If this was my money I would leave nothing to chance, change that cam..JMO..

 

I'm putting that cam in as we speak (and the rockers and pushrods.)

Funny, I think it is a pretty small cam .

With new lifters, I think there would be no problems with your existing cam if you like it. Just treat it like a new one break in wise.

 

I'm working the next 2 days, not sure I'll get to the motor again before wed. I really don't want to tear the front end off again (or the intake, but that's a must given my screw-up). I bought some melling lifters at Autozone. Not usually a big autozone fan, but I've used melling parts, and think they have a good name.

I may still go with crane goods. Just hope I can get that balancer sleeve off. Not a problem before when I could pull on the cam gear, but with the timing cover on it could be a different issue.

I consider the cam big, based on the Crane site information. RPM range is like 2200-5200 and they label it as serious performance. I think a 2200 bottom RPM is a bit high for a truck, but I like the cruise RPM of 3000-3400 and the CR range of 9.5-10.75:1. My truck with 4.10s and 255/70r16s runs about 3400 RPM on the highway. I assume that's what they are referring to with the "Cruise RPM".

Duck, did you get your Crane goodies at Summit? What is the rest of your setup?


Just ran the Desktop Dyno with the 343801 Crane. The Crower cam I have now (which I know to work with my stock rocker arms and pushrods) shows a very similar power curve, with more torque at lower RPMs where I want it. Having a hard time convincimg myself to spend another $500 (Crane cam, lifters, pushrods and rocker arms)and pulling the front end apart. the crane cam is running at .580 lift (probbaly requires adjustable valve train)vs only .546 for the Crower. Doesn't seem worth it to me. My only concern is my stock valve train with the new Edelbrock springs.

 

I did get it all at Summit.

I ordered everything, springs, retainers, locks, cam and lifter kit, push rods, rockers, rocker shafts (Sealed Power), timing chain (Sealed Power), XRI points conversion, adjustable vacuum advance,

For the moment, it is going in a 360 with a stock bottom end and an "S" factory 4BBL manifold with and AutoLite 4100. Hooker headers and hooker dual exhaust kit with DynoMax ultra flows.

The rockers shafts were wiped and it had a bad lifter, which was intermittently tapping and made me mad enough to place an order.

It will all go into a 428 or 390 by this time next year, but I needed it to be reliable for now. (And yes I know the cranking compression is going to be dismal)

If we assume Crane's description is based upon a 390 CID engine (which is a reasonable assumption.), you are pushing 60 cubes over that, which is going to make the cam act a bit milder (a good bit probably)

Even with alum heads, I would have concerns that anything smaller would ping with your compression ratio.

What cam do you have in it now?

 

I am not sure about Crower, but Crane specs all their FE cams with the 1.76 ratio adjustable arms vs. 1.73 non-adjustable rocker arms.

(I could not find a .546 cam on Crower's site.)

Remember that what I said about the extra 60 cubes will also apply to your cam. It is not going to act the same as it did in a 390. (Or 352)

Personally, I would change the Rocker Arms, Shafts and Push Rods whether I reused the cam or not, unless they are already new.

Your experience may differ, but I had a Melling cam and lifter kit in a Camaro, it was a pretty hot cam (305 ADV duration) it had three lifters go bad before I got sick of changing them one at a time and put a whole set in. That was many years ago though.

 

specs for the Crower Power Beast cam, it's part number 16903

http://www.thedreyerfamily.com/69f250/camspecs.htm

 

Gtex, you might want to just replace the entire rocker assembly while you're this deep into it. I did a lot of inquiring both here as well as several other places around the United States during my 390 buildup and everyone I talked to said that the entire stock rocker assembly is volatile when put under increased load (bigger than stock cam, springs, etc.). They all say that the stock parts are prone to break under pressure. Ratsmoker could give you some good firsthand info on this. I think he's broken a couple of stock rocker shafts with his 390. Word is that the stock shafts will snap like a twig. Dennis at DSC is another good one to talk to. Basically, after talking to all of the people that I talked to, there's no way I'd have any of the stock rocker parts. I know you're thinking about replacing the rockers, but I'd sure go ahead and upgrade the shafts and stands, and throw those stock spring spacers away and get some good solid spacers. This will probably cost ya about 5 or 6 c-notes and that ain't cheap, but you're building a super nice motor that's already making a lot of us drool so you might as well bite the bullit and do it right the first time, IMO!

This is what I used in mine, from DSC:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...?&albumid=5398

There are also some other real sweet looking setups out there:
Oregon Camshaft:
http://www.oregoncamshaft.com/428-FE.html

And if you don't think you've given Flatlander enough of your money yet, they've got a nice Erson setup:
http://www.flatlanderracing.com/erso...ersfordfe.html

These are just some suggestions. Good luck!

 

Thanks for all of the great info. As much as I hate to do it, I'm going to talk to Flatlander about the Erson setup. I like that it's a complete rockers, shafts and stands setup. I figure they owe me a good deal since they fumbled on the motor.

I think they also owe me for some shipping I paid on heads, when they sent me the wrong ones (429/460).

If I go full roller, any cam reccomendations?

 

Comp also makes a full roller rocker set up,,,,,,,, Summit has them.

I'm out when it comes to Rollers, I've no experiance with them (Except a 2031 and E303)...................

Mine is through the break in run. Tuning is tomorrow and we will see what it does. It has a mean bark so far.

 

Just a note about the Comp FE rockers... They're the same thing as the Dove rockers that you can see here . The guys at Oregon Camshaft told me that Dove has the patent on those particular rockers so Comp just buys them from Dove and stamps their name on them. And, of course, marks them up to make a buck off of them. Not saying anything bad about Comp... I run a Comp cam myself... just figured it was worth pointing out that the "Comp FE rockers" aren't actually Comps!



As far as the Ersons go, I think that's a really sweet setup. I inquired about those from Flatlander as well as a couple other places earlier this year but they were on back order... most dealers said about a three to four month wait.

 

Comp list 2 types

1046 KIT

1046HD KIT

No mention is made of the differences, but the HD cost twice as much.



My AutoLite has a bad float, and one is not available locally, so we await a Holley 3310C from Summit in the AM to get mine up and running.

Might send the AutoLite to pony carbs.......................

anyway........................

 

Another credit card whammy: I think I'm going hydraulic roller with the following goodies:

Let me know what you think, other than the fact that I am crazy for spending this kind of money :-) All prices are from summit. I would still have to get measurments and order the pushrods. Do you guys think I can get a tool and take the measurements myself, or is there some spring compression and other testing required? Also, do you think this cam and the Edelborck springs are compatible? I'll come back with the Ed spring rates soon.

CRN-349521 CAM $320.99 $320.99

CRN-35532-16 Crane Hydraulic Roller Lifters $409.95 $409.95

EDL-6009 ROCKER SHAFT STUD KIT FE FORD $89.39 $89.39

ERS-E913020 SHIM KIT (required for Ed heads) $20.39 $20.39

ERS-E918502 Erson billet rocker assembly (shafts, rockers and stands) RR ARMS FORD $609.95 $609.95

Sub Total: $1,450.67

 

Just read the fine print on the Ed Heads.

Edelbrock specs: valve spring seat pressure is 120
Crane cam specs, want 120 closed, I guess that is seat pressure. They state 344 open. But I have no specs for the Edel springs at open??

I did find a possible monkey wrench, in that the Ed specs say max valve lift is .600 and the Crane cam shows .607, I wonder if 7/1000s of inch is trouble? Crane only offers one other hydraulic roller and it's even bigger.

Somthing whacky on Desktop Dyno. When I plugged in all the values for this cam, the torque jumps way up. It shows 575 lb-ft at 2000 rpm??? HP peaks at 435 at 5000 rpm. I expected torque to be lower, but the HP to increase and at higher rpms.

I guess I could give up on the hydraulic roller and just use the Ersons with a hydraulic cam setup.

 

I think that you will find that your ED heads have those springs on them. ( 99893-16 )

They are the same ones recommended for the 344561, which not so coincidentally has the very same specs as the ED RPM cam.

Funny how that works is it not?

 

We posted at the same time,

The hydraulic roller will have much faster ramps on the lobes, I wouldn't trust the desktop dyno on it.

I also would not worry too much about the .600 vs. .607, although I would check for coil bind.

The crane recommended springs for my 801 say max lift is .550 but the cam is .580..................