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1 bad lifter worth it?

78 Bonanza said:
Way to go! Going stock is going to save you some big headaches! No clearance issues, special machining, etc. You don't need the Jegs tech guys to help you with the parts. Just tell them you want a stock setup and they will have all the numbers listed together. The reason I listed Jegs is that they are the most reliable source for quality parts that you can trust. I have had loads of trouble with Summit and many of the other companies. I have spent well up to and over 10k with Jegs and have always been happy with them. The small block chevy is one of the easiest motors to get stock parts for! If you want numbers I will gladly type them out for you on what you will need. If you are going with a bigger cam go with GM performance and tell them what you have in the Blazer (rear axle ratio, etc.) Don't let it over whelm you. It is really simple if you keep it simple! Too many guys out there read each month's issue of whatever car magazine (which are put out by the big parts manufacturers) and make their decisions based on what they have read. All they are doing is saving the guys money by testing out their parts for them, believe me I used to be one of those guys but learned my lessons the expensive way! I have been there and lived through all of the mistakes, blowups, failures, successes, sleepless nights, working two days straight without sleep to get a motor ready for the next day, beating my head against a wall over a simple mistake, and havind numerous satisfied customers. I built a stock 400 small block three years ago and called Jegs and told them I wanted all stock parts and gave them my bearing specs and all and they had my stuff to me within 3 business days and that motor went together without a hitch and still runs like it was new. The cams on the small block chevys were always prone to round off the cam. That's why you hear stories of guys complaining about carb issues and such and not knowing what is really wrong. The fact of the matter is the cam has flattened out and needs to be worked over. It would amaze you how many guys have argued with me about this and then thanked me after spending loads of money on a new carb, intake, etc. and finally changed out the cam and like magic she runs again!! Can anyone out there tell me what part won't interchange in the oiling system of one small block with the other small blocks? Just a quiz for the gear heads out there who build motors. Thought we could make this a little fun. No cheating and looking it up! I wish you luck with your build and hope you success no matter the road you choose! And as always this is just my opinion and take it as you will.
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dude, paragraph's, please.. just hit the enter button a couple times every now and then... :haha: that sh*t's annoying to read... thanks..
 
The Lunati cams you listed are there bare-bones line, which is the less expensive version of the voodoo series. Not sure on their performance, but I can say the Voodoos are fantastic. THe voodoo kits with lifters are about 184.
 
I have a cam/lifter set out of my 400sb. I don't know how to get the numbers for it, but if you are interested, we can talk super cheap $$. It was described to me as being "slightly more aggressive than an RV cam in a 350", but ended up not what I wanted for my 400. It has maybe 500 miles on it and I believe it to be perfect, but I need to closer inspect everything before calling it that.

If anyone knows how I can get "build" numbers off it, at least I'll know for the future.
 
Well, I'll be out of the loop for a few days. Trip begins. Portland, Astoria, bunch of other places down there. Saturday to the San Juan islands to go zip lining, then east somewhere to stay in a Yert.

I'll resume Monday or Tuesday :waytogo:
 
Time to get to work

IMAG0241.jpg
 
I was curious how the model Camaro gets used as a tool in the garage?

Martin
 
imiceman44 said:
I was gonna say you got the most important part, but then I realized it's just an empty box for the push rods.:doah:
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It gets emptied and put in the cooler so I don't have to go back in the house as I'm working. :waytogo: Been wanting to get a mini fridge, but this stupid house has one 15amp breaker for the entire garage, porch lights, the back bedroom, and the lights in the laundry room. :dunno: Its hell running the air compressor, I gotta turn everything off.

82355 said:
I was curious how the model Camaro gets used as a tool in the garage?

Martin
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One of the kids brought it in there, I think it's taking up valuable junk I never put away room. :rolleyes:


So I didn't get started until about 11 or so yesterday. It took forever to clean all the gasket surfaces since I can't run the air compressor for more than a few minutes otherwise it trips the compressor, or the breaker, plus I should have gotten a more coarse rolox set. So I'm not as far as I'd like to be. But that's still way better than scraping gasket and rtv by hand. :thumb:

Dropped the pan, chunks of rtv and exhaust/carbon chunks in the bottom of the pan, the oil strainer/pickup had chunks of rtv and carbon, cleaned those both out. Think someone before me thought rtv had to be applied by using the entire tube, and between the strainer being full of crap, I think a chunk of something blocked that pushrod or oil passage that lead to the cam ware.

Pans back on, cam is in, timing chain/cover back on, harmonic balancer is on, (got the cover kit with the repair sleeve), new water pump is on. Timing chain was good, at some point a double roller set was put on. Hoping to get it all together and fluids filled by early this afternoon, and have it all timed and running and test it out by this evening. We'll see.
 
Oh ya, as far as oil passages in the head, any way to blow those out, other than trying to angle my air gun into the holes? Only thing I could think of otherwise is to fill it full of oil, and use my oil primer tool and watch the passages. The other week when I took the left valve cover off and tightened the rockers, oil was comming out (Well I had those clips on) but I didn't do the right side (which had that worn #2 intake lobe) so I never saw if oil was getting through.
 
Yeah, the only oil passages in the cylinder heads are drainback holes.

Martin
 
82355 said:
Yeah, the only oil passages in the cylinder heads are drainback holes.

Martin
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K, thanks guys. I saw the holes, and saw the holes in the side of the lifters and thought thats how it worked.

Fuel pump is back on, oil filters on, lifters and push rods are in. Time to make some lunch then go around and tighten my rockers. Definitely behind schedule, but feeling sluggish today.
 
ok, a bit of advice.

Crucial, dont over tighten your valves/ rocker arms. Make sure you understand valve adjustment procedure, or you will be doing this all over again.

If you are putting a double roller in place of a stock chain check for clearance between the chain and the block, top of cam normally

After you break the cam in, (20 min or so) change oil and throw that oil filter away and never use a fram again.

Use a break in additive or break in oil for next 500 miles, and every oil change afterward you will need special oil or a ZDDP additive.

Good luck
 
All done as of last night. Started it up and was freaking out for a bit, cause it didn't want to start at all. I kept saying it was the distributor, so finally I hooked up a timing light and sure enough I was quite a bit retarded (lol). I must of bumped or turned it while I was putting stuff back together. Put it at about 8 and it started right up. I didn't do the break in, just checked for leaks and other possible catastrophic failure since it was late. I'll be breaking it in, in another hour or two.

Trying to decide what to set my timing at. Usual word of mouth sbc .35 gap and 8-12 for timing, can ask 20 people and get 20 answers.

But, according to the sticker on my air housing, .60 gap, and 2 degrees. And I'm sure in 1977 with 100% factory, and minor smog equipment it had, that was correct. But what now.

Oh and for breaking it in, I read like 20-25 minutes of 2500-3000 rpm, if that's right.. I'm assuming after it's warmed up. No load, in the driveway.
 
Broke it in this morning, went for a drive. It's ok, but I have some issues I'm assuming came from the cam.

1. Idling sucks - Checked ignition side, seems fine, checked for leaks, can't find any. Which leads me to...

2. Vacuum sucks. (Bazinga :D) I'm getting 8 in hg. Well I was getting 15? But my gauge is a POS, so I borrowed my neighbors MAC and trusts his is good, he works for Peterbuilt. Which also would affect...

3. I'm not feeling the secondaries open. And the second part to that is questions about the choke pull off. When the motor is running, and vacuum is applied it sucks that diaphragm down, on that is the linkage to the secondaries. Does that vacuum signal ever stop? Otherwise those secondaries has to pull that choke pull off back as well. It DID have the hoses running to the tvs on the thermostat, does that (when fully warm) change/remove the vacuum source to the choke pull off when fully warm?

To ask about vacuum issues with my new cam, here are the specs.
ccs2.jpg


4bbl Quadrajet.
sbc 350
33" tires
TH400
And I guess I'll finally go lift up the rear of my truck and try to figure out the gearing.
 
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Ok I'll remove the secondary not opening part. I've been reading, and have a few ideas. I gotta go warm up Nom Nom and see if the choke is fully open, perhaps the lockout isn't releasing. Had my buddy push the pedal to the floor, and it was pulling it open all the way, so I'll assume that's good.
 
I was wrong, it was a hidden vacuum leak. :whistle: Neighbor brought home a vacuum tester so I hooked it up to the trans modulator, that was fine, then the distributor. Bingo. Also tested my vacuum gauge :waytogo:

Distributor canister was just letting air suck through, so it caused a vacuum leak and didn't advance the timing. It runs a whole lot better at idle, and starts right up again.

Still no secondaries opening. I need to figure out if the linkage to the throttle plates aren't opening enough, or if my small bit of vacuum issues are the cause.

I have 15 on the mannifold, on the fitting behind the carb that screws into the mannifold, that I use for the transmission. I only have 10 on the bottom port of the carb. So I'm wondering if I have issues from rebuilding the carb.a
 
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