DeTomaso Mailing List: October 99, Message #66

Good post Dan

Assembling my valve train last month, I noticed that on a few valve tips the
rocker arm's roller tip was off to the side rather then perfectly centered.
Unfortunately, I was unable to adjust my guideplates to correct the offset.
It has bothered me as I presume it would cause accelerated guide wear.  I
had considered cutting the guideplates to allow adjustability but had never
heard of anyone performing this modification.  You've given me the green
light.

Any suggestions on cutting the hardened guideplates?

John T


-----Original Message-----
From: Jones, Daniel C <Daniel.Jones@MW.Boeing.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <detomaso@realbig.com>
Date: Friday, October 01, 1999 1:54 PM
Subject: Cleveland Notes


>I've recently been talking over Clevelands with a hard
>core Ford racer.  He's built racing 351C's, 400's, SVO's
>SVO's, etc.  I thought I'd pass on some of his hints.
>
>He doesn't care to tap a 351C for screw-in core plugs.
>The big taps required put a lot of stress into block.
>He recommends the press-in plugs, sealed by red/brown
>Permatex.  For racing, they use hardblock to partially
>fill the waterjacket.  He says the block needs to very
>clean before the hardblock is poured.  Any residue will
>keep the stuff from properly adhering.  They send their
>blocks out to American Metal Prep, a local outfit.
>They like the block to be 80 to 100 degrees F and they
>fill to the bottom waterpump bolts with the block tilted
>slightly forward (since the coolant will slosh back under
>hard acceleration).  He reports no cooling problems.
>
>He thinks a 400 is stronger than a 351C and doesn't have
>the thinwall problems, so they don't hardblock it.  The
>400 also has a much thicker deck.
>
>He cautions against skimping in the valve train area.
>Use good quality stainless steel valves, cut the guide
>plates in half to position each pushrod independently,
>and use good quality pushrods.  All the heads in his
>shop had titanium retainers and Comp Cams roller springs.
>
>After a baffled, oversized, oil pan, he believes the most
>important oiling system modification is to bush the passenger
>side lifter bores.  The bushings are bronze and you
>adjust the oil hole to suit whether you're running solid
>or hydraulic lifters.  In his tests, this modification
>was worth 20 to 30 psi (hot) at the rear of the engine.
>The mod can be done easily (and cheaply) on a Bridgeport.
>The original bore is used to locate and is simply bored
>oversize for a press fit bronze sleeve.  Once the sleeves
>are in place, you hone them for a fit similar to the
>original clearance.  You *don't* want a lifter seizing
>in the bore.  I have a set of the sleeves and the
>installation tool that I'll have Mike Dailey scan in
>and post on his ever expanding Pantera web site.  The
>sleeves are available from Bruning, Dixie, and Bearings
>Incorporated under p/n 1416-12.  He also uses the screw-in
>restrictors and likes to use low profile, high strength
>magnets in the oil pan.  The magnets are a Ford part, used
>in a variety of ford and Mazda transmission pans.  No need
>to rigidly attach them, they never move around.  He
>typically uses 4 to 6 in a gated pan.
>
>He uses 37-1312 4150 Methanol carb rebuild kits when
>rebuilding Holley carbs.  They come with the good Teflon
>gaskets and high flow alcohol power valve.  He also
>mentioned the green accelerator pump cups from Ford (late
>model 460 application) are a good upgrade if you have to
>contend with blended fuels.
>
>He uses the SVO Fel-Pro 1023 head gaskets which have a
>4.100" bore diameter.  A341's are for Cleveland, B331's
>for Windsor.  He showed me two holes on the head gasket
>which they enlarge to match the passage in the head.
>Mike Dailey and I tried to take a digital picture of
>this but it really didn't turn out very well.  We'll
>mark them better and take a close up.
>
>Another thing he likes to use is a brush hone after the
>typical ball hone.  He showed me some SAE papers to back
>up his opinion.  He claims the rings seal quicker, last
>longer, and that 90+ percent of the stuff that packs up
>the filter after a rebuild goes away.  The brush hone is
>inexpensive and available from Goodson and Osborne
>Peterson under p/n HB280427 for a 4" to 4.5" bore.
>
>He also likes a four hole spacer to improve the booster
>signal and mixture distribution when using a single plane
>intake manifold.   You can put them down in the plenum if
>the additional height is a problem.  He showed me a trick
>"traction control" spacer they use for racing.  It appears
>to be a normal four hole spacer but has a push/pull cable
>routed to it which moves the spacer within a spacer.  Pull
>the cable and it acts like a restrictor plate.  Great for
>the end of the race when the track gets slick and the tires
>go away.  A simple O-ring provides the seal at the cable.
>
>He likes long rods for durabilty reasons and has noticed a
>torque gain in the low to mid rpm region. He had several
>stroker cranks in the shop, all with 6" or 6.2" Chevy
>journal Eagle rods.  He also likes Total Seal gapless rings
>but warns you have to read the instructions when you install
>them, particularly the part on PCV when running them on the
>street.
>
>Dan Jones
>
>
>