Jeff G 78

Wait, are the springs and rockers on or off? If the rockers are not yet on, then yes, is should have zero resistance to spinning or longitudinal movement. If the rockers are on, then it will have enough friction to not easily slide fore-aft.

When I modified my gear for the eccentric bushings, I leterally just used my drill press and punched the #2 hole the right size. There is almost no meat left on the inboard side of the hole, but it does fit. One thing I forgot to mention was that I had to cut a piece of 3/8" stock and use it as a plug once the eccentric was in place. The cam gear is about 1/2" thick and the eccentric bushings as well as the cam dowel are only about 1/4", so the bushing could walk off the end of the dowel with the bolt and washer in place. The plug keeps the eccentric bushing in place once you set your timing. From what I recall, I ended up with about 9.5:1 CR. I don't have my calc sheet handly. You will see a bit less with 0.040" cut off, but it should still make good power. The guides were super easy to modify with a small burr and a file. I wouldn't be afraid of taking 0.050". I spent almost nothing building that engine. The hot tanking of all engine parts, measuring everything, crank polishing, head milling and valve job was $500. I bought a quality made in USA timing set, new oil pump, new bearings, rings, and gaskets and then had my stock flywheel lightened by about 10 lbs. The whole build was about $1,200. I use a distributor from an '82 ZX which has a lot of advance, but it has no issues with 93 pump gas. I already had the cam (Web Racing #91) and the header was given to me by a friend. It was beat up and needed some work. I added an O2 bung so I can keep an eye on the AFR. With a bigger budget, I'd opt for the Kameari tensioner and cam gear, but those two components cost the same as the rest of my build. I did add a BHJ damper and Kameari bolt kit this time around after failing my stock damper and chewing up a bunch of parts in the process. What are you doing for fuel delivery? My SU's with SM needles do a good job. I had to ditch the stock fuel rail though for racing. It created terrible vapor lock on the track.

Agreed, the cam is just slid back. Look at the back end of the cam. It should be flush with the rear tower and yours likely sticks out the back. The retainer only keeps it from sliding too far forward. The gear and accompanying bolt keep it from sliding rearward.

Okay, I'll admit that I didn't read every word, but it sounds like you have a very good grasp of the tension, timing, and chain position as it glides over the guides and tensioner block. I slotted the slack side guide holes much more than stock so that I could move them closer to the chain and get the slack right. I loctited the chain guide bolts in, but others who have done the mod drilled them bigger to use a larger bolt. I chose not to do that as I could get more movement with the smaller bolt. I'm not sure I could get the guide in the right location had I shaved more than 0.050" off the head. If I were to do it today, I would get the Kameari tensioner kit and a real adjustable gear to make everything easier. Here are a few pics of my build from about six years ago. I had the engine apart recently and dialed the timing back in using a different eccentric washer after the chain had about 20 race hours on it. As you can see from one of my pics, I had to straddle the actual timing compared to the spec sheet that comes with the cam.

Hey guys, sorry I missed the tag until now. I've been super busy lately and haven't been on here. Give me some time to read the six pages to figure out what the discussion is about and I'll chime in. ? I do see that it's about the F54/P79 and yes, that's what I run. I run the stock valves and did not shim the towers after shaving 0.050" off the head. I modified the slack side chain guide a bit and use the stock cam gear modified per the "How to Modify..." book to use a Chevy V8 eccentric washer kit to dial in the timing. It runs great and makes good power with a mild cam, header and SU's. Now let me go back and read for a bit to get caught up...

I have the tool (KD-3087) siteunseen showed and I have used both rope and rubber hose to hold the valves closed. I like rope better as it doesn't have as much give as the rubber hose. The valves will stay completely closed with the rope. That said, the tool went out of production quite a few years ago, but you can probably find a used one. It works okay with stock valve springs, but I found that performance springs and retainers make it difficult to use. The tool doesn't fit well on the springs close to the towers and stiffer springs cause the tool to flex and slip off the valve retainers.

Wow, that’s disappointing. I guess I will try to clear lacquer mine before I run it.

I got around to installing the BHJ damper today. It went on great using the crank bolt to draw it in. The 0.001" interference fit made it tighter than a stock damper, but it pulled in very easily with the bolt. The Kameari bolt and washer were just the right length. The only thing I need to do now is fabricate a new pointer as the scale on the damper it forward of the pulley rather than behind it like the stock damper. Since the whole reason for the engine teardown and new damper was a loose crank bolt, I used red Loctitie this time around. ?

I also ended up with the Kameari bolt and washer.

I love the roads around Jerome. Were you in that area?

I run 20 weight.

Thanks, I'll grab a pair. I have always struggled with the float heights. Several years ago, I posted my method which involved using a clear water bottle as a surrogate bowl so I could set the floats and not have to take the bowls off and reinstall them over than over. It worked okay, but it still wasn't super accurate. The banjo bolt setup should yield much better results.

I like the banjo bolt idea! I will use that. Do you have the banjo specs handy?

I've been using this site for years. It's a great quick reference.

There must be some other factor at work that we are missing. I guess as long as you found a solution, all is good.

Great find. It's odd that my F54 with a shaved P79 endurance race engine has near perfect AFR with SM needles. I have a Web #91 cam and a header, but it's otherwise a pretty simple build.

i gutted a spark plug and installed a bolt through the center with the end ground smooth. I then turn the crank slowly until the piston stops from the stopper. The length of the stopper bolt should cause the piston to stop 5° - 10° from TDC. I note the number on the degree wheel and then rotate the crank backwards until it stops again. Again, I note the number on the degree wheel. I rotate the degree wheel on the crank the number of degrees it takes to make the CW and CCW numbers match. I then do it all again to double check that the degree wheel is exactly zeroed at TDC. From there, I can start checking timing per the cam timing card. I use the eccentric sleeves from a SBC as described in the How To Modify Your L Series book.

That's just wrong

It's amazing how many parts were still good though. I am using the mustache bar, aftermarket swaybars and the front crossmember on my race car after I modified the pivot points. I'm sure there are many others as well that I can't think of at the moment. ?

LOL. I bought the car in 1992 for $500 as a beater/parts car and drove it for about six months before parking it in my dad's garage. Over the years, the garage roof rotted and leaked near where the car was parked so the garage was really damp all the time. He built a nice new pole barn in about 2001 and the car was dragged (due to the locked rear brakes) into the new garage at that time. I decided to retrieve the car in 2009 as a donor car for my race car build. We stripped the good parts and cut the car up for scrap metal a few weeks after these pics were taken. When we cut the car up, the RH side of the firewall was so rotten that we didn't even have to cut it. The car literally had no good metal from the windshield to behind the seat on the RH side. Here's how bad the rot actually was in the car. From the outside, it didn't look all that bad, but the underside looked like it had been on the Titanic.

That was after at least an hour of heating, soaking, and hammering. In one of the pics you can see a pipe under the car. I was using a sledge hammer on the opposite side of the car to hit the pipe which was against the fins on the drum. Cutting the drum off was the only way I could get the car to move. There was no way I was going to be defeated!

Depending on how bad they are, it might require drastic measures. I had one rusty old 280Z parts car that had been stored for about a decade and the drums were so seized on that I had to cut the drums in two. Even then, they were a bear to pry off. Hopefully it doesn't come to this! Good luck.

Don't do it! L-Jetronic EFI and bigger cams do not play nice. I tried to put a Web Racing #91 grind street cam in my L28 and it ran like crap. After some research, I learned that L-Jet relies on proper engine vacuum and the cam reduced the amount of vacuum created. The car idled poorly, had no power through most of the rev range and at best, had a bit more power up top. I pulled the cam and went back to stock. I then installed the same cam in a L28 with very similar compression, but fed via SU carbs and it runs great. I couldn't be happier with the performance.

The tires you want will likely rub in the rear. The fronts might rub on the inside with that offset. A +6mm offset would be closer to what you want. My car has 225/50R16 max performance summer tires on 7 inch zero offset rims and they rubbed HARD in the rear. The fronts rub while backing and turning.

Tire choice is just as critical as rim width and offset. Even tires in the same size can vary greatly in shape and true width. What is the purpose of your car? Cars and Coffee? Daily Driver? Weekend cruiser? Track car? This MUST be your first question. If you only want it to look good and be a fun car, go with a 205/55R16 high performance tire. If you must have maximum grip, you will need to end up with a squarer tire that is more likely to rub.