my 63 upgrade

[66Submarine]

Sorry if I came across as being critical of you personally, I was really just making a note for the other people reading regarding the whole XE Comp flat tappet thing. A lot of people will push others to buy these based on the fact that the aggressive lobe profiles are touted as making slightly more power/having better idle manners than comparable "old" style grinds. Like the blurb for that one:

COMP Cams Xtreme Energy 4x4 cam and lifter kits are built to take advantage of the latest cam technology to provide maximum performance and low-end torque for your vehicle. Whether your use is off-roading or towing, there is an Xtreme 4x4 for you. By using an aggressive lobe profile, these cams provide better throttle response and more top-end horsepower than equivalent cams from other manufacturers, while delivering increased engine vacuum.

Funny how they neglect to mention the drawbacks of the aggressive lobe profiles in the ad, huh?

A roller cam is great if you have the money for it.

I'm personally going to stick one of these in my budget flat tappet 454 when I put it together:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-k1301
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-k1300

No reason you can't reuse your other valvetrain components if the springs are appropriate for the new cam.

ok i might have found the culprit for the metal in the oil.
i start investigate today, before dismantling the engine, on the distributor gear and the rockers.
distributor gear is ok but when i remove the valve covers, all the rockers are loose except one, i spin the engine buy the crank and the same rocker is always stuck.

What exactly do you mean by "stuck"?

[1strong63]

no problem at all i'm begging for advices and points of view that's why i'm here. there is no sense behing on a forum not to share things.

when i say the same rocker is always stuck that's mean that all the rockers are moving a bit excpet one. and that in every engine position (crankshaft)

[bj383ss]

Just stepping in but second Submarines comments on the XE Cams. Had one of these in my Caprice 383. Made tons of power for about 3,000 miles. 8 of the lobes went dead flat and ended up in the pan. I replaced it with a Summit 1103 grind. I know all the bearings are toast in it but I was able to break the cam in and move the car 10 miles where I am storing it. Sounds like this is the case with yours. It did make some serious power though. I estimate around 500hp.

[1strong63]

thanks guys! question is how comp cam could be so wrong with this product?
i'll start open the engine this week to have the bottom line.

[1strong63]

a bit of work before leaving the warehouse. i've bought a used starter. it is a summit mini starter based on a hitachi model i don't have the wiring instructions.

when you ground the starter and put a + on any of the 3 terminal the starter is spinning.
then we have what's on the truck

the small block starter had 3 terminals. the big black cable was with the + from the battery in the middle terminal. the violet was on a S terminal going to the engine harness connector on the firewall. and the 2 together wires was on a R terminal with the green wire connected to the + of the coil. i guess the green wire to the coil was to give full voltage to the coil while cranking to better start.
now do you think that:
-i connect the + battery and the black chevrolet on the right terminal on the summit starter.
-remove the red wire on the summit and connect the violet on the upper terminal of the summit.
it'll work without burning anything?
as i don't have the point distributor the former double wire connected to the R terminal is not to be use anymore right?
thanks

[1strong63]

i finish my crossmember to. it's a 2x2 square and i was able to reuse some holes in the frame from the parking brake crossmember. i use 10.9 hardware to hold it.

to the frame


i was lucky enought that the whole driveline is pointing at 5° with the engine pointing at 3° i feel ok to get only 2° of difference between the tranny yoke and the axle pinion or shoul i care?

[1strong63]

get back to the steering.
i cannot set it properly and i don't know why.
the tube is in its lower position so it can't go deeper in the truck if i want to keep the screws to hold it.

the steering shaft is well placed on the steering box

this jacket (with the indicator lever) is correctly placed on the tube cause you have some groove and you have to 1/4 turn it to hold it in place.

and look at my steering wheel, it's bolted to the max and i have that clearance. the horn is not hitting the contact plate and the indicator cancel plate didn't tough the rest either?!?!

[1strong63]

and is this wire from the starter key is the 12v ignition? the PO put a button on it and if it's off the engine is spinning but fireing then die, fireing then die...? (the answer is in the question...)

[TJ's Chevy]

Coming into the party waaay late, but I hope you get this problem fixed soon. Break in is soooo critical. I was always told to prime the engine for 5-10 minutes just for sanity reasons.

[1strong63]

for priming i didn't spend so much (5-10) cause the oil came out to the rockers very fast (around 30sec) and i get oil pressure to the gauge at the same time. so i didn't spend more time with the drill.
maybe it was a mistake.
i'll be aware now.

[66Submarine]

Originally Posted by 1strong63

no problem at all i'm begging for advices and points of view that's why i'm here. there is no sense behing on a forum not to share things.

when i say the same rocker is always stuck that's mean that all the rockers are moving a bit excpet one. and that in every engine position (crankshaft)

If you pull the lifter for the "stuck" rocker arm I bet you'll find that the bottom is cupped and the cam lobe is gone (thus the lack of motion).

Originally Posted by 1strong63

thanks guys! question is how comp cam could be so wrong with this product?
i'll start open the engine this week to have the bottom line.

It's just a very aggressive grind that makes a little more power than something less harsh and wants to self destruct as a side effect, most of the cam companies have a variation of their own.

Originally Posted by 1strong63

get back to the steering.
i cannot set it properly and i don't know why.
the tube is in its lower position so it can't go deeper in the truck if i want to keep the screws to hold it.
Attachment 1411176
Attachment 1411179
and look at my steering wheel, it's bolted to the max and i have that clearance. the horn is not hitting the contact plate and the indicator cancel plate didn't tough the rest either?!?!

Correct me if I'm going insane, but don't you need to slide the column the other way to close the gap?

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Coming into the party waaay late, but I hope you get this problem fixed soon. Break in is soooo critical. I was always told to prime the engine for 5-10 minutes just for sanity reasons.

Prime for 5-10 minutes so the cam doesn't go flat? The cam is not even lubricated that way, it's splash lubed. See below:

Originally Posted by 1strong63

for priming i didn't spend so much (5-10) cause the oil came out to the rockers very fast (around 30sec) and i get oil pressure to the gauge at the same time. so i didn't spend more time with the drill.
maybe it was a mistake.
i'll be aware now.

It's not really a big deal IMO. As I said above, the cam is splash lubricated to begin with.

FWIW, I just broke in a flat tappet cam 350 last Friday that I put together:

I used the Isky "Rev-Lube" moly paste on the lifter bottoms, cam lobes, pushrod ends, rocker balls, etc. I filled the pan with regular 10w40 with a bottle of Crane Super Lube break-in concentrate in it. FWIW, I just used thick 50W racing oil on the bearings since it wasn't going to sit. I didn't prime it before starting.

Next I brought the engine to 10-15º BTDC and set the distributor so that the initial timing would be fairly close to that. This is important to insure the engine starts and runs immediately.

Then I primed the carb, hit the key, and after 3 seconds or so the engine was above 2,000RPM (again, this is important to get oil slinging onto the cam). Ran it at something like 2,500-3,500RPM for 20 minutes. Initial oil pressure was something like 75-80PSI and settled at about 65PSI when hot with a standard volume/high pressure oil pump (M55A). With the stupid cam (Comp "Mutha Thumpr"--I didn't chose/buy it...) it also has 43PSI or so at a hot idle IIRC (someone remind me why I need a high volume oil pump again? ).

So far the engine is happy and still has 16 lobes on the cam.

YMMV...

[1strong63]

Correct me if I'm going insane, but don't you need to slide the column the other way to close the gap?

... i saw that last evening i spend the day thinking about that and when i saw the picture i realise that it just have to go up not down

any idea for the starter wiring? if not i'll try what i figure tonight and see if it burn to the groud or no.

[1strong63]

stop looking guys i found my wiring for the starter works properly.

[1strong63]

done some fab today. tought it'll be fun to keep the mechanical clutch and accelerator.
so i rebuild the systems.
accelerator was pretty simple. with the rod lenghtened with a holding brake pad rod for a caliper and the rest with some flat steel. i keept some old hardware.

then i found a bushes for a oil cooler on a nissan that fit perfectly the rod to the carb bracket.

and a coil for a renault carb with a small bracket i made too.

[1strong63]

then the hardest was the clutch.
i had 2 threaded holes on the side of the block and one on the bellhousing. cannot use the one on the bellhousing cause it didn't align with the rod from the pedal and one on the block was too forward and hit the header.


i spend a lot of time to get the proper geometry for the bracket. i use the original one that i raise to meet the ball from the engine.


then i trial with the header and it was hitting the extension for the rod from the lever to the fork. i cut and weld it back straight to have the rod parallel to the ground.



then the final stuff.


i do have a problem anyway, all works properly, there is no efforts when you move the lot fwith the pedal but i think that as my clutch is bigger than the small block one (13") when you push the pedal the chassis is twisting and the steering column where the pedal are attached is moving too!
i'll do a brace for the chassis to connect top and bottom of the C and we'll see.

[1strong63]

hi all happy new year. i cannot work on the truck for months cause the shop where the truck was, was closing cause the guy that rent it didn't pay the bill and the owner close the shop and didn't wants all the things inside the shop to be back to the customers as a guaranty for him to be paid. had to play big muscles with him but i finally get my truck at home.

i plan to put disk brakes on it, as it's nearly impossible to find a later chevy crossmember with stock brakes i'd like to purchase a conversion kit from toms classic on e-bay they are cheaper than anything i saw on the internet so i'd like to know if some of you run them and what do they think about.

thanks