Almost destroyed my engine today...

[GRX]

How are you tightening the poly-locks? Hold the top hex in place with a box end and tighten the allen.

And yeah. They do work best with a flat square surface. Are yours press-in or threaded? ARP studs are pretty good. Cheaper brands I usually have to butt grind the top flat on the valve machine. Makes a big difference.

[GASoline71]

Originally Posted by Mrturner1

Thank you I needed that laugh I don't think I'm gonna be able to fish out the lifter so off comes the intake, and I was right in the middle of being frustrated when I read your post lol so, so true.

PS I "fixed" that old 280H hydraulic cam with a big ole custom ground solid one, bout 10 more degrees of duration and it's on a very street unfriendly 106 LSA, I love it, but don't tell GrumpyOldMan OR Gasoline71 cuz I'll never hear the end of it.

HAHA!

Kid... I've was driving big cammed and over carbed engines with loose converters on the street before you were born.

Someone earlier said... "fix it till ya break it". I would have to agree. I've never seen anyone "fix" stuff more on an engine that could probably just be left alone... well, I do have a buddy with a 1967 Chevelle that does the same thing. Guess what? He can never drive the dang thing because he's always "fixing" it!

If you get this taken care of and get it back on the street... you seriously need to put a lock on the hood and throw away the key!

Gary

[Mrturner1]

Originally Posted by GASoline71

HAHA!

Kid... I've was driving big cammed and over carbed engines with loose converters on the street before you were born.

Someone earlier said... "fix it till ya break it". I would have to agree. I've never seen anyone "fix" stuff more on an engine that could probably just be left alone... well, I do have a buddy with a 1967 Chevelle that does the same thing. Guess what? He can never drive the dang thing because he's always "fixing" it!

If you get this taken care of and get it back on the street... you seriously need to put a lock on the hood and throw away the key!

Gary

I read up on somethings lately that may change the course of my next build....MAY change lol I was reading about Volumetric Efficiency, man what an eye opener haha

[Mrturner1]

Originally Posted by GRX

How are you tightening the poly-locks? Hold the top hex in place with a box end and tighten the allen.

And yeah. They do work best with a flat square surface. Are yours press-in or threaded? ARP studs are pretty good. Cheaper brands I usually have to butt grind the top flat on the valve machine. Makes a big difference.

I use a box wrench and one of those "valve adjusting" specific allen wrenches. I think I need taller polylocks because the set screw sticks out the top pretty far, not much bite

[GRX]

Originally Posted by Mrturner1

I use a box wrench and one of those "valve adjusting" specific allen wrenches. I think I need taller polylocks because the set screw sticks out the top pretty far, not much bite

Something wrong there. Can you post a picture or two?

[snj8198]

Are you making any progress Matt?

[Mrturner1]

Originally Posted by snj8198

Are you making any progress Matt?

I've been working out of town a bunch so time has been limited, but I did try and spin it up to 2k rpms and watched as the lifter started pumping oil up to the rocker just like the rest of them, so that's good news. I drove it around for about 30 mins bein real nice to it and all seems well, but I am worried that this will only happen again and maybe I won't be so lucky next time. 1/4" inch to the right and that pushrod would have dropped down and been chewed up, leaving me with a pile of parts. I found these and I think it's a small price to pay for some security. A little cash and some time to re-set lash, and then I can feel comfortable driving it again. It may not happen to another polylock, and could be that I just over tightened the set screw on that one, but I don't want to find out the hard way. These are hardened and plated

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/ShoppingCart

[snj8198]

Since you had to pull the intake were you able to eyeball that cam lobe? Any chance you turned that motor over to check all the lobes for flattening?

[Mrturner1]

Originally Posted by snj8198

Since you had to pull the intake were you able to eyeball that cam lobe? Any chance you turned that motor over to check all the lobes for flattening?

I actually never pulled the manifold. It was like one of those fluke moments when all the stars lined up and I fished around under the manifold with a magnet on a flexible stick, and picked up the lifter, dropped it back in the bore and it started right up. Craziest thing that's happened so far in my limited engine tinkering career lol. I shined a flashlight to check the cam lobe and it looked fine, I think I really lucked out. All the other valves had perfect lash still, Ive been setting it to .15" and it seems to like it. Kinda curious about tightening it, but I'm gonna hold of as I've never had a solid cam til now and you know how I get with "fixin" stuff lol. Next post will read "bent a valve cuz lash was too tight, wanted to squeeze a bit more out of her"

[snj8198]

hahaha awesome! I must have missed the read on you being able to fish the tappet out without pulling the intake. How lucky! You gota video this stuff. Even tho the tappet to lobe has it's break-in pattern established, did you use assembly lube on it again on reassembly? If so what kind? And what oil are you using in this critter?

[Mrturner1]

Originally Posted by snj8198

hahaha awesome! I must have missed the read on you being able to fish the tappet out without pulling the intake. How lucky! You gota video this stuff. Even tho the tappet to lobe has it's break-in pattern established, did you use assembly lube on it again on reassembly? If so what kind? And what oil are you using in this critter?

It was the coolest thing to feel it pick up the lifter and get it back in the bore, I was jumping around my garage hootin and hollerin haha

I didn't put any on the lifter tappet because of the limited room and mobility it had with the magnet, but I did put Comp assembly lube (real thick moly) on the pushrod. I broke the new cam in with Comp break in oil, and used 5 quarts of it instead of regular oil with a bottle of additive. Didn't wanna take any chances on this one and currently I'm using Valvoline VR-1 racing motor oil, straight 30w bein's it's hot all the time now outside.