Quick recap. Wrong heads and lifters, broken pushrod, engine runs like crap, etc.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...n-pushrod.html

Still waiting for the heads so I thought I will just make sure it's really a Lunati cam which is what I paid for. Well, it's a Lunati Voodoo but not the one I specified. This cam is one step up in duration from what it was supposed to be so maybe there was part of the problem. However, the big thing is they didn't install a button so the cam was probably walking back and forth in the engine. Take a look at the inside of the timing cover.



How long before something self destructed? I am so damn disgusted and disappointed, even more so now.

I haven't talked to the shop yet, I'm trying to decide just what I want them to do. He assured me he would make it right but at this point I'm not convinced he even can.

Good grief.

 

I quit installing roller cam button timing covers and instead went to highest quality double roller timing sets. The chains are so strong that they are hard to install but the cam doesn't walk back and forth

In your case probably a non roller cam contact with the front cover is caused by the position of the bottom crank sprocket. You need to tap it back towards the block

Flat lifters ride on an angle which pushes the cam back into the block

 

and when the cam walks forwards lobes lift the next lifter forward.

 

I have never built an engine w/o a double roller, just good insurance and not that much more expensive.

 

Whats your builders stance on all this sounds like you got a royal mess on your hands

 

When your shop gets the new heads hopefully they will pull them apart and check them over. Maybe make sure the correct push rod length is installed this time, with correct rockers and a cam button for that roller. I would also have them check the cam carefully. I see engines like this come into the shop and I just shake my head. I say this all the time, there is a big difference between a parts installer and an engine builder.

 

This is the timing chain that was installed.





I don't see a name anywhere and the work order does not specify either. Hosed on this, too?

Google says it's a Melling. Corvette Central sells them for $24. Answered my own question about getting hosed.

 

that IS a double roller chain and gear(s).

 

Why do you think you are getting hosed on that?

 

If I was in your shoes, I would run away screaming like a girl.
I am very lucky to have Joe Jill at Superior Automotive 5 minutes from here.

 

yes, just the absolute cheapest one he could find. I won't tell you what he charged me.

 

Here is my guess. He lost your parts/they walked off. He replaced them with what he had laying around, or ordered cheap to keep the cost down.

 

I would rather have a cam bolt locking plate ($5) to insure nothing comes loose.

On the timing cover, have someone tack a piece of sheet metal on the inside for a new cam button to ride against.

 

Look for something like this. The gears and chain run around $100 or get it all like below.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Cloyes/220/9-3100K/10002/-1

 

"He will be long dead before this wears out."

 

Pretty sure the cam walking issue is related to that roller timing chain. I agree 100% with gkull and have personal experience as well: There is no way a roller cam can walk forward in a SBC C3 with stout quality durable double roller timing chain...no chance....The chain is too tight and too strong.

I went through the hocus pocus about the roller cam, cam button, and cam walking hysteria back in 2014 during my rebuild of the 355 L-82 with a howards roller cam. After extensive personal reading on the subject, advice from knowledgeable car gurus who have actually used retro rollers in a SBC for a C3, and personal advice from my expert builder who did the short block build for me on the 355 L-82, i surmised the following which has been validated 6 years later with a perfectly operating L-82 355 roller cammed motor:

1. The GM OEM timing Chain cover will supposedly flex with a roller cam and cam button behind it pushing on the cover. Not in a SBC C3 where the cover sits directly against the back of the water pump which further reinforces the all ready heavy gauge metal cover....chance of flexing? None
2. The roller cam requires a cam button to prevent the cam from walking forward.....Nope...See my opening comment. A quality double roller timing chain will NOT flex, stretch or bend, allowing the cam to walk forward.
3. Using a cam button, which I did use for insurance, requires trial and error to get the clearance correct? Nope. Just slightly dimple the timing chain cover for a nylon cam button to fit snuggly and done.
4. Measuring the pushrods for proper fit also was completely overly complicated by many, and it too, is a clear procedure, and easy.

All told much of the roller cam install is very overblown and is moderately easy.....

 

I just installed my first roller cam this winter, measured and ordered the correct button, held in place with the chain/ cam lock plate......runs awesome! It’s so easy a caveman can do it!

 

I still say that all he needs to do is tap the lower sprocket back towards the block. That would give some clearance behind the upper cam gear. Both of my present motors have the Torrington bearing behind the cam gears to protect the blocks.

Someone years ago did the post about drilling the block with a tiny drill bit to actually be squirting oil on the chain from the cam valley area. I've never done it.

 

Since the HB holds the lower sprocket tight against the snout shoulder, I am not following.

 

I did the torrington bearing behind the cam gears, roller bearing button, and the chain oiling mod on the left-most oil galley plug, and the AllStar polished aluminum timing cover; it all tucks behind a corvette-style water pump PERFECTLY. -The AllStar cover wants a THICK oil pan gasket so only go that route if you have an oil pan that requires the thick gasket.

-The drill bit for the oiling mod is just so insanely small I had to wrap it in a bit of duct tape to get the drill to even grab it; it was some kinda miracle that the drill bit didn't break. I did it to a press-in plug, I have NO IDEA how you'd successfully drill a hole that small into the thick screw in plugs...


Adam