rhodes lifters?

[shadango]

So I am thinking i may have a non-stock cam in my car....

In other threads I have gone thru a lot trying to get my car to run right.....

Its a 76 318 with j heads, an eddy performer intake, eddy 750 cfm performer carb and dougs headers.

I have about 5" of vacuum at idle when it is idling high and it drops to like 1 or 2 when it drops really low idle wise (around 500 rpm).....

A guy I met at Pep Boys suggested Rhodes Lifters.

So, what do you folks think of these ....worth it or no?

[Chryco Psycho]

they do what they are designed to do

[Ck[FIN]]

they do what they are designed to do

Any car engine needs more than 500rpm at idle. More oil pressure and engine sounds "healthier" at 800 or more.

[Oldschool]

Any car engine needs more than 500rpm at idle. More oil pressure and engine sounds "healthier" at 800 or more.

 

The Beast idles between 1000-1150, but it has a roller cam.  Not only the oil pressure and sound, but a slow "lopey" idle is rough on the timing chain.  It is more of a jerky motion at low idle which "snatches" back and forth on the chain.  A faster idle smoothes this out and make for a much longer chain life.....      

[shadango]

Yeah, I know I am way too low.

I still have the issue where if I rev it up in neutral some it wont come back down to the lower idle....it revs high....but as soon as I tweak the throttle screw down a hair it drops way down again....

In drive it idles really low...doesnt stall now though....idles real low....shift into neutral at a stop without touching the gas and it idles nice at 800 or so....

still sorting this out, and was wondering if these might do the trick.....get me more vacuum which in turn should improve the idle some ,right?

[femtnmax]

I would not buy the rhodes lifters.   IMO they are a band-aid for a wrong cam choice, or (maybe your case) some other problem that needs attention.  Varying idle speeds can be caused by  dirt in the carburetor, worn throttle shafts, worn distributor advance parts, etc.

One of my customers HAD rhodes lifters in his 440 dodge, also had adjustable rocker arms.  Those lifters leaked down so fast I could almost not set the lifter preload with any accuracy.  So the result is the pushrod/valve is not at all following the motion of the camshaft...your loosing lots of cam lift and duration.
I ended up installing "OEM rate" lifters, and replaced a worn out distributor, which in this case fixed the 440's woes.

[shadango]

I hear ya, but just looking for ideas....

On their site they say that the rhodes lifters negate the effects of a large cam at idle but once out of idle they pump up and act like normal lifters.......?

I have replaced my distributor and its guts (complete reman).......no manifold or vacuum leaks that I can find......tried new wires , plugs, tried different timing settings, cleaned carb IMS ports, opened it up and set floats, cleaned bowls....

I have not yet pulled the valve covers to see what type of rockers I have......

The tranny is a 727 with what is supposed to be a stock convertor in it.....I guess if I have a more radical cam in there, the convertor might be too low  stall, right?  That could explain why it drops from 800-900 rpms in idle to 400-500 in drive.

Swapping out the cam could be a fix......what cam would be suggested?

[Bullitt-]

Are you using vacuum advance?.. If so could it be connected to manifold vacuum rather than metered?.. This would explain the sudden rise in RPM.

[tactransman]

If you only have 5 inches of vacuum,you either have something wrong or too big of a cam for that 318. You would probably be happier if you put a Lunati Voodoo in it.

[shadango]

Are you using vacuum advance?.. If so could it be connected to manifold vacuum rather than metered?.. This would explain the sudden rise in RPM.

I have it connected to the timed vacuum port.......its only sudden when I jab the throttle for revs, and it wont come down......

[shadango]

If you only have 5 inches of vacuum,you either have something wrong or too big of a cam for that 318. You would probably be happier if you put a Lunati Voodoo in it.

I was thinking cam change too......still not sure that I dont have something 'esle" wrong, but have been over and over it looking for vacuum leaks.....none that I can find.

Would like to get what I have working if possible......

[tactransman]

You might want to do a compression test.

[shadango]

Compression is 145-150 across all cylinders while warm.

[Chryco Psycho]

you might have light springs in the dist advance , I ran into this before , you may need to swap out a spring for a heavier one