All the above. Changing a flatty cam is a PITA. Unless you plan on doing a valve job you better have a good reason for going thru the tedious work. And, just like any cam swap, do not reuse the old lifters without refacing. Old adjustables require refacing also.
Wow! If you had to ask that your in for a real education. By the way, that's where we all started. Helpful Hints. Buy a box of Beer, build a fire and Find a book. You can do it but don't give in to the impulse to use the B.F.H. When it starts getting confusing, go get another Box of Beer. The Wizzard
Well its a good runnin' stock motor but I am pullin' it out of my truck to put in my "T". I just thought while it was out I would put a little cam in it. BUT, I thought about it and figured there was no way to do it without pullin the heads. BUT YOU DONT KNOW UNLESS YOU ASK! Thanks, Mike
Don't know what your goal is, but if it's improved performance there are other related tasks to do to fully realize any benefits from a performance camshaft. At a minimum you should increase intake valve size to 1.6 in., do a proper three-angle valve job, open up the intake ports and match the manifold, then blend the bowls. The finish in the exhaust runners and bowls should be about an 80-grit texture to aid keeping the gas in suspension. On the exhaust side, open up the windows from the bowls to the runners, shape the backside of the bowls into the exit, and give the bowls a bit of a polish; you no longer need to keep anything in suspension, you just want to get the bad air out as quick as possible. On the outlet side, open the runners about 1/16-in. all around, carve away the ledge at the outboard side of the front and rear outlets, blending the openings to help the exhaust gases to turn the corner into the header. I find it helps me to visualize the flow column into and out of the combustion chamber. Be the flow, Grasshopper. If your mission is real performance improvement, consider a camshaft from Dave Tatom. Dave's grinds are based on contemporary cam design thinking and perform exceptionally well, and much better than the traditional grinds. A big positive is that his cams reduce the charge-dilution problem between the center cylinders to somewhere around nil and don't require a port-plugging divider. What Dave's cam do provide is a rumpety idle, but then neither does a Winfield SU-1A which is probably one of the very best of the traditional cams. Did Dave learn what Winfield knew? Hmmmmm . . . If your reason for changing camshafts is for the rumpety idle, save yourself lots of work and dollars and just pull out your choke knob like we did as kids when we couldn't afford the good hardware and hadn't a clue about doing the work. And just to make sure you have a fooler, add a few percent of nitro to your fuel tank to give it that eye-smarting serious aroma.
[ QUOTE ] Changing a flatty cam is a PITA. Unless you plan on doing a valve job you better have a good reason for going thru the tedious work. [/ QUOTE ] Let's say that I want to install a new, hot cam in an otherwise stock flathead. I'll also install a new intake, so I'll have access to the valves, springs and lifters. I'm happy to install new lifters and springs. Do I need to use new valves? If not, is there a way to mark and orient them, so that I can reseat them easily? Do I need to use new cam bearings? Basically, how did you guys hop up a flatty, back in the day, without pulling the engine and sending it out to the machine shop? You guys didn't always strip a block down and have it redi-stripped and magna-fluxed, did you? If not, what was your low-buck procedure? I'd really appreciate hearing some unorthodox shortcuts. Thanks, Matt
Not sure what you guys are looking for, maybe some long-forgotten magic bullet that's gonna turn a tired stock flatmotor into a racemotor with only a few hours effort and a couple of bucks. There are no quick, low-cost shortcuts to building a hi-po flathead, just as are there are no quick and cheap answers to making lots of dependable horsepower in late-tech motors -- SBC being the exception, of course. Wishing isn't going to make it happen, and us old guys are not purposefully withholding secrets from you. There are no shortcuts to building a strong, reliable flatmotor. If you aren't prepared to pay the freight and learn and do the hard work required, you're wasting your time and dollars messing around with 'em. That's just the way it is.
It's a real fun job, as long as you have all winter. been there and done that. thought about changing the cam i put in two years ago, but once i think about how long it took, i think i'll leave the 3/4 one in there.. if it needs a valve job, now is the time to do it and change cams. otherwise forget it.
The Jalopy Journal
