still at that level, then a head gasket .015 to .020 will help you maintain what compression your engine had. Most rebuilder sets come with thicker gaskets.

"installed a 12" long flex line with a removeable plug at the end-essentially hangs down along the side of the trans for easier access and bleeding." If the line actually hangs downward, it may trap air bubbles and make the clutch harder to bleed. .

Since the cylinders are perfect (as you describe), and no rust, I'd not even pull the pistons. If you had a broken ring, the bits and pieces should have carved/marked up the cylinder walls. If worn out, there should be a ring ridge. You may be able to get a look along side the tops of the pistons at the top ring gap- don't know. I've never been that lucky; by the time I tear something down, it has carbon around the top land. Why did the guy yank the engine from is tow truck? If you don't know, pulling the bearing caps to have a look is a fine idea. Not to be insulting, but it is important not to mix them up or swap them side to side, and bolts must be properly retorqued. You've deduced that mixing up the lifters was not a good idea. It gives you a great opportunity to try out one of those new 'Voodoo' cam kits. If you can see no wear at all on the bottoms of the lifters and they still have their slightly convex shape (not truly flat or hollow in the center), David Vizard has written that they may be refurbished by sanding them in a figure 8 pattern on fine sandpaper over flat glass. (I don't recall exactly what, maybe something like 600 wet or dry). I do like his book on building budget Small Block Chevys. .

Available through or at your local Chevrolet dealer's parts department... I don't recall the part number. .

Skip's got it right... a hydraulic lifter engine has no "clearances" or valve lash. The procedure he outlined works well if the engine is brought to operating temperature (as specified), and leaves very little of the lifter's travel to "pump up" should the engine be over speeded. As long as none of the lifters are clicking (and the engine isn't missiing due to a valve hanging open- VERY unlikely), this step may be omitted for your tuning purposes. You may want to go to the fuel delivery forum for more info on your injection: http://forums.hybridz.org/forumdisplay.php?f=74

Assuming that you did an air check on the clutch pack during assembly, the only thing I can think of for a regular tranny is a sticky shift valve (which probably falls in the 'usual problems' category along with separator plate leaks). IIRC, the 4l60E is the electronically operated version of the 700R4; is it possible that an OD shift may not be being requested. Or... Is there an OD shift solenoid to fail? Happy hunting.

Since the engine torques away from the frame, I would guess a half (maybe 3/4) inch would be about right to allow for deceleration and motor mount settling. If it drops to where it touches, a new mount or steel shim should bring it back up. How far does your frame flex? I wouldn't feel comfortable with 1/4" as my mounts always go soft over time. How far are they spaced in stock Chevys?

Great time, and a nice improvement; the next .4 may be a bit harder to find.

Harmonic vibration comes to mind... equal spacing makes convenient nodes.