I am installing my first camshaft so far so good. In all the technical reads many people soak their lifters in oil before install. Is that still recommended with solid lifters? Any other tips are appreciated.

thanks!

 

Soaking the lifters in oil is generally done to fill hydraulic lifters prior to installation. On a hydraulic lifter, if you decide to pre-fill them prior to installation, they need not only be soaked, but "pumped" while submerged in oil in order to pre-fill them and remove the air. Personally, I don't feel this is neccessary if you are going to pre-oil the engine: Running the oil pump during the pre-oil process will fill all the lifters and the gallies anyway, so the trouble to pre-fill them is not needed.

With solid lifters, there is not much point in doing the pre-fill at all. However, you do need to generously lube the lifter bottoms and the cam lobes with the assembly lube recommended by your cam manufacturer. It's also a good practice to pre-oil the engine prior to start-up if you're building a new engine to assure that the engine gets oil pressure and starts splash oiling the cam immediately upon startup.

 

Thanks Lars, coming from you I can almost take it as gospel.

Another question, which has come up on my cam change though. Look at pic. I am uncertain how to align the dots on the timing chain. On the Cam gear the dot is up top and their doesnt seem to be a corresponding dot on the crank gear. Anyone familiar, its a 350?

Thanks!

 

Crank gear dot should be at 12 o'clock and the cam gear at 6 o'clock. If they are both at 12 o'clock exactly that is OK also as the cam rotates at 1/2 the crank.

 

Look real closely with a light at crank gear. You have a 3 position gear and if you look closely at the keyway slots you will find they are slightly different. One will be 'square" cut, one will have a pointed top and one will have a rounded top. If you look right to the side of each slot, you will find a "circle" a "diamond" and a "square" lightly stamped into the gear. Each one corresponds with cam being in at "0" degrees, or +4* or -4* Whichever slot you use, make sure you use right "dot" or mark on crank gear to line up with the dot on cam gear.

As far as breakin..make sure you have carb full of gas (no extended cranking) and timing set correctly to start immediately. As soon as it fires...and I mean immediately...get rpm up in the 2000-3000 rpm range. This throws lots of oil around during the critical break in period. It doesn't hurt to throw in an extra QT of oil either and a can of GM EOS supplement from the dealer will help ensure a smooth breakin.

I leave out the T-stat as temp will come up quickly and you will need lots of coolant flow to keep it cool during this 30 minute 2000-3000 rpm breakin period. DO NOT let it idle. I use a box fan as needed to keep it cool plus a water hose is handy to keep radiator cooled down also as needed.

Vary the RPM during breakin period..this will throw oil to different parts of engine....one steady rpm can starve a particular set of lobes.


Good luck!

JIM

 

Awsome info!

Thank you both!

 

be sure to change the oil filter after breaking in to remove the lifter moly lube

 

Would Permatex 14 aka thread locker be safe to use on ARP head bolts? If so which bolts? Do all of them need this or only those in a water jacket? I am installing new iron heads on a iron block.

thanks again. Also, I will make sure to change the filter!

 

I'm not sure what permatex 14a is ... but if it is a "thread locker" like "loctite" ... I would not use it on head BOLTS. You don't need to lock the head bolts but you do need to seal them. Most folks find that smearing some hi-temp silicone on head bolt threads works out very well. I put it on all sbc & BBC head bolts ... never a problem. On the other hand, a buddy of mine uses "indian head shellac" on open head bolt threads ... it both seals & locks the head bolts ... his motors do fine also. If I recall, all sbc head bolt holes are open to water jacket.

 

Your right, not thread lock,as in lock tight but thread sealer. Can I just use some Permatex black silicone on the ARP bolts?

thanks!

 

Yes. That works well.