Building a 500/400 F.F.E. with Mega-Squirt

[airfueleddie]

I had to return my rocker assemblies to RAS. The shaft had a couple of small nicks in it, right where the oil feed holes were so this may have 'chewed' up my soft bronze bushings agin the chrome-moly shafts. The shims also looked nasty. They said they would take care of it. Cool!

[airfueleddie]

Above is a text book example of how the parts should be carefully inspected and measured, ectt before usage, no matter the manufacturer or geographic location. Customer service is paramount.

[airfueleddie]

I recieved my RAS rocker assemblies back from RAS today. I couldnt wait so I 'mocked' them up. Looks nice, they returned then free of charge and free shipping back to me. New thick walled shafts, hardchromed, new shaft bushings/spacers.

[airfueleddie]

another,(the wife loved the fact I invaded her kitchen)LOL

[airfueleddie]

I checked the installed heights, the spring pressures, the seat on all the intake/exhaust valves, I cant post any pics.

[airfueleddie]

WTF? it says the 'uploader' is full? Oh well...........

[airfueleddie]

I have the heads on the Bench, I have spent a lot of time studying the program and it's pretty comlicated for a person of my age that didnt grow up in the Net environs that most younger persons use today. I'll post my results when I get everything set up according to what the program dictates and post my results here.

[airfueleddie]

The intake and exhausts seats were spot on. The intakes measured .040 and the exhausts measured .060 the spring OPEN pressures at .600 were HIGH@326  LOW@317 less than 5%

[airfueleddie]

Springs were checked on the digi Rimac.

[airfueleddie]

I also checked installed height, the worst offender was 1.870 but most were at 1.880

[airfueleddie]

Of course I will be using Scott Browns parts, which I need to order the first of the month,(Feb.), Cam, Roller Cam Matched Springs,(PSI is what I want to use but Scott may have another supplier I trust his judgement)(Silicone), pushrods(Smith Bros), retainers, locks ,(10 degree),(Comp or Crane),,,but I wnated to check this stuff out as a courtesy to those that may be interested in using them OOTB. The springs I think will suffice a FT cam with 500-575 lift. The locks and retainers are plain steel, I dont think they are Chrome-Moly pieces. They dont look or feel like it. But I'm not 100% sure about that.

[Kapteenikosmos]

Great info! Thanks! 

So it seems that the heads are pretty good directly out of the box? Of course there might be some variations between casts etc, but at least yours seem to be good?

[airfueleddie]

Thanks for the reply Kapteenikosmos, yeah, they seem to be pretty good right OOTB. I did find a 7 degree keeper wedged in one of the bolt holes to the block, but it was found by me during inspection, no problem proabaly dropped in there by accident, who knows, LOL, the springs are as advertised. The valves seem to be good quality Stainless Steel, after I establish a baseline in flow I will backuct the intakes slightly and see what happens. I think I would also replace the retainers and keepers or locks with Chrome-Moly and 10 degree locks or keepers. The 440 source site advises this with any cam over 515+ or so lift. The valve seats were nicley cut and the 'pattern' they established was a good one. I forgot to mention , the valve guides were at .0008 and they had that nice suction feel to them when the valve was placed on the seat by hand. Maybe Chryco or someone else who drags and uses these on the street could advice as whether the valve seals on the exhaust will be necessary. The guides were true and tight, with the exhaust under pressure some omit the exhaust seals, but with bronze guides, the lubrication requirements go down compared to cast iron guides. I'll probably leave em on. Maybe a drag only engine might omit them. As soon as I get the flow chart accomplished on a intake/exhaust port@28" I'll post it.(Next Mon. hopefully)

[airfueleddie]

Oh I forgot to mention, the center exhaust ports were a bit off,(.050 on the top and right exit), but will be fine with gasket matching. The actual port isnt lower/higher,,just the exit was machined a bit off,LOL

[airfueleddie]

Witha gasket in place