Cam swap ,i guess im living right

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The Shocker

The Shocker

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Tore my 408 down today for the switch from a hyd to a solid flat tappit cam.When i pulled the roller rocker shaft assemblies i noticed a retainer on the right side had a funny angle to it.Upon a quick glance i noticed it was missing a keeper .I have spun this motor to 6000 many times on the track (150 passes),and i just did it again the other day in my driveway before i tore it down.How it kept from popping the other keeper out is beyond me.The whole thing woulda been done in a micro second if it had droped the valve at 6000 rpms.I cant find the keeper (i fished around the pan sump with a long magnet and still nothing),so does anyone know how i can tell which one it is without pulling the head ? I can replace it easy enough with a spring compressor .Will i have to get a whole set for the one i need.Please excuse my ignorance as im still fairly new to Mopars ,but not engines.These are econo W2 heads BTW.The valve stem tips (including this one ) look text book perfect ,as do the retainers .I guess i floated the spring at one time and caused it to pop out.No telling how long ago.Thanks for your help ...
 

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On a positive note the heads have apparently been gasket matched at one time in their life ,but the intake wasnt.I will be gasket matching it before i reinstall it .Cam bearings ,double roller chain ,and everything else is all in great shape .I have always been a Ford and Chevy guy ,but im note affraid to tear into a Mopar for the first time especially with the help of sites like this ...
 

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Well, I have to be honest and say pull the oil pan. If you so not find it in the old oil first. Then look at the pick up screen a d the. The inside of the oil pump.
 
You are one lucky fella! Looks like it may have smaller valve's to, are they 11/32?

I have always bought my keepers in a set not sure if you can purchase them by a pair. Also need to know what degree they are.
 
I think the locks come in sets of 8, so you would have to buy 2 set to do them all. I say, replace them all and pay real close attention to that retainer that has only one lock.
You could have a 10* lock on a 7* retainer........or you could have a cracked retainer.........Alu retainer are the ones that have that problem most of the time.

Look to see if there is any height difference in the top of the valve stem compared to the retainer. If the keeper is recessing into the retainer, this could cause low spring pressure and cause the valve to bounce/float at a earlier rpm.
 
One more thing. You are going to a bigger cam right? and going from a hyd to mechanical.......don't you need to do a "spring change as well?

Retainer to guide height should be check for the lift of the new cam.

How much lift does the cam your removing have?
 
i think the same.....can´t imagine a spring to float that much to release the keepers - can someone really confirm this as possible? Maybe if it was not installed properly....

Michael

bOb shingler said:
i'm going to step outside the bun and say that the lock was never on there from day one.
Click to expand...
 
The old cam was hyd flat tappit .484 /.510 lift and 234/244 duration @50.

The new cam is .507/.507 lift and 254/254 duration @50.

You guys could be right about it was never installed correctly from day one.I have personally put about 80 passes on it .Just a little scarey to see that i was flirting with certain death to the 408 and didnt know it .

After sleeping on it i have decided to pull the heads ,port them ,and then have a valve job done .Im gunna get all new retainers ,locks ,and springs.I will let the machinest set it all up.

Yes its an added expense ,but i cant see the logic in risking dropping a valve over $300-$400 and ruin the whole motor.The port work im gunna do to the heads over the winter will also be a hp gain .May as well as all i have to do at this point is remove the headers and unbolt the heads ...
 
Ya,your a pretty lucky dude on that one Daniel.Could have been catastrophic !
Nice to see your taking the steps to set these heads up right,for the cam.
Should be a Monster when your done !
 
Finally finished the blending and port cleanup on the W2 heads .It took me almost 20 hours .I noticed when i knocked the valves out that sum of the intakes were chewed up on the tops of the lock grooves.The machinest thats doing the valve job for me told me not to reuse them.Im gunna buy a new set of intakes .Kinda sucks cuz they were Milodon Stainless valves .Here is a few pics of the ports after i got done.Someone over thier life tried to gasket match the intake ports and just cut a 45 degree angle from the edge to the pushrod bosses.It was a brick wall IMO .I spent alot of time trying to blend this area as best i could.I made it lots better ,but was affraid of breaking through ,so i left a little of it .You can see it on the left side of the port,but its a whole lot better than it was before IMO.I got my hands on sum Diamond Carbide cutters and they went through that cast iron like it was butter.Only problem is you gotta watch what your doing ,unless you want to see the inside of a water jacket ,lol.Here are sum before and after pics.I hope my 20 hours of clean up makes it move air better ...
 

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Here is a short vid of my Dart Bracket car with the new Iskenderian solid flat tappit cam.I ported the W2 heads myself .I cant wait to run it again this season.Throttle snap is impressive , i just cant get it to idle under 1050 rpm ...

[ame="http://youtu.be/30XmDAKQn-8"]302 Found[/ame]
 
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