Cam removal in an ERA/FE

[patrickt]

Well, popping out a guide isn't all that interesting. Novel head work would have made for better waxing.

[Bernica]

Wait a minute. I'm sure I am missing something here...
Brent, if you already have the heads can't you match them up to whatever manifold he wants?

[Dimis]

Brent & Lippy,

Can I make a suggestion here... Perhaps consider Blue Thunder's Dual plane (Dual quad) MR intake?



From my understanding (Jay Browns book and a little research), that may be one intake that balances all the areas you are trying to cover.
Dual plane should allow for TQ down low at cruise speeds, & Dual quads are just darn cool!

[lippy]

Dimis,
The Blue Thunder may be an option, but I want to stay with a single 4 barrel. I've heard they flow really well and the build quality is excellent. Not sure if they are easy to find in stock.

[blykins]

Blue Thunder products can be a pain in the booty to get. I've had to wait months on intake manifolds before.

The BT MR intake certainly is a higher quality product as far as cosmetics go. The aluminum is prepped differently giving it a different look than the standard issue Edelbrock stuff. The BT piece looks like a Sidewinder intake and has provisions for an oil fill tube (even comes with one).

Out of the box, I don't think I'd give much of a nod performance-wise to either the BT or the RPM. They both have a high potential when being professionally ported.

As far as pricing, for the price of the BT, you could have an RPM, an aluminum 1" Super Sucker spacer, and have enough left over for a steak dinner.

[undy]

As far as the worn guides, do you think it was a geometry problem causing excessive side loading? I ask because replacing guides doesn't necessarily fix the problem, just bandaids the symptom. What are you doing to eliminate the possibility of future premature guide wear? Your thoughts??

[blykins]

Valve guide wear was not a geometry problem.

[undy]

Originally Posted by blykins

Valve guide wear was not a geometry problem.

What was it?

[blykins]

1. Bad surface finish on valves.
2. Guide material was junk.
3. Possibility of an over-efficient valve seal in an oil restricted environment.

Pick one or two. Haven't finished up the analysis. Leaning towards valves stem surface finish on some custom hollow-stem Ferrea valves. Talking with other builders, at least one had seen this before and labeled it a valve stem problem.

However, it wasn't a geometry issue. Guides were worn concentrically on all valves instead of in one axis and with a T&D race roller rocker arm leaving a .050-.055" pattern on a valve stem, there is little possibility of a side load.

My reluctance to give a clear answer was because I can rule out geometry but I don't have a 100% target to point my finger at right now.

[DanEC]

My guess is a a big, very-high lift cam. Detroit engineers probably didn't envision running much over .600 lift cams back in the 50s and 60s. Hard to avoid some side load even with all the latest roller rockers and everything. Running big performance stuff has got to increase wear and maintenance.

Or I could be wrong.

Edit - yep, I was wrong. Should have waited.

[blykins]

Real high performance stuff is harder on parts and creates more wear. However, in this situation, there is more to it than that.

[DanEC]

Lippy - here are the pages on the Blue Thunder 4V manifold.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by DanEC

Lippy - here are the pages on the Blue Thunder 4V manifold.

... which is what I have on my FE. I primarily went for it because of the way it looks -- and they are harder to get your hands on than you might think. You can review the performance details in Jay's book -- but it might be worth a hard look.

[DanEC]

In case you are curious the Blue Thunder 2x4bbl with 660 carbs made 645 HP at 6400 and 573 lbs ft at 4800. A bit more power than the RPM but a little less torque.

[blykins]

Ported BT against ported RPM, RPM has higher average hp and torque, higher peak torque but lower peak hp.

[lippy]

vs. the Performer RPM the difference is noise, one way or another. But what I really like about this manifold is what he said about the machining and quality, and that "all Blue Thunder intakes fit the dyno mules perfectly."

Since Brent has my heads and he can't get mock everything up on the block, I can only hope this intake would fit as well for me. But with my luck on this...

[blykins]

Plus your valve covers are Blue Thunder as well....

[lippy]

Guys, FYI, since I'm changing cams and going to a dual-plane intake, I'll be selling my Victor intake. The unique feature of this intake is that it's fully ported by Joe Craine, so it flows really well. Beautiful piece, a few cosmetic dings notwithstanding. These intakes go for $700 new and raw, and the porting cost several hundred dollars on top. PM me if interested and I'll also post it in the classifieds...

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by lippy

Guys, FYI, since I'm changing cams and going to a dual-plane intake, I'll be selling my Victor intake. The unique feature of this intake is that it's fully ported by Joe Craine, so it flows really well. Beautiful piece, a few cosmetic dings notwithstanding. These intakes go for $700 new and raw, and the porting cost several hundred dollars on top. PM me if interested and I'll also post it in the classifieds...

A nice piece for someone Lippy! Enjoy the eventual "new" ride!

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Bernica

Enjoy the eventual "new" ride!

Yes, I know what you're thinking... he's going to go through all of this and then report back "Well, I didn't shave enough off the top, I'm going to do it all again."