cam selection

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slantscamp

slantscamp

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hey guys. im trying to choose a cam. the erson cams are all mechanical. and my dad keeps telling me im not going to want to deal with that. he says go hydaulic, but i can only find a comp cam and its back ordered. how much maintnence is a mechanical cam. and when did they switch over the slant sixes. my engine build isnt going to be wild. i just want a cam that has good usable power from the 1000-4000 rpm range. i would appreciate any feedback.thanks!
-aaron-
 
hey if u want a limited matinence cam go with the hydralic, they are self adjusting so there is no poping off the valve cover every 25000 miles or when ever they decide to loosen up.

as far as selection have u checked out clifford performance 6=8

also if u already have the motor in the car. u could put 1.6 ratio rockers on instead of stock 1.5's.

ed
 
So Mopar kid have you dealt with Clifford? And where are you going to get the 1.6 rockers? As for Cams 80s slants are when Hydrolic started. If you do a good job of setting up your mechanical cam you will like it better more options, better mileage, more power, etc. The ONLY drawback I can think of, of a Mechanical cam is adjusting it.
My02.
Frank
 
clifford has the 1.6 rockers. and as far as the cam goes i agree a solid cam is more efficent... also depends on what he wants to rev to. the only cams ive seen are 1500-5000 and up, but i havnt found a hole lot of slant parts.

autozone sells a comp cams kit that comes with valve springs and all as well as the Hooker single headers.
 
thanks for the info guys. its not like this car will be a daily driver. thats what my new car is for. i just want a good running slant six wagon, but my dad keeps trying to talk me into keeping it as stock as possible, even though stock, it had a mechanical cam. and keeping it stock isnt any fun and thats the whole point of this. and who cares if i have to adjust the valves even every 10,000 miles. it will take a long time to add up that kind of mileage on a car you only drive on friday nights. sorry maybe i just needed to vent. i just want to get this motor back together and its taking longer than it should.
-aaron-
 
i know exactly what u mean. i have another project. my first car which i got my freshmen year. a 1965 plymouth bevedere II. it came with a slant 6. its now sitting in my shop next to the motor i built for it. the car is half done and the aluminum 505 needs rockers and a carb. so this project is in its what 5th year?? believe me, just fight through the anxious times and take ur time.
 
The Clifford rockers aren't 1.6 contrary to what they advertise. They are just reconditioned stamped steel stock rocker arms. Clifford is a pain to deal with in general. If you look on slantsix.org there is a running article on a cam company called Erson that is making cams for the slant. Pretty much any grind you want for less than 200 shipped last i checked. Which is much less tha clifford or even autozone wants for their stuff.
 
If you want to go hydraulic you will have to find a hydraulic block. The lifters in a slant were lubricated by splash from the crank. There was no pressurized oil fed to the lifter bores until the hydraulic came on line around '81 or '82. Adjusting the valves are not that big of a deal. I don't remember dad doing it to his '67 Valiant and it was traded in '72 with around 80K on the clock. I still haven't adjusted the valves in my '66 and I've put 15K on it so far.
 
slantscamp said:
the erson cams are all mechanical. and my dad keeps telling me im not going to want to deal with that.
Click to expand...

Guess it depends. Valve adjustment is practically a lost art, like carburetor tuning. I find the process very rewarding. It's something that very few "fully-trained mechanics" know how to do anymore. But if you're more of the "bolt it on and make the car go faster" kind of guy, then it's probably not for you.

Adjusting the valves takes practice, patience, and time, but to me, it's part of slant maintenance. I'm not saying your Dad is wrong, but you may want to give it a try before you give up on it completely.

http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=72139&highlight=#72139
 
Adjusting valves can be done in an hour or so on a six. Simple stuff man. If you need help with it, come by.
 
I find it fun to do valve adjustments, kinda a flash back to better times. The oil slinging, wrench hopping and the whole experience, it's making me smile ear to ear.8) Get a good Erson cam(mechanical) with lifters, great price on them too!
 
Mechanical is the way, the only way.

Clifford is/was in temecula [about 30 min from me] I used to stop ever so often and trip out on how much money he wanted for his stuff.
We had good conversations about the evolution in performance parts, but he came off like the clifford way was the only way as in what ever his dad said was law when it came to building/designing a slant 6, I just laughed and said so why are you loosing your all your overhead?
See business got real slow and the last I heard he's now selling out of his garage, which is where my buddy jeff bought 2 z240 manifolds from him.

As for there cams, they are/were made by erson and the price is just hiked.
Rockers you can get from rocker specialties or COX BROS.
Sounds to me like you might want the old .436 248* MP hyper. cam

And as for valve adjustments only about twice before and after break in then once a year, that is IF you put hardened seats in the head [both int & exh would be good but at least the exhaust].

What ever mild/performance cam you end up with you wanna at least have 145-150 cranking psi.

Have fun.
 
There is some wrong/bad info here. A slant six engine that came with a solid lifter cam, can be converted to hydraulic, vice/versa. There is no difference in the blocks. The difference is the cam, lifters, pushrods, rocker arms, and cam bearings. These must all be used a "package".
I agree about Clifford being not the best company to deal with, but their 1.6 rockers, are not the stock stamped pieces. They are cast items, like the old "gotha" rockers, from the 1960's. There is a picture of them over atslantsix.org. The Clifford 1.6 rockers will only work with a solid lifter cam, not the hydraulic.
 
thanks for all the replies guys. and dont worry steve, i will be bugging you soon enough once i get it all back together and it doesnt start..... j/k. but i am going to run an erson mechanical cam, i think my dad is just worried because when i was younger i was impatient and didnt like working on my car as much as driving it. not that im much older now, i dont mind working on my cars, and considering i have the whole wagon torn apart, a valve adjustment will seem like nothing. thanks again guys.
-aaron-
 
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