Well, Greg, I'm going to chime in too, now that my engine is back together,
having installed all the components you were talking about: Piper 270 cam,
tubular pushrod, .020 over A&E's, new valve springs, nitrided rocker shaft, new
rockers, valve guides, valve stem seals, dual crank cam and chain set and a new
set of tappets. I bought the whole shooting match from BP Northwest. No one on
the list or at BPNW ever mentioned needing hardened tappets. The tappets were
only $44 for the set, from BPNW, (http://www.bpnorthwest.com/tr6/tr6engine.htm)
and I never gave it much thought. But at that price, I don't imagine they're
hardened. Guess I'll have to call and ask. It's not just spending the extra $$:
It's KNOWING what's the right thing to do at the time!
Dave Friedlander
CF25194UO
Gregory Dito wrote:
> Mike,
>
> I don't know how extensive a problem soft cams present, but I believe the
> real issue is soft lifters that then destroy the cam lobes. This happened
> to me on a Isky Z-19 regrind of my stock cam after only 15,000 miles. Great
> cam profile for a mild street hop-up but when I took my engine apart last
> year after sitting idle for twenty years the damage was obvious. Three
> lifter faces were destroyed and the respective cam lobes were worn down
> considerably. The other cam lobes and followers were fine, looking like
> new. So three out of sixteen lifters were bad. It was not the cam. And as
> far as I know any good cam regrind shop will harden the cam before shipping
> it out.
>
> I come from the school where if you're going to spend a decent amount of
> cash just to do something half-assed you might as well spend the extra bucks
> and do it the right way. Not to say hardening refaced used lifters does not
> work, but if I'm going to invest major cash for a performance cam and
> related hardware I do not want to later wish I spent the extra few dollars
> to avoid doing it all over again. New hardened followers will set you back
> about $130, not a terribly expensive investment. Although not exactly at the
> top of anyone's list of exotic engine components, a engine will soon be in
> trouble without good lifters riding the cam.
>
> And frankly, if $130 bites too deep into one's wallet I would have to
> question the logic of doing engine mods in the first place. It's better to
> plan ahead and buy the right components over a few years as the budget (or
> wife!) permits then to take shortcuts and rush into the job just so you will
> have the car back on the road by summer with a hot engine, only to have the
> engine self destruct. Patience absolutely pays off here!
>
> By the way, with 10:1 compression you are a candidate for cam bearings if
> you decide to go to a high lift cam, which requires that the block cam
> saddles be line bored (~$200-$300). Then comes tubular pushrods (~$100) and
> a nitrided rocker shaft (~$80). Also check your rocker arm faces. Not
> unusual to see these pretty worn. And what about performance valve springs?
> Can you hear that sound? Ka-ching, ka-ching!
>
> Good luck!
>
> Greg
> CD6250L
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "michael lunsford" <mblunsfordsr@yahoo.com>
> To: <6pack@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 9:20 AM
> Subject: Soft Lifters
>
> > All of this talk about soft lifters, soft cams and etc is increasing my
> normally abnormal paranoia. Somewhere down the line I expect to swap out my
> early cam for an S2 type with new lifters. I have a 10/1 compression ratio
> so think I would benefit from this upgrade. Is it possible to send the
> lifters and new cam to a shop that does race type hardening and get some
> added insurance for this problem? If/when I do this I don't want to have to
> re do it again in 6 months or a year.
> >
> > Mike Lunsford, 1970 TR 6
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
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