Got my Cam Back from Oregon

[Dartswinger70]

I have not, we've had a hell of a heat wave here where I live so I haven't been in much of a rush to go outside and do it

Get yourself a cooler full of Modelo Cerveza on ice...pony bottles and sip em as ya fight the heat...

 

[middleagecrisis]

I am wanting to send a core there for a 68 340 grind.... what is the turnaround on something like that?

I had Ken regrind a cam and spot face 2 sets of hydraulic lifters back in January and I seem to remember about a 3 weeks-month, including shipping time. Getting ready to send him s set of EDM solids that got mixed up inadvertently.

 

[Dusty 997]

I had Ken regrind a cam and spot face 2 sets of hydraulic lifters back in January and I seem to remember about a 3 weeks-month, including shipping time. Getting ready to send him s set of EDM solids that got mixed up inadvertently.

mine took about a month and a half

 

[Dusty 997]

Well finally making some progress, weather got down into the 80s instead of the 90s


First day i got the front grill ,radiator, batter, and stuff pulled and started labeling wires/hoses.

 

[Dusty 997]

Second day i got the front engine drive stuff all removed as well as intake valve covers ext. Chugging right along.

 

[Dusty 997]

Not much progress today but some.

Had to rig up an air hose to reach the car port and im waiting for the air tool that holds the valves up during valve spring swap that i need to proceede to arrive.

In the meantime i got all my fluids gaskets, new thermostat, and stripped/cleaned up the aluminum intake.

Since the motor wont be stock anymore i didnt want to keep the intake painted the factory blue to disguise it anymore

 

[Dusty 997]

Todays update, out with the old tiny cam and in with the 1341 regrind from Ken

I got the motor back in time, also got the intake all stripped and cleaned up and reassembled with the new 195* thermostat and AVS2 carb.
Was having an issue before where the car would never get above 160* so ill be adjusting the thermostat and cooling fan relay to a higher temp to try and bring that up some.

Also prepped all the reassembly gasket surfaces so they are ready for reassembly after one last wipe down with de-greaser.

Tomorrow ill pull the old valve springs and install the new Hughes springs and retainers. Once that's done i have to measure for push rods and can begin reassembly!

 

[Dusty 997]

Got the Hughes retainers, Springs, and new valve seals done on the driver side head, gotta do passenger side tomorrow and then on to measuring for pushrods! Yeehaw!

 

[Dusty 997]

Ok guys. I got the valves and springs done. I wrnt to put rockers on to get things rotated ao the cam lobe is on its base circle and i can measure for new push rods. I noticed one rocker is nice and tight and the other is loose as a goose. Is this just a symptom of me needing the longer pushrods that will sort itself out or is this a different issue i nee to address right now BEFORE i do that.

 

[Dartswinger70]

lifter needs pumped up maybe?

 

[Dusty 997]

im guessing it has to be from pushrods being a bit too short, i checked all of them and when the cam is on the base circle they all get loose like that, and they weren't like that before i changed the cam so that has to be the determining factor i think. Measured for pushrods and when i stopped at 0 lash the number i came up with was a bit longer than the factory ones before even calculating preload so i think im on the right track. New pushrods will be in tomorrow afternoon so well see soon if i did this right. Super nervous because there are absolutely no videos out there of how to do this on a stock motor with stock rockers and stock lifters and i have nobody here who knows mopar and can help me.

 

[Bewy]

Re-grinding a cam reduces the base circle, so original p'rods might be too short. The lifters have about 0.150" internal travel [ sometimes more ]. That is, from where the prod cup touches the circlip, there is 0.150" of movement available. The lifter will work anywhere within that 0.150" range. That is why they are made with that adjustability: to allow for a stack o up of tolerances, maintenance such as valve jobs, head milling. Some people try to get the prod cup as close to the circlip as possible; that brings new problems....
We should give Ma credit for getting it right this time....

 

[Dusty 997]

Re-grinding a cam reduces the base circle, so original p'rods might be too short. The lifters have about 0.150" internal travel [ sometimes more ]. That is, from where the prod cup touches the circlip, there is 0.150" of movement available. The lifter will work anywhere within that 0.150" range. That is why they are made with that adjustability: to allow for a stack o up of tolerances, maintenance such as valve jobs, head milling. Some people try to get the prod cup as close to the circlip as possible; that brings new problems....
We should give Ma credit for getting it right this time....

that's what im thinking too, when i put the adjustable push rod in there and screwed it out all of that play went away, and upon having the machineshop measure my pushrods the adjustable one was around .010-.020 longer than the factory one i took with for base line and that was before accounting for the .050 of preload.

 

[Dartswinger70]

well Im thinking if there is no play when you tighten the rockers down and that lifter cup is depressed just enough where the oil pressure will remove the lash it would work no? the lifter plunger doesnt need to be halfway etc just enough where lash is taken up with a small amount of hydraulic ajustability left for minor wear etc. now if you tighten everything down and the pushrod doesnt sit in the lifiter plunger cup or depress it then the pushrods are short. if you prime tthe oil system and its still loose etc that would indicate short pushrods also

 

[Bewy]

D/Swinger. Read the 4th sentence in post #37.

 

[Dartswinger70]

IM getting ready to send one out for a 68 340 regrind so I'm tuned in on this, at first glance it seems the lifters need pumped up but like said its easy enough to tell if the pushrods are too short.

 

[Dusty 997]

Victory turned to defeat.
Got everything assembled. Went to start it, acted like it was 180 out (shotgun blasts out the tail pipes) pulled distributor switched it 180* turned motor over a few times trying to get timing to where it needs to be to start it and then starter started doing this.....





Motor turns over by hand still. But the starter just spins and spins and never grabs except very randomly and only for 1/4 second at a time. Sigh...

 

[Bewy]

If you had a backfire, you have probably taken out the Bendix [ overrunning clutch ] in the starter....

 

[Dusty 997]

Got the starter out...typical Chinese piece of junk, its completely stripped all of the teeth off of the converter ring gear on its way out.

Its been loud as hell ever since it was installed, guess it finally caught up to me. Unfortunate coincidence.

Got a Denso one off of a 94 Dakota at the junkyard that cleaned up pretty nice but

Cant start the car now until i pull the transmission and god knows how long it will be before my buddys lift opens up

 

[Bewy]

Bad luck, mate. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, the joys of hotrodding....

 

[Dusty 997]

Bad luck, mate. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, the joys of hotrodding....

yeah i super bummed, i was looking forward to hearing this cam it could be spring before i get to hear it now. They douched with my friends schedual at work and during summer now he works 12-14 hr days and has 0 shop time and i cant physically pull a transmission without a lift.

 

[Desoto291hemi]

Are you certain that the converter is destroyed ?
It might only be a few damaged teeth on the ring .
You could probably replace the starter with a new one and be fine for a while .
At least until you can swap the converter .

It might be worth a try ?

Tommy

 

[Dusty 997]

Are you certain that the converter is destroyed ?
It might only be a few damaged teeth on the ring .
You could probably replace the starter with a new one and be fine for a while .
At least until you can swap the converter .

It might be worth a try ?

Tommy

nope they're ate off all the way around the whole thing, new starter just freespins. I have a suspicion that that starter has been slowly eating away at them all along ever since it was installed, it always sounded like absolute hell every time you started the car. I chocked it up to Chinesium junk, didn't realize it was eating away at my ring gear

 

[Desoto291hemi]

I understand .
That’s tough luck for sure .

Tommy

 

[DumpsterFire]

I went on and sent them a cam very recently. How long did it take you to get yours done?