Fitzy's GP is back!

[Andy H]

19 hours ago, Fitzy said:

To answer Andy's question - heads & block deck were milled just a couple of thou to ensure flatness - not enough to influence any associated dimensions.

I see you have a one piece guide plate arrangement - how did you attach that? I think I see additional bolts to hold it in place.

So my engine is mix and match kind of deal.

The heads are stock 68 or 69 428 small valve heads so the guide plates are stock Pontiac and came with the heads and the studs are pressed in with a step for none adjustable valves but that's why I used polylocks to make it adjustable , think I'm running about half a turn preload.

I picked these heads for the size combustion chamber to get the compression where I wanted it.

What year are your heads? I thought all heads after 64 had guide plates?

And don't know if anybody else answered your question but yes you can replace the lifter's without removing the heads just the intake

 

[Fitzy]

Thanks Andy - I thought I could replace the lifters without head removal but couldn't remember.

My heads must be 65s but no guide plates present. I have asked Butler and they need to know what casting #s they are, so I'll do that next week.

If anyone's interested, I found a snippet of info that might explain what's going on with lifters. Mine were Melling but I still don't know what can actually go wrong with one, except for oil hole blockage.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Fitzy

[Fitzy]

My beautiful looking Comp Cams roller tip rockers were here when I got home last night. I have been talking to Scott at Butler and he's recommended Johnson Hylift lifters AND potentially polylocks - I'll let you know what he says.

The scenario keeps going through my mind - I CANNOT work out how this happened. If it was due to faulty lifters, surely the engine would have been making a racket prior to dislodging a pushrod or two. Engine ran fine. I am yet to do the checks that TwoLane suggested...had to have a skin check today and I am getting sliced up next week, so I'm a little preoccupied with that hovering over my head.

Another question for the FP Brains Trust: does anyone have experience with Comp Cams Magnum roller tip rockers? I test fitted one and the supplied locknut was reluctant to go over the stud. Upon inspection of the bottom of the nut, it doesn't appear to be a perfect circle - they're all like that. If I thread it on upside down, no problem. Is it perhaps a self locking design? The included info sheet said to NOT simply torque the nuts to 20 lbs. They must now be done using the pushrod drag method. This makes me assume that the nuts are designed to be snugged down to the correct spec and they will then hold that setting.

Christmas in September!

 

This is a view of the head that didn't fail.

Original vs Magnum 

 

 

Note thickness of fulcrum spacers: new one in foreground.

And beneath, old bent pushrod vs new replacement. Yes - both exactly the same length, although with a different design at the ends of the newbie.

 

 

 

This is a view of old & new rocker nuts. If you expand it, you'll see the weirdly out of shape design on the new one. It's this anomaly that is making the nut hard to thread on. I sure hope it's designed this way!

Edited September 27, 2023 by Fitzy
Adding captions.

[JUSTA6]

Nuts are correct, JUSTA make sure you start them by hand and they are going on straight before putting a wrench to em. 

[Fitzy]

Yes, that was what I assumed. Will order new lifters today and apparently I won't need polylocks but I WILL need all those friggin' gaskets when I remove the intake & water pump.

Do you remember that film The Money Pit starring a very young Tom Hanks? Still very funny and I think I shall rename my car the same.

[64 kiwi boni]

Mate ! Do you want me to post that gasket set you gave me over to you ?

[Fitzy]

I KNEW you'd offer to! Nah - all good. I have ordered new ones.

Thanks anyway.

[64 kiwi boni]

1 hour ago, Fitzy said:

I KNEW you'd offer to! Nah - all good. I have ordered new ones.

Thanks anyway.

aww mate!!! wish you lived closer !!!

[Andy H]

Are you going to use the Pontiac method and just torque down the nuts against the stop on the rocker stud? in that case i would suggest that you check that you don't get to much preload on the lifters before you bolt the intake back on.

 with the "crushed" nuts you could adjust the valves kind of like a sbc but in theory they could also bottom out before you get enough preload so i think again double checking would be a good idea

On Pontiac with adjustable valve train is this the type of nut that is being used?

I have used these rockers on a Ford 351C and a Chevy BB in the past but i used poly locks on both, they can be reused over and over vs the crushed nuts that looses its tension after so many times.

Good luck with your skin problem, its good to stay on top of these problems.

[Fitzy]

New rockers came with a nut I haven't seen before - it looks like I was test fitting it upside down. Anyway, I believe it to be a self locking feature. I asked Comp Cams to be sure. Cannot use the 20 lb factory method - gotta use the pushrod drag method.

[64 kiwi boni]

59 minutes ago, Andy H said:

Good luck with your skin problem, its good to stay on top of these problems.

mate !what wrong with your lizard ozzy skin?????

looks fine to meeeeee

and i laugh ! because i have had psoriasis since i was 21 ! head to toe for the first few year!

 

[64 kiwi boni]

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by 64 kiwi boni

[Fitzy]

Yeah, well my mother had nice olive skin and my father had white Irish/Scottish skin. Guess which one I inherited? Decades of sun worship have come to this - I have at least 3 spots to be cut out and about 10 minor ones to be treated with a special cream. It's the price you pay for growing up in Australia thru the 70s & 80s when nobody knew about sun induced skin cancer.

[64 kiwi boni]

10 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Yeah, well my mother had nice olive skin and my father had white Irish/Scottish skin. Guess which one I inherited? Decades of sun worship have come to this - I have at least 3 spots to be cut out and about 10 minor ones to be treated with a special cream. It's the price you pay for growing up in Australia thru the 70s & 80s when nobody knew about sun induced skin cancer.

Ah ! thats the differance now mate ! they can id the nasty ones and deal to them before they kill you !!!

[Fitzy]

I can't die yet - gotta fix the car first!

[64 kiwi boni]

42 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

I can't die yet - gotta fix the car first!

Yeah true 

[Frosty]

On 9/28/2023 at 4:07 AM, Fitzy said:

Yeah, well my mother had nice olive skin and my father had white Irish/Scottish skin. Guess which one I inherited? Decades of sun worship have come to this - I have at least 3 spots to be cut out and about 10 minor ones to be treated with a special cream. It's the price you pay for growing up in Australia thru the 70s & 80s when nobody knew about sun induced skin cancer.

 

19 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Ah ! thats the differance now mate ! they can id the nasty ones and deal to them before they kill you !!!

 

12 hours ago, Fitzy said:

I can't die yet - gotta fix the car first!

Tell all of that to Jimmy Buffett! LOL!

[64 kiwi boni]

5 hours ago, Frosty said:

 

 

Tell all of that to Jimmy Buffett! LOL!

Skin cancer at 76 ! Wow .. I had to google what he died of ! I didn’t know 

[Fitzy]

The thing with melanomas is they can grow anywhere - not only on parts of you that never see the sun but also internally.

Be sun smart, people. Hat, quality sunnies, long sleeves & sunscreen are the minimum, even if it's cloudy.

[Ringo64]

6 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

The thing with melanomas is they can grow anywhere - not only on parts of you that never see the sun but also internally.

Be sun smart, people. Hat, quality sunnies, long sleeves & sunscreen are the minimum, even if it's cloudy.

Exactly. My dad has a melanoma splotch on his back that needs to get dug out next week. Hope they caught it early.

I need to make an appointment myself. I was stupid as a kid and got burnt a lot. 

[Fitzy]

Nobody knew back then. We were encouraged to get out in the sun - a tan was healthy. I hope his procedure is successful. I can only hope this is as bad as it gets for me too!

My doctor told me that he's now seeing cases of Europeans who holiday at some sun soaked destination and basically deepfry for 2 weeks and are now showing signs of skin cancers.

Be careful out there. We all love sunny days but it's gotta be done sensibly.

[64 kiwi boni]

10 hours ago, Ringo64 said:

Exactly. My dad has a melanoma splotch on his back that needs to get dug out next week. Hope they caught it early.

I need to make an appointment myself. I was stupid as a kid and got burnt a lot. 

Didn’t we all Jim ! 

[Fitzy]

I found a clue as to how lifters fail: apparently it's potentially sloppy internal tolerances.

[Fitzy]

This is nothing GP related, neither Pontiac related and especially not lifter related!

New Zealand has introduced a road tax for EV owners: from memory it's 7c a km. Doesn't sound like much, but every 100km (60 miles) that's $7. It's because the uptake of EVs has been so prolific that the government is missing out on fuel excise! So anyone who wants to reduce their petrol bill by driving an EV is now slugged with a road tax. Victoria (here in Oz) has done the same thing and it's only a matter of time before the rest of the country follows suit. Of course, as EV numbers grow, petrol will become a luxury and the price will go through the roof. Diesel passenger cars have become most unpopular due to their apparent 'dirty' status and you just know the vegetarian leftie greenies are gonna lobby to get old clunkers (our cars) off the roads. Just something to ponder.

[64 kiwi boni]

7 hours ago, Fitzy said:

This is nothing GP related, neither Pontiac related and especially not lifter related!

New Zealand has introduced a road tax for EV owners: from memory it's 7c a km. Doesn't sound like much, but every 100km (60 miles) that's $7. It's because the uptake of EVs has been so prolific that the government is missing out on fuel excise! So anyone who wants to reduce their petrol bill by driving an EV is now slugged with a road tax. Victoria (here in Oz) has done the same thing and it's only a matter of time before the rest of the country follows suit. Of course, as EV numbers grow, petrol will become a luxury and the price will go through the roof. Diesel passenger cars have become most unpopular due to their apparent 'dirty' status and you just know the vegetarian leftie greenies are gonna lobby to get old clunkers (our cars) off the roads. Just something to ponder.

the sky isnt falling Fitzy !

the ev have had it easy with the usless government we have... hopefully going to be kicked out in 2 weeks time at the election !

all nz road users have been paying a road tax, via the pump for Petrol. the carrot of no tax for evs was just that... a carrot, and now the donky wants it back !! hahaha

in Nz there is a very strong group who are doing their best to protect the classic car culture and i have been involved with this group in lobbing government to protect fuel suppies for long term, along with being able to keep them on the roads, this group isnt just hot rods and classics but cover a very wide range of motoring here in nz. so its a very large group !

check it out https://fomc.nz/