Your 2012 power tour ride?

[70chevyC-10]

Well just don't get caught then.

[Kidcadillac]

That oughtta keep yu busy this winter Alan - hopefully out of trouble too.

Phil, you know nothing keeps me out of trouble!

[BluLightning]

Bob,...you dont need that much wiring to install the stereo!

That's not for the stereo, that's for the under car neon he's adding!

[RAIV70Judge]

Every year we plan for the Tour and then something comes up. So here we go again. The plan was to bring our Malibu Wagon on the Tour. But we have decided to take our 1978 Trans Am instead. Going to need a little bit of work to be ready. But not as much work as the wagon needed. Only concern right now is the solid roller in the Pontiac 400. Anyone else have experiance with running solid cams on a long tour? Should I keep it or pull it out?

I ran a solid roller in the Judge in 09. It went the distance, but there was some damage after I tore that engine down. I think it was a combo of spring pressure, and long cruising rpms in the 2700 range,

[RAIV70Judge]

Step 2

Bob,...you dont need that much wiring to install the stereo!

[CLA55IC]

Welcome aboard Jim, and I like your Mopars too.

[street72]

Meds...Did someone mention meds...

[70chevyC-10]

I'll post a pic tomorrow. We are going to pick it up in the afternoon.

Ahh Jim - did you post in the wrong thread or are you testing meds for the EMT again?

[cstmwgn]

... What kills the lifters? ...

First off - this was my first roller cam combination and I was stupid! I didn't do enough research on spring pressures. The cam wasn't that big ~.673 lift with duration of 257 @ .050. The problem was I bought a set of heads from Kaase that had "roller springs" installed. They were 250# on the seat and over 700# over the nose. Added to that the lifters where not drilled for pin oiling and I drove the piss out of it on the street with lots of idleing.

Soooo, be sure your valve springs are appropriately sized for the cam AND in good condition. If you don't check your springs periodically, I would strongly reccomend you buy an on head tester just so you can chart how much they are softening up. Most of the quality springs I have used seem to soften about 10% initially then stay there until they start to go dead. Nothing will kill roller lifters faster than letting them bounch on the cam. The other important feature is pin oilers - most all the good quality lifter manufactures offer a lifter with pin oilers. I used Crower HIPPOs but pick your favorite vendor and buy their good stuff.

As to the last statement - I carried a used set of lifters in case I was lucky enough to catch it before it had the chance to do catistrophic damage to the engine. Nothing puts metal debree through an engine better that a lifter body grinding up a billet cam lobe!

Aggressive solid roller cams on the street are very cool but not for the faint of heart. Good luck - see you on tour.

[BluLightning]

I'll post a pic tomorrow. We are going to pick it up in the afternoon.

You're such a tease Jim.

[itS10neverdone]

As Phil said, Welcome aboard Jim..... And yes Phil, I am drooling over his Mopars.....

Welcome... I'm not even a mopar person and I'm drooling. Amazing rides

[hoofhearted]

I'll post a pic tomorrow. We are going to pick it up in the afternoon.

[Toecutter]

I ran a mechanical roller for 3 years on tour in my Ford. Since I have had the joy of experiencing a grenaded lifter before I tended to error on the safe side and therefore replaced the lifters ($$$$$$$$$$$) every year along with a very close inspection of the spring pressures. I also carried a spare set of lifters in the car just in case as it is somewhat harder to pick up a set of lifters for a Ford at Kmart.

Oh man, I was cool until your last comment...lol. What kills the lifters? The cam is only a .550 lift so I don't imagine the springs will be super heavy. The rear end has 3.42's and I will be running a TH200R4 so I don't imagine I will be reving the motor higher than 1800rpm during cruising. Maybe less with the lockup engaged. We'll see how it goes. I plan on driving the car to Austin, Tx in April for the Lonestar Roundup which is about a 600 mile roundtrip for me. We'll see how it does.

[66Fury3]

Nice stuff - welcome aboard --- I'm sure Ed is drooling on your cars all the way from Florida.

As Phil said, Welcome aboard Jim..... And yes Phil, I am drooling over his Mopars.....

[redragtop]

Old is such a negative word..... I'm just Mature.....

So I need to behave if I'm mature - nevermind.

Perhaps this is what you are refering to...

I believe the jury is still out on that one Ed


You too Phil

Not this...

Could this be a simple spelling error? Perhaps the "T" was supposed to be an "N"

Although Bob's answer would sound better if Ed and Phil aren't involved