Cantedvalve

oh yeah I did that (priming). I though you meant presoaking them.

See, the directions for the lifters said specifically to NOT soak the lifters, only to coat the outside with engine oil. my springs are set up for 130 lbs closed, 375 lbs open. ive got time this weekend. I’ll pull the valve covers and redo the preloads. No reason not to.

I’ll give that a go this weekend.

So the roller rockers are old Ford Motorsport units - M-6564-B351. They are the same rockers I had with the previous cam. The bolts are 5/16-18. One turn is 0.0556". The instructions on installing the lifters was 0.020" to 0.025" preload. 1/2 turn would give me 0.027". All of my preloads were between 1/2 and 3/4 turn, so 0.027" to 0.040" I wouldn't be surprised if these were ProForm rockers that Ford had made for them... ProForm makes them now, look the exact same. My cam specs are: Duration 278/282 advertised, 225/229 at 0.050, 0.576/0.600 lift, 106 centerline, 110 lobe separation angle. I wouldn't think that would be noisy either. I think I have the original rockers... I COULD reinstall those and see if that makes a difference.

First off, I had a big flat spot in it when I had the 6.5 Went to a 3.5 and it went away. My engine idles in park at 9.0. Rule of thumb is either 1/2 of in park vacuum(9.0) or 1/2 of in drive vacuum (7.0) (I have seen both). Normal driving it does fine (it didn't before the change). When I floor it, I have a small flat spot. I might need slightly larger jets, or a 4.5 valve. I have both to try. Not a big priority at the moment as it runs well. I just want to get some miles on it.

Engine has under 300 miles on it since it was put back together. The shims went under the pedestals of some old FMS pedestal mount rocker arms. How did I know what to shim? Well, i installed the lifters, pushrods, and rockers. I found zero preload, then turned the bolt until tight. If I had more than 3/4 turn, I put a .020 shim under it. Then (after letting the lifter recover), I repeated the process. If I had more than 1/2 turn, I torqued it to spec and went to the next one. I think I shimmed 4 rockers. All told, the assembly went very well... no surprises or issues. I didnt soak the lifters (directions said not to), just coated them with oil and installed them. rotated the engine looking for interference with the link bars and to make sure the oil band on the lifters stayed in the lifter bore. After all the reading I have done on the subject, two things keep popping out. 1) Roller rockers are noisy. My last cam had some noise to it (other than the lobe being wiped off) that I would now probably attribute to the roller rockers. 2) some camshafts, particularly high ramp hydrollers, can be noisy. I dont pretend to understand it, but there it is. I sourced springs that were a match for the camshaft (went with the lightest spring I could find that still met requirements... definitely didnt overspring it). Car runs great. I have no complaints on performance at all... just the noise. I may have an exhaust leak... I will look for that. That would not be the whole issue though. The valve train just sounds very clattery. Almost like a solid cam.

I’ve put a hydraulic roller cam in my 351C. It is a Howard’s Cam unit. I used the matching lifters and push rods. I have pedestal mount roller rockers. When I assembled the engine, I went through the firing order to set preload. 1/2 to 3/4 turn past zero, which should be 0.030” to 0.050” on the screw. Had to shim a few of them cause they were over a full turn. As far as I can tell, I’ve done everything right. Contact point of roller tip is centered on the valve. I’ve got good oil pressure when cold, haven’t checked it hot yet. Not sure how I can have bad pressure hot if cold is good. Anyway, looking for advice. Parts used: Howards Cams camshaft 230245-10 Howards Cams hydroller lifters 91168

Final update. Put in the 3.5 power valve and it pulls hard and smooth now. No more tuning required for now.

I couldn’t get my car to idle down under 1200. I backed the curb idle off so the butterfly was completely closed. Still 1000 rpm. So a) I have my secondary butterflies open too much, and b) too much initial timing. Made a timing adjustment to my car. Initial is set at 10 degrees. Was running full manifold for vacuum advance... switched it over to ported (venturi) vacuum. Dropped idle down to 900, which is where I wanted it.

Yuck! Good luck with that!

I went with a 600 because mine is a street car that won’t see the far side of 6000 RPM very often. 600 CFM is plenty of carburetor for what I’m doing. My engine probably would do more with a racier carb, but for my uses, this works. Chances are, if my son ends up getting a car, that I’ll use this one there and get a 750 for me. Im not disappointed with the tweaks I had to do, just disclosing what I found. I think it’s a great carb and would recommend it for any street engine

I finished my tuning carburetor (for now). I changed the power valve from the stock 6.5 to a 3.5. No more bog.

There are plenty of reviews out there already. I am just going to give you what I have experienced with this carburetor. I am by no means an expert in carburetors. Hopefully someone finds it helpful. I ordered and received the 600CFM vacuum secondary carburetor. It came packaged well. It included the fuel feed line and wires for the choke. It might have had something else in the box (a funky carb base gasket), but those were the important parts. They advertise that they wet test these carburetors... I can confirm that as mine still had some gas in the secondary bowl. The finish on the carb isn't perfect... it is tumble polished, so around casting features and such (like the logo), you can see where it didn't polish. I am probably going to have mine bead blasted for a satin finish, so I am not terribly concerned with it. Since receiving it, I have replaced the vacuum diaphragm housing with one that has a quick change top on it for the springs. That is the only modification I have made so far. The good things: Its based on the Autolite 4100 design, so it kinda looks at home on a Ford engine There is exactly one gasket between body segments - Holleys have 5 (base plate, fuel bowls x 2, metering block x 2) Changing gets no longer requires you to spill gas everywhere (vs. a Holley), but changing the power valve will Out of the box, the car started and ran. I did end up taking the carb off so I could do some double check of settings, and I will take it off when I switch out power valves Aluminum construction - Zinc has always bothered me, and it "corrodes" quickly (don't they use that as sacrificial anodes). Aluminum I should be able to keep looking nice. Once I tuned idle, it runs well. I can start and drive it without issue. A lot of the parts I used on my Holley (jets, power valves, float valves, accel pump diaphragms, accel pump cams, secondary diaphragms, secondary springs, small cork gaskets) all work with this carb, so no need to stock up on more pieces if you already have them. Parts that are different are gaskets (lid gasket and venturi assembly gasket), accelerator pump jets instead of nozzle assemblies, and air bleeds. The not-so-good things: The feed line that came with the carb... doesn't fit well without persuasion. Leg to leg distance was too short, meaning when I screwed in one leg, the other wouldnt reach. A little creative massaging and persuasion was needed to make it work (I think it is made of chromed copper), but I would just plan on getting a separate feed line. The carb wasn't terribly well tuned when it arrived... it ran, but I had to reset the throttle blade position so that it would idle without using up the transfer slot. The choke has a vacuum port on it (like Holleys do), but it didn't have a gasket between it and the throttle body, and there was a gap. Potential for vacuum leak. There is a port on the back of the carburetor for brake booster or PCV valve hookup. I couldn't get the plug out of the port. Still haven't. I had an issue with the throttle sticking... not closing all the way. I backed the curb idle screw all the way out, loosened the throttle plate screws, and let the throttle shut all the way. I then tightened the screws, and the throttle hasn't stuck since. This isnt a drawback on the carb as much as a learning... the Lokar throttle cable bracket won't work as-is. The set screw doesn't have a surface to contact, so the bracket wants to rotate. I made a new, longer set screw that makes the whole thing work. 8-32 screw or some threaded rod will get the job done. A little about my combination. I have a stock 351C long block with a new cam. I did throw some new valves and springs at stock 2V heads, but other than that, the motor is as it was from the factory. The cam I have in there is a hydraulic roller with nearly .600" lift and a god bit of duration. I have a 2500 stall convertor in an AOD and 3.89 gears. The engine has welcomed the new carburetor, and so far the two are playing well together. It is a good carburetor, cost aside. When you toss in the price point, it is a great carburetor.

Hehehehe. Trannies. im gonna go with a 3.5 power valve... because vacuum should go down, and that is what the local parts store has.

Okay, update time. Oil pan is fully installed. No leaks so far. Pulled the carburetor to do some bench tuning and idle tuning: Found that the primary transfer slot was too exposed, and the secondary was not exposed at all. Fixed that. Set idle mix screws at 1.25 complete turns. Reinstalled the carburetor, turned the engine over to prime the carb... remembered I had not put oil in after the oil pan change. Put the oil in. About bought the farm on that one. Started up the engine using the fast idle cam for the choke and let it warm up. kicked down the fast idle to idle... engine kept running! No tach so no idea where it is idling. Vacuum gauge says 7-9, bouncing a bit... turn the curb idle up half a turn, vacuum smoothes out at 8-9+. Turned the idle mix screws in about a quarter turn, vacuum becomes steady at a bit over 9. Idle mix screws are 1 full turn from seated. Might do more? Unplugged the vacuum gauge, plugged in the vacuum advance (full manifold vacuum). Idle increases. Take out the half turn from the curb idle, drops back down to where it started. nice steady vacuum at 9. And that is where I ended it. On a high note. Question though... does idle increase or decrease when the car is put into gear? I didn't have a second person to help with that. I will tomorrow, just curious what to expect. The stock power valve in the carburetor is a 6.5. I am guessing I need a 4.5

So when do preorders begin?

The boy made me paint it blue....

We have a surface plate at work... really big, really flat granite table used for quality measurements of the parts we produce. I put it on that. I used a dead blow hammer and got the flange as flat as they can possibly be. Jim is happy now.

Got the new oil pan. Summit part. Looks good, except the rails aren’t flat. The inside of the rails are flat, but the outsides are not close. I don’t know it that is by design or not. I’ll probably try to flatten them out at least a little bit.

I stuck my head under the car last night while the boy started it up. I had previously cleaned up what had already leaked. I could see the oil seeping from the passenger front corner of the oil pan, down the front lip of the oil pan to the lowest spot. Oil pressure sender is at the back of the engine. Distributor has its o ring and is bone dry, fuel pump I checked as well and it is fine. I even tried tightening up the oil pan bolts and that didnt help. I have a new oil pan, gaskets, and bolts on order. I'll pull things apart tonight and see what's up.

I really don't know. I replaced the timing set. The old timing set was installed correctly, so that wasn't it. When I reinstalled everything, I went step by step in my rebuild book. Fired it up, and it ran great. If I had to guess, I would go with plug wires out of order.

The more I think about it, the more I think I have something more than just a leaky oil pan gasket. I stuck my head under the car and watched the oil leak... its coming out pretty fast... almost like it was under pressure. Its leaking a LOT. I have to drop the pan to do the gasket anyway... the only thing I can think it might be is that the oil pump isn't tight or the gasket blew out? Anyone have any other ideas?

Well, I got the car back together and took it for a quick spin. The carb needs some fine tuning (I did none), but it worked well for out of the box. I did have a small issue... the throttle wouldn't return to closed completely. I could push it back without much force, but it wouldn't go on its own. I didn't investigate it yet. I did find out that the oil leak I thought I had fixed isn't fixed... it looks like it is the oil pan gasket... front edge. Looks like I get to do that... again...

New carb is here. I went with a Summit 8600VS. I’ve heard way too much good things about them not to try it. So far I’m impressed with caveats. The feed line they give you is junk. Mine didn’t line up with both ports. Second, the port on the rear for PVC or brake booster has a plug in it... that I can’t get out. It was wet tested and it is free of debris, so it’s good to go.

Got the seal installed. I put RTV on the back of the seal where it mates to the timing cover. Those seals are not easy to install when the cover is in the car. I'll get the radiator back in the car tomorrow... just in time for my new carburetor!