Hi Aaron,

Springs have their pressures measured at the installed height.

It would tell you if you'll get coil bind (and/or valve bounce. I forget.) or not at high rpms.

I agree with you that you don't have time, and you're not going to race your truck anyway.

Adjustment would mean removing the springs and using a special tool for measurement. (See pic below)

Shims are used if the pressures are too low. (Round flat black thing in picture.)

If the pressures are too high, they 'could' destroy the cam lobes, and should be returned for exchange.

There, I saved you some time, so I'll take the $60. e-transfer please.

I'll take FB's $10 too ! LMAO

 

The installed valve spring height should be on the cam card...but I think it should be ~ 1.82". That tells you -with the cam manufacturer's springs - what the seat pressure and "on the nose" spring pressure (in psi) would be with those springs, and at what lift you'd have coil bind.

I've seen it before - some nose pickin' wet behind the ears....wanna be motorhead's friend told him to put "these springs in".....and slaps springs in that have too much on the nose pressure. That resulted in a pooched cam

Adjust with shims...but that means pulling the valve springs, if needed.

 

Not so fast, there Gridley......Aaron hasn't said whether or not he'll check the installed spring height yet......

 

Ok, another $10 says he won't !!!

 

Ahhh.....Sure he will, won't you Aaron?

You're still on, FMJ!

 

Aaron, if you say you won't, even if you do, which I know you won't, I'll give you one of FB's $10 !!

And just to ensure that you don't, those special tools cost $10,000.

Way too expensive and out of your budget, right ?

(Ummm, who's playing dirty ? LOL)

 

Aaron, I meant to ask, a bit late now, but did you get the 'rotating assembly' balanced ? (Hopefully by a 'proper' professional.)

 

Ugh, don't really wanna do all that work. Not one bit lol.

That's what I paid the shop to do.

To answer your question, yes the entire rotating assembly was balanced.

I've got the numbers for what each piston weighed in at somewhere... can't remember where I put the sheet.

 

@ Aaron

Good, pleased to hear it.

@ FB,

e-transfer please for the $10 bucks. LOL

 

How about an e-peek?

 

LOL

 

Quick update.

Basically copying and pasting from my build thread at this point for everyone's enjoyment. Thanks for following.

Ultra Black put everywhere. Pic was taken before I put RTV around all bolt holes and the connecting surface between exhaust ports.


Water Pump / Thermostat High Temp Permatex used for the specialty ports.


Second coat of RTV after turkey pan placed.


Intake placed and torqued down to 22 ft-lbs. Retorqued 3 times to make sure it seated properly. Followed the torque sequence to a T.



Rocker assembly coated with more Clevite assembly lube, then another very healthy coating of BR-30... just because I can.


Robert Shaw 180 thermostat special thanks to Tim


After valve covers and thermostat housing put on. Significant amount of grinding of the intake to get the thermo housing to fit properly. Dished out the thermo housing area (on the intake) with the dremel tool. Went nice and slow - dished out only as much as I needed to get my socket to fit snugly on the bolts.


You can see (if you look super close) that my blue socket scrapes the intake ever so slightly and leaves some paint transfer. Close enough for me

Water pump / thermo housing RTV used for the thermostat. Healthy "squish" factor.


New stock coil (for now). Bracket painted with POR-15 to match.


New temp sender installed after some significant time spent with a 3/8" NPT Tap for the block hole. Man those holes take a beating! Coolant must have been super old in this thing....

Permatex high temp thread sealant used on both the thermostat housing bolts and the temp sender


Working out the kinks tonight for a serpentine pulley set-up. So many have tried, and so many have failed. Not me... I might have finally figured this sucker out!

Fingers crossed that the pulley ratios work out. Alignment seems really close. Pictures don't do it justice... it's closer than it looks. Need to shim with MAYBE 1/8" of washers to get perfect alignment.


Configuration #1 - small water pump pulley on rear crank sheave. Note: Power steering pulley not installed - will sit on rear crank sheave.


Configuration #2 - larger water pump pulley on front crank sheave. Note: Power steering pulley not installed - will sit on rear crank sheave.


All pulleys are junkyard stuff I've pulley over the years. Just so happens that I found a combination that's very close for the Ford 400, and looks like it might work!

It'll be a HUGE Triumph if I can get it to work, with correct pulley ratios (similar to stock).

Not a fan of the dual serpentine system, but it works better than the V-belts would! No more alternator squeal to boot!

More to come.

 

Lookin' good, Aaron! Better by the day!!

One caveat.... and leave it to me to find/address a possible faux pas.....When you installed the turkey pan - it appears you used the rubber 'S' gaskets on the china walls.

I use the RTV stuff there instead of the rubber(s) as, I have found, the rubber will tend to leak oil because the "squish" isn't that good and might shift during installation/curing.
Not that it will happen to you but it's just a thought. After she's broken in and have a few miles on her, check that area for leaks. Hopefully you'll be leak free.

Other than that, another step closer!!! WuHoo!

 

Thanks FB! Getting more exciting by the day too

Yes, I did use the rubber 'S' gaskets on the china walls. I put down a nice layer of Ultra Black RTV under them, placed them, the placed Ultra Black RTV on top. Don't think I mentioned it above in my post, but it had a decent 'squish' when I placed everything down.

Man those intakes are hard to set 'straight' down!!!! Like shoveling s##t without a shovel!

I'll definitely be double checking vacuum leaks when I'm done break-in. I assume I'll have some... kinda hard to avoid with the way these intakes seat on the motor... particularly these aftermarket ones.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

About the S gaskets... you can glue them down to the block and let the sealant dry/cure for a while, and THEN glue down the actual manifold. Keeps those things from potentially getting squished out of place or otherwise moving.