Best camshaft brands - Aussie preferred

[gerg 10,871]

Thanks for the heads-up folks. I'll keep that one in the bank for when I build my gun engine for my coupe.

[gerg 10,871]

Update: old cam is out, lobes not pretty. All lifters stuffed after 2000 km. I don't think the Dynotec cam is at fault, as I can see some hardening still on some lobes. Others are either rounded off or have strange swirl marks running up and down the ramp, like the lifter face has had poor contact or was the wrong shape.

 

One thing is for sure, the lifters definitely have been concaved and mushroomed. I couldn't pull them up through the bores, so I followed a great little tip I got off the net. I pulled all the lifters up as far as they would go and used clothes pegs around the body to hold them up off the cam. I cut a piece of 40mm PVC pipe in half lengthways, and slid it down the cam tunnel to catch each lifter as it was pushed down in its bore. I got them out one by one so I wouldn't lose any down into the engine.

 

Pics of the failed parts to come soon.

 

I've no idea why it happened as I did everything the way it was supposed to be done. As I have no idea what brand the lifters were, it now makes me suspicious about their quality. Has anyone had any bad experiences with cheap lifters? I know that when I bought this supposedly "reco" engine, several parts were of a particular brand... Well let's just say that this brand is famous for all the wrong reasons.

[Trev Vaa 1,185]

shit thats not a good sign dude.... could have been the products used or how the person previous to you treated it (and treat anything they tell you as a pinch of salt)

 

maybe pull the sump off and check everything over. good idea on the pvc too, never though of that!

 

any idea what compression the motor has? or how much port work etc it has?

[gerg 10,871]

Nah mate long story short, bought it for $800 as a reco that some bloke had slapped together with a "mechanic mate" to go into his F100, but he changed his mind.

 

When I got it, pulled it down just in case. Ok fair enough, it had a dead stock (brand new) cam, reco'd heads and 10/10 ground crank, 0.030" bore and all usual new bits. No surprises there. On further inspection though, I found a whole world of poo inside.

 

The pistons had been put back in like it was a Chev, 1-3-5-7 down one side and 2-4-6-8 down the other. As you know Clevos go 1-2-3-4 on right bank and 5-6-7-8 on left. So this meant that half the rods were on the crank backwards. The engine would have lasted 10 min if lucky. Once assembled properly, I found #8 piston was pressed onto the rod backwards. Had to get that fixed too. Apart from all this wrong assembly, the "new" engine was filthy inside, like it had been put together in someone's garden shed. The crank had been bruised and scratched from the rod bolts hitting it, which needed rubbing down with an oil stone and some fine emery.

 

Everything required thorough cleaning and re-assembly The engine came with no balancer or flywheel, and some bits were procomp (dizzy, leads and fuel pump) and the lifters were of an unknown brand. I'm guessing now that they too may have been rubbish. Also, the rockers were very worn in the pivot area, replaced them too.

 

So my "cheap" eBay donk turned out to be nearly double the cost and many hours/days taken up fixing other people's fuckups. I'm still fixing them now, with the cam and lifters being replaced after 2000km.

 

A lesson learned indeed. I hope others can learn from my mistake.

[slydog 7,873]

Thats a shame bud...just goe's to show trust no one but yourself.

[Tweaker351 148]

Yeah that sucks mate, Lesson learnt hey. I learned the hard way too bro!

[Trev Vaa 1,185]

you get that man, sucks but hey? dw i spent 5K on the XCs body, and got returned a heap of shit that needs to be bare metal'd now.

try one of the comp deh series, probably 265 or 275, they're an awesome cam, personally i prefer the 275. (if you buy the kit, throw the springs out, they're no where near the pressure they should be)

 

had the motor been fired when you bought it?

[gerg 10,871]

you get that man, sucks but hey? dw i spent 5K on the XCs body, and got returned a heap of shit that needs to be bare metal'd now.

try one of the comp deh series, probably 265 or 275, they're an awesome cam, personally i prefer the 275. (if you buy the kit, throw the springs out, they're no where near the pressure they should be)

 

had the motor been fired when you bought it?

nah mate, was sitting on a stand in a garage, never been fired (thank goodness). I settled on a Crow 270/280, as it's a daily driver and I wanted to keep it Aussie. The one you suggested might be real nice in a 351, but mine's a 302 so might be a bit hairy.

 

Good advice on the springs though, a lot of us just accept that the "kits" that they sell you are always perfectly matched. Sometimes they aren't, as you can attest.

 

I'll definitely consider my options with the Coupe motor, as I'll be going roller for sure. I've got a virgin 4MA sitting in the shed and if the original 302 block is ok I'll be going that way (well maybe not, it's already 0.030" over). If I do need another block, I'll consider a Dart Windsor 4.125" with CHI 3Vs bolted on. Sounds expensive but add up machining costs for the old bits and you're halfway there anyway. I could do a decent street motor for maybe 8 grand if I screw it together myself.

 

And why is it that it's getting so hard these days to find a decent body shop? I'm so sick of these stories coming out about people not getting what they asked for but coughing up stupid amounts of dough anyway. It really shits me.

[SJG351 6]

I hope you get a few hundred thousand ks out of it now, because thats why we build these particular engines right

Cheers!

[Trev Vaa 1,185]

nah mate, was sitting on a stand in a garage, never been fired (thank goodness). I settled on a Crow 270/280, as it's a daily driver and I wanted to keep it Aussie. The one you suggested might be real nice in a 351, but mine's a 302 so might be a bit hairy.

 

Good advice on the springs though, a lot of us just accept that the "kits" that they sell you are always perfectly matched. Sometimes they aren't, as you can attest.

 

I'll definitely consider my options with the Coupe motor, as I'll be going roller for sure. I've got a virgin 4MA sitting in the shed and if the original 302 block is ok I'll be going that way (well maybe not, it's already 0.030" over). If I do need another block, I'll consider a Dart Windsor 4.125" with CHI 3Vs bolted on. Sounds expensive but add up machining costs for the old bits and you're halfway there anyway. I could do a decent street motor for maybe 8 grand if I screw it together myself.

 

And why is it that it's getting so hard these days to find a decent body shop? I'm so sick of these stories coming out about people not getting what they asked for but coughing up stupid amounts of dough anyway. It really shits me.

8k with a dart block is impossible, block, heads, and intake will set you back 7. but still, if you are going massive power (600+) and plan on abusing it constantly, probably a safer bet to use the dart. yeh you've probably gone a cam about on par with the deh265, the 275 in a 302 is awesome, they fly up to 6000rpm with that cheeky little thing also i've never used the grind you have but the deh series is an awesome cam for torque.

 

as for using crow, i haven't had the best support and i've had too many issues to reccomend them, however plenty of other people have used them with large success so you should be right $50 says in 6 months you'll want more

 

as for the body shop, i was 18 at the time, now i have a team of guys i trust, my sprayer has entered a car in concourse d'eligance at pebble beach and ranked fairly highly. unfortunatly im broke so i cant afford to spend money on toys atm.

 

let us know how you go with it all yeh? what carby/intake you using?

[gerg 10,871]

Just ran it in yesterday, so far all is well. I'm pretty chuffed at this new cam, 2-3000 rpm is lovely and effortless. It feels like a stock 351 for torque, it's that good. Anyone who rubbishes a 302 Clevo should drive one with a bit of cam and carby. Mine pulls cleanly from idle to 5500, feels like it's EFI, possibly due to the carby setup, but perfect for me. Sounds great with duallies and no crossover.

 

I dropped the oil today and it looked much better than the first run-in. Certainly not like silver paint! I've thrown in Penrite 15W50 Diesel with a high Zinc level and spun on a Ryco High Efficiency filter just in case.

 

My combo is as basic as you can get. Stock heads, stock valve gear, factory 4 barrel 2v iron manifold with the throats milled out, stock silver air cleaner with snorkel attached, Hypatec pistons and Bosch (copy) dizzy. Pissed off the engine fan and am running EF thermos at half speed. The essence of this combo is the modest cam and carby.

 

The 600 vac Holley is just an $80 clapped-out eBay unit but I've done a few "gergifications" to it. It was a bit of an orphan to start with, being emissions type it has an air bleed adjustment for idle and transfer together. Turned out too lean no matter what i did. Also you can't get to the idle feed restrictors to drill them out either (inside the meter block). No biggie, in the end I epoxied up the air bleeds and drilled them smaller, then tuned the mixture around it. That fattened up the transfer a lot.

 

By far the most radical thing I've done to the poor old carby is install annular boosters in the primaries. I even bodgied up my own press tool to install them. Looks like a mongrelised g-clamp. Whole job took about half an hour to do and cost 40 bucks total. Man what a difference!

 

I'd highly recommend these boosters on any street-driven car. They come in earlier and atomise the fuel heaps better, giving awesome torque and throttle response. Another advantage is that less choke is needed in the cold. I've settled on 64 jets, as 61s would stumble just before coming in. Might try 62s for economy and see what happens.

 

In summary, this cam and annular boosters are what makes this engine. Everything else is just run-of the mill stuff. My brother's highly tuned arse-dyno measures about a 15 sec quarter, not bad considering factory was about 17, and mine's a wagon too. I'd guess around 150 kW at the wheels to be about right.

[NZXD 2,328]

Just ran it in yesterday, so far all is well. I'm pretty chuffed at this new cam, 2-3000 rpm is lovely and effortless. It feels like a stock 351 for torque, it's that good. Anyone who rubbishes a 302 Clevo should drive one with a bit of cam and carby. Mine pulls cleanly from idle to 5500, feels like it's EFI, possibly due to the carby setup, but perfect for me. Sounds great with duallies and no crossover.

 

I dropped the oil today and it looked much better than the first run-in. Certainly not like silver paint! I've thrown in Penrite 15W50 Diesel with a high Zinc level and spun on a Ryco High Efficiency filter just in case.

 

My combo is as basic as you can get. Stock heads, stock valve gear, factory 4 barrel 2v iron manifold with the throats milled out, stock silver air cleaner with snorkel attached, Hypatec pistons and Bosch (copy) dizzy. Pissed off the engine fan and am running EF thermos at half speed. The essence of this combo is the modest cam and carby.

 

The 600 vac Holley is just an $80 clapped-out eBay unit but I've done a few "gergifications" to it. It was a bit of an orphan to start with, being emissions type it has an air bleed adjustment for idle and transfer together. Turned out too lean no matter what i did. Also you can't get to the idle feed restrictors to drill them out either (inside the meter block). No biggie, in the end I epoxied up the air bleeds and drilled them smaller, then tuned the mixture around it. That fattened up the transfer a lot.

 

By far the most radical thing I've done to the poor old carby is install annular boosters in the primaries. I even bodgied up my own press tool to install them. Looks like a mongrelised g-clamp. Whole job took about half an hour to do and cost 40 bucks total. Man what a difference!

 

I'd highly recommend these boosters on any street-driven car. They come in earlier and atomise the fuel heaps better, giving awesome torque and throttle response. Another advantage is that less choke is needed in the cold. I've settled on 64 jets, as 61s would stumble just before coming in. Might try 62s for economy and see what happens.

 

In summary, this cam and annular boosters are what makes this engine. Everything else is just run-of the mill stuff. My brother's highly tuned arse-dyno measures about a 15 sec quarter, not bad considering factory was about 17, and mine's a wagon too. I'd guess around 150 kW at the wheels to be about right.

Good work mate, seems like you have a win there!

 

Can you post up photo of the carb modifications?

 

A potential 150kw at the wheels would make a nice cruiser with some "extra" for fun.

[Trev Vaa 1,185]

good work man, seriously, playing around with boosters etc is very out of the box thinking, i also agree annular boosters are by far my favourite.

 

and yeh, a cammed 302 will make ample torque, definitely a smart mod, picking the right cam is important though, on a daiy mid range is definitely where you want the power to be. that cam you chose has a pretty mild ramp up too, so it should last 100,000k

[gerg 10,871]

Ok pics for those still interested...

 

The victim:

 

The Donk:

 

Chunky annular boosters in the primary side and stock type in rear. I call it the Mullet Holley... Business up front and party out back:

 

The Frankencarby:

 

My awesome booster install tool:

 

Glued and re-drilled idle air bleeds:

 

Mad duallies:

[Trev Vaa 1,185]

good shots dude, amazing the difference the boosters make hey? theres a bloke i used over in but fuck nowhere once who did that, i need to get his contact details so he can build my new carby, the guy was like the stig of carbies! beleive Dions using one of his too.

[gerg 10,871]

good shots dude, amazing the difference the boosters make hey? theres a bloke i used over in but fuck nowhere once who did that, i need to get his contact details so he can build my new carby, the guy was like the stig of carbies! beleive Dions using one of his too.

Hats off to folks like that who can really get inside a carby and know exactly what's going on. Me? I just fumble around and look at forums to get a basic idea and run with that. The challenge is sifting through the 95% of misinformation and bullshit to get to the real info. I've got a Holley book and that helped heaps. I'd highly recommend it.

 

As a bit of a photographer, I'd say those shots are rubbish (done with phone) but ok sure thanks

[gerg 10,871]

Oops double post

[gerg 10,871]

Ok triple post

[gerg 10,871]

Would you believe quadrouple post?

[gerg 10,871]

This is getting ridiculous

[gerg 10,871]

Ok you can stop now

[slydog 7,873]

good shots dude, amazing the difference the boosters make hey? theres a bloke i used over in but fuck nowhere once who did that, i need to get his contact details so he can build my new carby, the guy was like the stig of carbies! beleive Dions using one of his too.

 

Dion uses  ZOK's carbs...

[xeeclipse 37]

When i was an apprentice and had no idea about cars I had a very mild 351c, single rail, 2.92's in a ZB fairlane....Ran a 15.0 flat with poorly adjusted lifter preloads and rings that I forgot to gap, god that thing was tuned poorly .

If you get better then a 15.5 you deserve a medal Gerg     

[Trev Vaa 1,185]

Dion uses  ZOK's carbs...

is that soverign from AFF? thats who i used, and couldn't be happier with him!

[gerg 10,871]

Here's some pics of the stuffed bits:<br /><br />2 of the worst lifters (but all of them were cactus):<br /><br /><br />