Who has had success with a roller cam big block?

[Charger-Bodie]

I read about that and found several instances of belt squeal that was hard to eliminate.
I hate belt squeal.
The Bouchillon setup also meant using an electric fuel pump. I didn't want that either.

 ive done 3 no belt squeal. the fuel fump i understand can be a deal breaker.

[Kern Dog]

That is great that you got them to work. Having the compressor down there sure would tidy up the installation. I did look into that but was really concerned about the noise!

[Kern Dog]

Part of this project included some cosmetic changes. I painted the heads, intake and water pump the same color as the block....GoManGo Orange.
The A/C system is open since I had to pull the condenser so I figured to reroute one line and tidy up the firewall.
The Classic Auto Air conversion kit for cars originally equipped with A/C came with blockoff panels to cover holes in the firewall that are not used with the new system. They come painted a satin black which would have been fine in a black car but not so much with any other color. I should have painted them red when I did the A/C system, at least then they would have blended in better.



Look how busy it looks with the different colors on the firewall.



Stripped of the ECM, Ballast resistor and voltage regulator, you can see the block off plates a bit better.



See the gaping holes ?



I took some cardboard and made a template of the firewall to use as a pattern to make my own cover plate.



I traced it on some 18 gauge sheet metal....

[Kern Dog]

The panel was cut to fit, painted and holes were traced...





I had to duck out to get a stepped drill bit to get the holes large enough to fit grommets on them.



The goal was to install this so that it just fades into the background and does not stand out.



I used body plugs for the A/C lines (Thicker wall, more protection) and valve cover grommets for the heater core lines.



The wiring needs to be wrapped up, then I'll mount the ECM, Ballast and Voltage regulator.

[cdr]

you are going to end up with an electric fuel pump anyhow !!!!   with that roller cam & the pump push rod not lasting very long

[Kern Dog]

Charlie pops in!
Hey there, man....Fuel pump? Not to worry, I have one of these:

[cdr]

Charlie pops in!
Hey there, man....Fuel pump? Not to worry, I have one of these:

So did I , lasted 400 miles

[Kern Dog]

Well, that is not convenient at all. I've heard advice about the distributor drive but nobody but you has mentioned eating up fuel pump pushrods. I guess I should carry a spare and if it does pose a problem, maybe an electric fuel pump is the final solution.
Thanks!

[Kern Dog]

As part of the Snowball Effect, this project has a few unrelated things that deviate from the main goal but it made sense to address them.
The firewall plate is but one. The way it looked until a month ago...



Today.



The radiator has a nipple for the overflow that aims toward the driver's side, for years I had a U turn on it so I could mount the jug on the right fender apron.



It worked but looked crappy so I decided to relocate the overflow jug to the left side.



That solves that issue and the thing almost looks like it belongs there.
Now, I'm back on the main project!
Part of that included changing valve springs. Now that that is done, I opened up the box with the rocker arms and shafts and got them set up.



These are PRW steel 1.6 ratio, bronze bushed. The kit comes with studs to mount the assemblies, spacers, shims, hold downs and all hardware needed.
Now, assembling these is probably nothing new to most of you but this is just the second time that I have done this for myself. The last set I installed was this set from Mancini Racing well over 12-14 years ago.



The aluminum ones still are in great shape but I thought that maybe the higher spring pressures I'm using, steel would be less likely to fail. The Mancini set came with ZERO instructions but somehow I got it right.

Oh yeah....I painted the heads the same GoManGo orange that the engine block is...

[Kern Dog]

This PRW set comes with very clear instructions. Thank you for that! In them, it is stated that there must me between .015 and .020 clearance in each section. I interpreted that to mean between the hold downs. To verify, I pushed the rockers, shims and spacers to the left then measured the clearance between the rocker arm and stand to the right.
Here is a nugget that you may not know. The hold downs do vary a few thousands in overall width. If you're running a little tight of the .015 clearance, maybe measure the hold down and compare it to the others in the box.
Also, the holes in the center of the hold downs are not always centered.





That one is .010 different from one side to the other.
Talking to Don at B3 Racing, he said that going a little wider than the .020 is fine, that it is better to be a little loose rather than tight. You don't want it to bind.



Every section used a .060 shim to the outside of the rocker to get the roller wheel centered on the valve.



I set up the rockers & shafts specifically for each head in case the castings had any differences between the two. I wrote down the placement and thicknesses of the shims for my own records.



Note the rocker dead center of the picture above. Note that it has a hole in it. That is the replacement rocker that was sent to make up for this mistake:



Will that hole pose a problem? This is the only one of the set with a hole in it.



One more thing....
While I checked for the .015 to .020 clearance, I noticed that sometimes if I checked clearance on one set, the other set next to it lost it's clearance.
I took this to mean that by moving the hold downs to get clearance, it shifted it over and made the next set too tight. I have a feeling that I may have to take these apart to really get it right. I will probably need to use a feeler gauge when tightening the hold down nuts to ensure the clarances are where they should be.
Oddly, the aluminum Mancini Racing rocker arm set all were spot on after all these years.