Don,t tell my Wife ,After 57 yrs of marriage to one another she figures because of our age the buying or building cars from ground up is finally over. Well I thought about maybe buying another car that someone started,.lost interest and wanted to get rid of it . I then would do my own thing with it The engine building I,ve always let someone else do it. Reading about all the failures with flat tappet engines / cam lobes on break in the fact it might happen, the engine would have to be disassembled/ torn down to remove debris.Well, I gun shy and don,,t have the time or money to do it twice . I,m old school and not up on all the physics of roller cams and lifters considering going this route to avoid this from happening .The engine will be a SBC ..carbureted mild performance/street Can someone send me maybe ( good article for the novice) explaining to me step for step what,s involved Hope I,m not asking too much !! Can one have roller rockers without having a roller cam or do they go hand in hand.Whats quality,the best route to go The very old SBC can be switched over to rollers but there's a lot of work involved Drilling the block etc. A lot of info I,m not clear on Gene in Mn
retro fit roller lifters of hydraulic type can go in a standard SBC with just a cam button . no drilling I know of . same as a solid roller cam in any small block You're not required to run roller rockers . Later factory SBC with factory roller cams still run stamped steel rockers . If this is a mild cam with out a lot of lift id find a later 1 piece seal SBC and run the later factory roller lifters with a performance cam . cheaper and easier and more reliable . Thousands and thousands of guys still running non roller cams in chevys . not sure what the best lifters are these days .
It would take a book to start you off on your small block journey. How to rebuild your Small Block Chevy by David Vizard. A crate engine from GM may be best for a once and done approach.
Buying some " unfinished project" may end up with you selling an unfinished project unless you can accurately assess the needs required to get it on the road, for correct info on current state of cam/ lifter quality and options, call Mike Jones at Jones Cams, 704-489-2449,NC. What is your total budget for a driving car? Realistically. Someone on this site probably knows of something for sale near you and might be able to assist in the inspection. Good luck.
No mods required for a SBC retrofit roller cam and lifters. You may have to order pushrods of the correct length. As an added bonus, almost all the current retrofit hydraulic roller lifters suck. Google collapsed hydraulic roller lifter and read the bad news. There are a few brands, Morel, Johnson being some that are good, but wait time can be (was last year) several months. After my fifth pair of collapsed hydraulic roller lifters on a brand new 302 small block build, I pitched the hydraulics and put in solid rollers. I’d rather adjust valves every once in a while than constantly pull the intake manifold to replace junk lifters. The original 302 had solid flat tappet lifters but I didn’t trust the current crop of junk cams and lifters and didn’t want to pay the numbers matching crazy prices for original stuff. Turns out I paid anyhow.
Let's step back a bit here. Want a fire breathing monster or a car with a V8 in place of little flathead 4 or 6? Assuming the latter what's wrong with just a good running engine with a few add-ons? Some 40-50-70,000 mile SBC still running. No worries, flush it, seal it, dress it, done. If the goal IS to build an engine back to previous perils, but if mainly the car is the goal...?
Unless your trying to keep that engine in the car for a reason and If you have the budget. Why not just get a nice roller crate from like Blueprint? There are A LOT of SBC books or engine building books in general. Aftermarket heads are the best upgrade for a SBC in my opinion, yah you can make stock heads work But usually you spend just as much or more sometimes. Your gonna get A LOT of diff opinions on everything from the cam to the oil pump. Part of the problem with the SBC is too much parts variety! I mean someone is already talking solid roller cams basically. I'm a SBC guy and as a hobbyist I've been researching all the mods, odds n ends about them and engine building in general for decades, I'm not even close to knowing it all LOL Still my post is not meant to discourage yah the SBC can be pretty forgiving sometimes, I've taken apart some poorly assembled engines in uncompleted projects that I've bought. Just depends on your target RPM/use/engine life expectancy. GL and hope it turns out Great!
Personally If I had the coin I'd look for a running and driving but dated or never got past the finished chassis and nice engine but runs, drives and handles great that needs my touch put on finishing it right. Maybe someone's "patina" rig from out of your home area with good running gear and a solid body but needing your touch to be a nice finished hot rod that won't piss off the local guys because you sanded Leeroy's old worn out paint job that they have seen around town for the past 25 years off and repainted it.
Go to "searchtempest.com" and start searching for something you might be interested in. That website searches the entire US Craigslist listings unless you set filters like distance.. I've used it dozens of times finding what I needed to build The Judge.
Save yourself both time and money and locate a 1987 or newer SBC that's already a roller cam motor. The roller lifters for these engines are much cheaper than retrofit roller lifters to convert pre '87 engines. And they're already setup for the roller cam, so it's a no brainer. Additionally these blocks still accept the earlier heads, so you can install any SBC head made on them, and you can drop a early intake, and distributor in them too, and it looks the same as pre '87 engine. Only thing you might need is to either convert to a mechanical fuel pump (if it's machined for one!) or use an electric fuel pump. My engine started life as a 1990 GMC van 4 bolt main 350 with roller cam. I used regular 1970's heads at first, but later switched to Dart aluminum heads, roller rockers, and an early Edelbrock Performer RPM intake. Mine was machined for a mechanical fuel pump so I bought the pushrod and pump and made it mechanical easily.
My advice on the engine deal is buy a GM roller crate SBC and dress it up to look vintage. IMO this would avoid all the problems of building an engine today....... a shortage of quality automotive machine shops, crappy import parts, engine assembly requires much more than most think, anyone can throw one together and then be disappointed when it fails, from what I've seen through the years this happens way to often. If you have to DIY, find a fellow rodder with experience and the proper tools, your result will be much better IMO. You have to be at least in your mid 70's, be sure your ambition and reality are in check, I also agree with going shopping, Plenty of cars for sale at fair prices these days. Please do not be offended, opinion polls are what they are. I do not wish to rain on your parade, Do what you want/have to do, Good Luck and Enjoy.
Hello, My wife and I are in the same boat. But, we have decided with our collective minds that whatever road the next thing takes us, will be a cool hot rod like we used to have when we were 20-30 somethings. This time, age, available work schedules and the need to get on the road are the important things. The build process is now long gone, with the planning, giant list of projects and skills required that we could have done in our teens and 20 something days. So, that is one of the most important parts of the decision. This was our first choice when the pandemic was starting. Well built, would fit our needs and our granddaughter would get a big kick out of cruising around with a couple of old folks. At the time she did not have her license, as yet. But, as we approached the “buy” date, we called and it was sold. That was a good starter. Then, as we continued to see more old hot rods and trucks on the coastal streets from the different communities, the urge to buy popped up again. I had a 16 year old daily driver and an 8 year old station wagon for my wife. So, it was my turn to get a new purchase, whatever it was to be. We found several old 40 sedans in different stages of completion and finished hot rods. So, the field was wide open. I did not see us leaning over the fender replacing something or adding something new to the motor or chassis. There are/were several hot rod shops nearby that do a great job on different modifications. This Candy Apple Red Sedan was considered as we had always liked the color. But, we never had the means to get our sedan delivery painted. Life got in the way… When my wife sees the modern color version on various cars, she talks about it continuously. So, we were not worried about buying someone else’s project and having to do some work. We had purchased a project back when we were 20 somethings and worked on it for many months prior to being safe and fun to drive. Now, there are several shops, locally, that can update and make the new purchase, if there is one, safe and fun to drive. Jnaki Now, the older age thing is here and if we still wanted to cruise around like we used to do, it was getting time to do a sell and buy of one of our daily drivers. Prior to the pandemic, we had just finished three trips in two years in my wife’s station wagon. So, the question is… do you want to see the remaining years of getting old looking at a long term project or do you want to do some modifications as you cruise around in a new purchase? For us, time is short as our granddaughter is growing up fast and faster, as she is almost out of high school. But, for us, we are satisfied with our current cars with some dream popping up now and then. I better stop looking at other hot rods and concentrate on what is in front of me. “Even children get older And I’m (we’re) getting older too…”
Not trying to hijack your thread. When I started my current projects several years ago, I gave a fleeting thought to buying a finished car with an SBC and just driving it. Then, my mind thought, "I can still build these, the way I want them and without a lot of effort". The things I didn't consider were my age, stamina, having a wife who requires a lot of care, a house and yard that required time, the fact that the salvage yards I remembered from my younger years didn't exist anymore and the chain parts houses didn't stock the stuff I was going to need. My T roadster build has turned into an A RPU because I don't fit the T and my 46 Merc is going to have a 283 in it instead of a flathead because I want something more reliable for a daily driver. On the plus side, I'm re-gaining skills that I haven't used in years, and I've made a lot of friends and acquaintances who have helped me with suggestions and ideas but, I could have been driving something that would have been adequate to my wants or needs several years ago. Geez, I hate getting old.
The Jalopy Journal
