Road trips: They highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the car.

[PRHeads]

Anyway, it is a 400 based stroker engine displacing 500 CID. It was originally built by @qkcuda and I bought the engine from him.

I thought he dyno tested that engine when he built it…….but I don’t think the TQ number was as high as 675ft/lbs.

It’s pretty rare that we see a pump gas street engine make that kind of TQ/CI here.

 

[Kern Dog]

If I had more confidence that I could make a flat tappet cam live, I'd just go back to them.
The '528 lived for years while I used VR-1 oil but within a year or so of using another brand, it was Wiped out. Dwayne thought the oil was to blame for a couple of reasons. 1) It ran fine until the change. 2) The oil I had was HIGH detergent but claimed to have ZDDP.

His reasoning was that the ZDDP is great but the high detergent surely wiped away the ZDDP too fast for it to protect anything.
I've been running proper oil since the rebuild...

I changed to thicker oil last week but used this:

I'm only guessing but I'll bet the overall failure rate of flat tappet cams is pretty low when proper oil and springs are used.

 

[HawkRod]

I thought he dyno tested that engine when he built it…….but I don’t think the TQ number was as high as 675ft/lbs.

It’s pretty rare that we see a pump gas street engine make that kind of TQ/CI here.

When @qkcuda dyno tested the engine it made 550 horsepower (don't remember torque) with cast iron heads. After that time, it got aluminum heads.

 

[qkcuda]

With the iron 452 heads, which flowed around 250/200, it made 610 ft/lbs of torque. I later added the Edelbrock heads, but never dynoed it again. It did pick up about 2 1/2 tenths in the quarter so at least 25 more horsepower. The best trap speed after the head swap was 120 in full street trim.

 

[BSB67]

I'd do it in the car but you know A/C doesn't bother me much.... When I was swapped cams it was on the red car & it didn't have A/C at the time... I could do a swap in about 3 hours...

Used to work on Saturday mornings, came home, change cams on Saturday afternoon, and back out street racing on Saturday night.

 

[Kern Dog]

If I didn't degree the cam or have A/C to recharge, if the cam was a hydraulic.....Yeah, I figure 3-4 hours is possible.

 

[66 Sat]

It took me 6 weeks on my small block haha. I was waiting on stuff but it was still a genuine 2 full weekends, so 4 days.
I was probably a whole afternoon draining coolant, removing radiator, removing grille, removing intake manifold, balancer, waterpump, timing cover, etc, cleaning all the old gaskets off.
Hell I spend an hour looking for a socket that's rolled under the car.
You guys must be superhuman.

 

[Kern Dog]

I try to get all ducks in a row before I spin the first wrench.
Air tools and cordless tools help a LOT.

 

[HawkRod]

If I didn't degree the cam

I know you are speaking generally, so my comment below is also intended to be to anyone...

As I continue to learn about engine building through my father-in-law, I would never again NOT degree a cam.

Example 1: My 400 based 500 stroker: spot on where it should be
Example 2: My buddy's 440: 4 degrees retarded from where it should be
Example 3: The new owner of my 73 Road Runner with a 340 based 416 stroker: 10 degrees advanced from where it should be

The bottom line is throwing in a cam and aligning the dots is a big gamble. Maybe you'll get lucky, or maybe your car will run like a turd and you will blame the cam, tuning, or something else.

Degree your cam when you install it!

 

[68BabyBlue]

If I had more confidence that I could make a flat tappet cam live, I'd just go back to them.
The '528 lived for years while I used VR-1 oil but within a year or so of using another brand, it was Wiped out. Dwayne thought the oil was to blame for a couple of reasons. 1) It ran fine until the change. 2) The oil I had was HIGH detergent but claimed to have ZDDP.

View attachment 1656165

View attachment 1656166

View attachment 1656167

His reasoning was that the ZDDP is great but the high detergent surely wiped away the ZDDP too fast for it to protect anything.
I've been running proper oil since the rebuild...

View attachment 1656169

I changed to thicker oil last week but used this:

View attachment 1656170

I'm only guessing but I'll bet the overall failure rate of flat tappet cams is pretty low when proper oil and springs are used.

Baby Blue is still running the original flat tappet camshaft with no issues, all original components still in place, except for new valve seals and lifters in 1978. Run on VR1 for the last decade, Castrol GTX back when it still had zinc content.