[Jay S]

If the dog bone can’t be pried up with the plate on top of it and fitted to the block, that part sounds good. But from what I see in the photo’s the dog bone needs to be centered better. When the dog bone is up against on lifter it lets the other lifter rotate a lot. See the photos below.

If the plate is actually supporting the dog bone on the inside and the block is supporting the dog bone on the other side, and the dog bone can’t be pried up at all on the block side then that is quite a bit better than using the modified Ford spider to hold down the Ford dog bone (which are really to short) in a Pontiac. I am afraid with the dog bone pushed up against one lifter the dog bone is not engaged far enough into the adjacent lifter, which is allowing the lifter to rotate to much, it will be pretty hard on the axle bearings with that much rotation.

When a dog bone fails one ear will usually break off. With the dog bone pushed all the way to one side the forces on the dog bone ears increase a bunch, at least they would have with the spider assembly. The way you have the spiders sandwiched in between the plate and the block it might support the dog bone ears better, and a ear would only break after an axle failure. IMHO the dog bone are really to short, if you could find away to keep them centered I think you would have more success. I commend you on your efforts. It sounds like it will run like that, how long it will run before something fails, that is the million dollar question.

[Jay S]

Originally Posted by 78w72

im a little late to all of this, so the plate system from randy isnt working too well for you guys that are trying it? the video he posted looked like it was a tried & tested set up & seemed to work pretty good... is he MIA now??

also what is the mention of the rhodes lifters being used, i thought this plate system was specifically for the sealed power type roller lifters. just curious & sorry if i missed some details in the 7 pages of this thread.

We tracked down that Rhoads modifies speed pro 2148 lifters and converts them to Vpro and Vmax.

It does appear the from 80TA’s efforts the small base circle cams that are pushing the base circle limitations of the 2148 lifter are problematic with the plate, on his combo the plate is a little to wide. I found some blocks that the top oil hole on 2148s gets exposed at max lift on some Pontiac ground 1.88-1.89 cam core too, but it is dependent on how the block is cast, later blocks appear less to have slightly shorter lifter boss’s.

Hot rodding most everyone likes to push the limits of stuff, JMHO but the lift range the plate system and 2148 lifter will work best on should have started life as a small block 1.86 ish cam core (not bigger the 1.889 Pontiac) using lobe lifts .31-.35 looks to me like good combos with the plate system and the 2148 lifter with most any Pontiac block.

[69 Limelight]

What I want to know is where is Randy Repp now? He was all over this forum when he was getting this system kup and ready for sale. Now we have a customer who bought it with full confidence that it would work and Repp's curiously absent. Looks like he would be helping to get problem worked out if he wanted to sell more of these systems. I, for one, was really interested for next build but I'm out now. I'll stick with link bar. Haven't had a problem so far.

Since, to my knowledge, he hasn't responded to calls or e mails I think I would have removed all components, boxed them up and keep trying to get in contact and demand a refund. Now that they've been ground on kind of screwed.

Very poor customer service. Just my 2 cents.

[ponjohn]

Has anyone tried the Ford Spider?

[grivera]

Originally Posted by ponjohn

Has anyone tried the Ford Spider?

Post 128:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...&postcount=128

[GoatZillaRacing]

https://www.facebook.com/PontiacArro...98824972247035

[GoatZillaRacing]

If you want to run the factory valley pan you'll need to remove the two bumps on the lower side where the studs go through or simply run the sheet metal aluminum style valley pan.

[1980 TA]

The parts from Randy are un modified at this point. Its the dog bones that I have modified to get them to fit my block.

I've got the dog bones fitted now so that they are centered between the pair of lifters. There is no way that the dog bones can rise off the top of the lifter bores with the plate in place. With the Ford Spider I could see how the dog bone could ride up and or rock between the lifters. The bottoms of my dog bones are under cut and the top of the lifter has about .005 clearance between the top of the lifter flats and the bottom of the dog bone.

I'll try to get some better pics out as soon as I can showing what has been done.

I've got a PM to Randy asking for a phone call so hopefully we can sort out why I have no contact between the plate and the lifter, when the lifter is at the bottom of its travel.

[1980 TA]

Here's a pic of the dog bones after grinding.

I had to grind the block side down to where none of the vertical element was left.

[tom s]

The one thing I have learned from this thread is I’m going to stay with the tried and true 70 years link bars.Good luck with your venture.Tom

[ID67goat]

Originally Posted by tom s

The one thing I have learned from this thread is I’m going to stay with the tried and true 70 years link bars.Good luck with your venture.Tom

X2!

Both the dog bones and plate system look dangerous to me. I keep wondering how either of these would hold up to an over-rev or where you reach the point that the valve train becomes unstable (valve float).

I used to play with 5.0 mustangs and the dog bone system worked fine on those cars, but grinding them that much to fit, seems like a good way to have one break on you.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by 1980 TA

Here's a pic of the dog bones after grinding.

I had to grind the block side down to where none of the vertical element was left.

I don't understand what you're trying to accomplish here. The dog bones maintain the lifter alignment and duplicate what the plate is meant to accomplish. You still have to fabricate a "spider" to keep the lifters from flinging the dogbones off.

[grivera]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

I don't understand what you're trying to accomplish here. The dog bones maintain the lifter alignment and duplicate what the plate is meant to accomplish. You still have to fabricate a "spider" to keep the lifters from flinging the dogbones off.

He used the plate to pinch the dog bones between the block and plate.

[1980 TA]

I'm at the point that I'm not happy with either the plate or the dog bones. I spent time last night trying to adjust the plate one last time, starting from scratch and could not get it to contact the outermost lifters (1 and 2 exhaust were the worst, with 7 exhaust not far behind. For some reason 8 exhaust would catch the plate but it wasn't by much).

I re fit the dog bones and the modified Ford spider was not going to work. I tried the plate holding the dog bones in place and when I got it where I might have thought it was a good idea to fire it up, I tried wiggling the 1,2,7, and 8 dog bones catching them with a pick and trying to move them fore and aft and up and down. They all had a fair amount of fore and aft movement and up and down movement. If I adjusted the plate any tighter, I had too much drag on the inner 8 lifters.

As soon as I get some time to talk with Butler on the phone, I'll be ordering some link style lifters.

[slowbird]

Can you grind the plate so it won't contact the lifters, then crank it down to hold the dog bones? Just a thought

[Murf]

Originally Posted by 1980 TA

I'm at the point that I'm not happy with either the plate or the dog bones. I spent time last night trying to adjust the plate one last time, starting from scratch and could not get it to contact the outermost lifters (1 and 2 exhaust were the worst, with 7 exhaust not far behind. For some reason 8 exhaust would catch the plate but it wasn't by much).

I re fit the dog bones and the modified Ford spider was not going to work. I tried the plate holding the dog bones in place and when I got it where I might have thought it was a good idea to fire it up, I tried wiggling the 1,2,7, and 8 dog bones catching them with a pick and trying to move them fore and aft and up and down. They all had a fair amount of fore and aft movement and up and down movement. If I adjusted the plate any tighter, I had too much drag on the inner 8 lifters.

As soon as I get some time to talk with Butler on the phone, I'll be ordering some link style lifters.

I’ve been thinking about this deal. Do you think taking a little off the bottom of the lower “stand offs” would allow the plate to drop farther down & catch the lifters better? Then you might have to clearance the plate for the ones that are fitting correctly. Just a thought.


Murf

[Jay S]

If I read it correct Murf understands what it will take to make the plate work, except I don’t think it requires any machining to drop the plate at the center stand adjusters, the lifter hitting is what is holding up the plate, not the center hold downs. All it would take to make the plate work is to grind or file on the plate at the lifter or lifters that is to tight on maybe one or two lifters, then adjust the plate down accordingly. A couple lifters are not letting the plate drop enough. I mentioned it a few posts earlier, Randy’s videos have said the exact same thing.

If your not willing to grind on the plate, bale on these 2148s and get a link bars set up. Personally I would get these: https://butlerperformance.com/i-2445...tegory:1234800

[NeighborsComplaint]

The dog bones are intended to articulate as the lifters rise and fall via the radius ground on the underside rather than serve as a rigid guide. As the plate is raised above the level of the dogbones, it no longer provides any alignment and serves only to restrain the spiders which were never intended to be locked in place. This is looking like a boondoggle to me, but I'll butt out.

[68hotbird]

my test mule motor with the sealed power lifter and dogbones and the ford spider have now been seriously abused for a few thousand miles and it is working awesome. I will be doing a coupe more soon.

[68hotbird]

my test mule motor with the sealed power lifter and dogbones and the ford spider have now been seriously abused for a few thousand miles and it is working awesome. I will be doing a couple more soon.