[Cliff R]

Can't say as I've ever had a flat hydraulic cammed engine of my own that didn't have a "ticker" in the bunch someplace. I just have bad luck with that sort of thing for some reason.

Dating clear back to the very first 400 I had in the Ventura in the mid-1980's the new Crower 60240 cam and Crower lifters had one "ticker" that just refused to cooperate. I ran the engine for several years, adjusting it numerous times along the way and no matter where I set the pre-load it would just make noise when it felt like it. Sometimes it would clatter on a cold start, other times it didn't. Pretty consistently it made noise fully warmed up below apprx 1500rpm's, but I just lived with it and that engine powered the car for quite a few years and never gave any issues otherwise.

I did discover that running light pre-load as often recommended for setting up hydraulic cam set-ups didn't work well. Going to zero and an additional 1/2 turn or so didn't make the grade, ALL of the lifters were a tad noisy there. I ended up running them down one full turn, and aside from one stubborn lifter the others were dead quiet for the life of that engine.

For this and a few other reasons I decided to use Crower HIPPO solid roller lifters in my current build, and it's by far and above the quietest engine I've ever had sit between the fenders of any vehicle I've owned. With the last set at .005" cold it's dead quiet even fully warmed up, and despite folks kicking that set-up in the nuts (most have never tried it) it's been flawless now since around 2009, unless you count the failed set of full roller rocker arms I had to replace.

As a side note the Edelbrock 2157 cam is mentioned in this thread. Sam whatever you do stay as far away from that cam in your high compression 455 as possible. Cripe it requires two cans of 108 octane boost in a tank of 93 octane to even think about working in a smaller 400 build.....the big 455 will absolutely hate it and you'll have 8 pistons in the oil pan instead of one before you've got 200 miles on it......IMHO.......Cliff

[TAQuest]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

Can't say as I've ever had a flat hydraulic cammed engine of my own that didn't have a "ticker" in the bunch someplace. I just have bad luck with that sort of thing for some reason.

Dating clear back to the very first 400 I had in the Ventura in the mid-1980's the new Crower 60240 cam and Crower lifters had one "ticker" that just refused to cooperate. I ran the engine for several years, adjusting it numerous times along the way and no matter where I set the pre-load it would just make noise when it felt like it. Sometimes it would clatter on a cold start, other times it didn't. Pretty consistently it made noise fully warmed up below apprx 1500rpm's, but I just lived with it and that engine powered the car for quite a few years and never gave any issues otherwise.

I did discover that running light pre-load as often recommended for setting up hydraulic cam set-ups didn't work well. Going to zero and an additional 1/2 turn or so didn't make the grade, ALL of the lifters were a tad noisy there. I ended up running them down one full turn, and aside from one stubborn lifter the others were dead quiet for the life of that engine.

For this and a few other reasons I decided to use Crower HIPPO solid roller lifters in my current build, and it's by far and above the quietest engine I've ever had sit between the fenders of any vehicle I've owned. With the last set at .005" cold it's dead quiet even fully warmed up, and despite folks kicking that set-up in the nuts (most have never tried it) it's been flawless now since around 2009, unless you count the failed set of full roller rocker arms I had to replace.

As a side note the Edelbrock 2157 cam is mentioned in this thread. Sam whatever you do stay as far away from that cam in your high compression 455 as possible. Cripe it requires two cans of 108 octane boost in a tank of 93 octane to even think about working in a smaller 400 build.....the big 455 will absolutely hate it and you'll have 8 pistons in the oil pan instead of one before you've got 200 miles on it......IMHO.......Cliff

He has the bigger cc heads than mine so it's comparable.

I error on the safe side by adding a lot of booster. Why not? It's cheap compared with my time and trouble fixing parts that suffer from detonation.

You can build a carb like a genius, have one of yours on my 69, but you can't make lifters not tick? Life is strange. I can build an engine without and funny ticks but I can't build a carb like you can. I think it's all about determination and my engines are not going to tick or I'm on it 24 7 until they sound right. Right now everything is right in my world, no funny sounds in any of my vehicles, priceless....

[Formulajones]

Take Cliff's advice, he's absolutely right. DON'T put a tiny performer cam in that 455, you'll have all kinds of detonation problems you don't need. That cam was in no means ever intended for a big 455 with 10.5:1 compression.

Shoving a bunch of octane boost in the tank is a band aid fix that 99% of us on the forum here avoid with proper cam and compression choices. No one wants to carry a case of that stuff around in the car all the time or even bother worrying about it. Especially those of us that actually drive and race our cars.

[TAQuest]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Take Cliff's advice, he's absolutely right. DON'T put a tiny performer cam in that 455, you'll have all kinds of detonation problems you don't need. That cam was in no means ever intended for a big 455 with 10.5:1 compression.

Shoving a bunch of octane boost in the tank is a band aid fix that 99% of us on the forum here avoid with proper cam and compression choices. No one wants to carry a case of that stuff around in the car all the time or even bother worrying about it. Especially those of us that actually drive and race our cars.

A lot of folks around here use racing fuel. I just didn't feel like driving to that station at the time. There are only a few who try to run on pump gas. It's no biggie at all to use different fuel or additives.

I did build a low compression 428 to run on pump gas so I could run nitrous in my race car.

I have to run octane booster in my concourse bone stock numbers matching 69 400 Vert Bird. It's a normal thing.

[TAQuest]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

That cam was in no means ever intended for a big 455 with 10.5:1 compression.

Edelbrock Performer-Plus Camshaft # 2157 is designed for 350-455 Pontiac V8 engines and produce optimum torque from the low-end to the mid-range.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by TAQuest

Edelbrock Performer-Plus Camshaft # 2157 is designed for 350-455 Pontiac V8 engines and produce optimum torque from the low-end to the mid-range.

That just means it'll fit engines with the same architecture, doesn't mean it's the right choice

That is an extremely tiny cam with 204 @ .050. The factory 068 is a bigger cam than that. Sticking that performer cam in even a 400ci is going to give you detonation issues with any amount of decent compression which is why you find it necessary to run expensive race gas and fuel additives.

That's just not an option for us car guys that actually drive our cars even just sparingly, let alone frequently. We used to build engines that way decades ago when race gas was still $3 a gallon but these days at $8 a gallon it makes no sense when we can build pump gas engines to make as much power and spend 1/4 the cost in fuel, not to mention I can drive it anywhere and fill it up anywhere.

[TAQuest]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

That just means it'll fit engines with the same architecture, doesn't mean it's the right choice

That is an extremely tiny cam with 204 @ .050. The factory 068 is a bigger cam than that. Sticking that performer cam in even a 400ci is going to give you detonation issues with any amount of decent compression which is why you find it necessary to run expensive race gas and fuel additives.

That's just not an option for us car guys that actually drive our cars even just sparingly, let alone frequently. We used to build engines that way decades ago when race gas was still $3 a gallon but these days at $8 a gallon it makes no sense when we can build pump gas engines to make as much power and spend 1/4 the cost in fuel, not to mention I can drive it anywhere and fill it up anywhere.

To each his own. I can drive mine anywhere and fill it up anywhere too. That's why I switch to octane booster when I'm not near the racing fuel pump.
If you can't afford to spend an extra $15(2 octane boosters) on a tank of gas in your fun car I understand that too. Everyone has to live within their budget. I think that a few extra dollars an hour of fun isn't much these days. I drop the pizza guy a $10 tip. If he's worth it so am I.

So I will add the caveat, if you can't afford to spend an extra $15 on a tank of gas don't build a engine like mine, do something different to save your all that money.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by TAQuest

To each his own. I can drive mine anywhere and fill it up anywhere too. That's why I switch to octane booster when I'm not near the racing fuel pump.
If you can't afford to spend an extra $15(2 octane boosters) on a tank of gas in your fun car I understand that too. Everyone has to live within their budget. I think that a few extra dollars an hour of fun isn't much these days. I drop the pizza guy a $10 tip. If he's worth it so am I.

So I will add the caveat, if you can't afford to spend an extra $15 on a tank of gas don't build a engine like mine, do something different to save your all that money.

It's not that people can't afford it, it's the fact that it's not necessary if the engine is built and tuned properly. No one wants to carry around a case of octane booster all the time, and most believe it's a snake oil product anyway.

If you're happy doing it, that's your deal. We drive our stuff on several hundred mile trips, sometimes out of state, even drive to and from the dragstrip and beat on it all weekend. I don't need to worry about what kind of gas I'm putting in nor do I want to bother with running to the store and carrying around octane booster everywhere I go. Shucks I didn't even know people still do that these days, lol. I get in, fill the tank with 91, and drive.

Hell, dad's running a 571 ci Pontiac that dyno'd at 724hp 764 tq on 91 octane. 10.84:1 compression, he drives it everyplace, races it, beats on it. Been running for I guess going on 4 or 5 years now. Nothing but pump gas and no additives.

[glhs#116]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

I did discover that running light pre-load as often recommended for setting up hydraulic cam set-ups didn't work well. Going to zero and an additional 1/2 turn or so didn't make the grade, ALL of the lifters were a tad noisy there. I ended up running them down one full turn, and aside from one stubborn lifter the others were dead quiet for the life of that engine.

I will definitely give that a try for giggles. I am at 1/2 turn preload at present..

Sam

[TAQuest]

Originally Posted by glhs#116

I will definitely give that a try for giggles. I am at 1/2 turn preload at present..

Sam

I tried up to 1 full turn and nothing changed. When you get a good cam and lifters that match your heads 3/4 turn will work just fine.