The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Camshaft lobe spacing

I did a little measuring today- - - -the center-to-center distance between can lobes on a stovebolt cam and a big block MOPAR (383, 426, 440, etc.) are only .020" different. That means a set of hydraulic roller lifters with the anti-rotation bar between them will be a virtual drop-in fit once the stovebolt lifter bores get sleeved down to the smaller diameter of the MOPAR lifters. With a minor modification to some pushrods, we can eliminate valve adjusting AND using motor oil that needs ZDDP. I'm also designing an external oil manifold to supply pressurized lifter oil to blocks that aren't factory drilled for hydraulic lifters, including 216's. A vendor on Ebay is selling sets of 16 hydraulic roller lifters for $110.00 with free shipping.
Jerry

That's great news. Was able to find NOS hydraulic lifters for my 261 but I doubt I'll be able to find any for the next overhaul. What material would you machine sleeves out of?

Either plain old 1" OD mild steel tubing (got some on order) or seamless stainless tubing might be another option. A MOPAR lifter is a few thousandths larger than 29/32", so I'll use a chucking reamer to rough out the inside diameter of the tubing in the lathe, press fit it into the block with an OD about .0015" bigger than a stovebolt lifter, and finish-fit the sleeves with a button hone in a variable speed drill motor for the right sliding fit. I'll make an external oil manifold with holes drilled into each lifter bore just below the pushrod cover to supply oil to the lifters. That should make a few people take notice when I show up with a hydraulic roller lifter "216" on a run stand at a swap meet somewhere! A clear plexiglass window in the pushrod cover to show the lifters would really make it interesting!
Jerry

Jerry,

A lifter window would be awesome! If my notes are correct, a Plolycarbonate window would give you a little higher working temp...

David

The high school where I taught auto mechanics for 20-somethingh years had a see-through single cylinder engine with a tempered glass cylinder. I could "freeze" the motion of the crankshaft, piston, connecting rod, etc. with a delay-flash timing light. Interesting, especially watching the color of the fuel burning as the carburetor mixture was changed. Perfect Circle's "Doctor of Motors" training school had a 216 back in the early 1950's with a quartz insert in one cylinder that allowed students to watch the rings rotate around the piston under a dyno load.
Jerry

The lifters arrived today- - - -nice, brand new, and 16 of them to boot! I'll only need 12, but the price was right, and if the idea works, maybe that liquidator will have a few other sets of the same part. The steel tubing I ordered to make the reducer bushings from is stuck somewhere in a post office in Arizona!
Jerry

Your Shop must look like a Mad Scientists lab with all the projects you have going

All the fun stuff is cleverly disguised as junk! I've also got a few gunsmithing projects in progress, and a motor-driven chain drive meat smoker that can barbecue four Boston Butt roasts at a time in the process of being built. At the current rate of progress, I figure I might catch up somewhere around April 2046 when I celebrate my 100th. birthday. Dad made it to within one month of 90, and I'm planning to beat his record!
Jerry

You better live to 100! This place would be darn boring without you.