Thursday Night Update: Welcome to the 'Valley of the Dolls' . . . She's a Strange One Now Aint She?Just came in from the shop - was waiting on some final bolts, fittings and hardware to complete the whole valley area. Took one of the lifter blocks back out and swapped out two lifters - the adjusters were a bit loose, and it worried me a bit. Hopefully these 'Turkish' made lifters will hold up and we won't have adjuster issues -- will probably buy some 'jamb nuts' to bring to BVille!.
1) Oil Lines and Lifter Blocks: The FlatCad was one of the first V8s with hydraulic lifters - so they needed to pressurize them. BUT - the lifter blocks are removable . . . so they needed special oil lines to deliver pressurized oil to each block. Part of the reason I'm showing you guys this is that I'd never seen anything quite like it until Buddy lassoed me into the FlatCad project. Strange setup, but kind of cool as well!
I installed the oil fittings in the center of the block (they are fed from the outside - middle of the valley - separate exterior oil line). Then I mounted the special FlatCad oil lines . . . Man am I glad Buddy saved these and gave them to me! The alternative would have been about $80 of AN fitting junk.
2) Lifter Block Stud Girdle Setup: The stock lifter block setup just used some regular old hardware grade 7/16 bolts to hold each lifter block down (remember, they come out and are not cast into the block).
There are two cast-iron bosses in the engine block (about 1" diameter) that stick out from the valley sides that these the two lifter block bolts go into (total of 8 bolts).
What worried me is that with a MUCH larger cam and much faster opening ramps, combined with a lot more spring pressure, it seems to me that there can be a lot more side-load and overall stress on the lifter blocks, bolts and bosses. With only two 7/16 bolts (sticking way up in the air) . . . just imagine if those cast-iron bosses break off the block! Holy crap, the lifter block/lifters would probably fall into the cam, and the engine would turn into a 'Parts Blender' in a hurry.
So, we decided to use ARP studs instead of bolts - they're much stronger and give consistent torque readings (as we're tightening on the fine threaded end). I torqued them to 70 ft lbs - on the low end of the scale, but I don't want to stress this old block too much!
Then I got the bright (or maybe stupid - you judge!) idea of making 1/4" steel girdle plates to tie the lifter blocks together side-to-side. To me, this makes the whole thing a lot stronger (acts like a integral unit) - and might reduce any tendency for stud flex, boss breakage, etc..
Now - do I know this is even an issue to worry about
. . . nope . . . this is just the way I always think. Sometimes it drives Buddy nuts, but heck . . . he puts up with me and my approach to engineering! We're actually a good team - kind of a check and balance system. If we have an issue, we talk it out, maybe drink a beer - laugh at ourselves (quite often) and ask for help!
After that, I got to thinking about what else is needed to complete the valley . . . as once the intake girdle, blower manifold and blower are on - we don't want to forget about something and have to tear it all down.
Hmmmmm - valley covers (where the hell did I put them???). Found them in a box and then got to thinking about crankcase pressure and breathers. Decided to bore holes in them (they were designed for this) and put 1/2" NPT threads in the holes. This gives us some options to remove crankcase pressure (which is a good thing - especially with a dry sump . . . it needs AIR!).
Included is a picture of the valley . . . need to buy more hardware to fasten things down.
We're making really good final progress - still a lot to do, but if no really strange issues show up, hope to get all of this done for Buddy to pick it up next week. Wish us luck gang!
B&S
Topic: XXO/BVGC '38 Chevy Coupe Build (Read 1031913 times)