Raypanic

Wow, I am glad this thread turned out the way it did! In the beginning it looked pretty hopeless. Good job Griff and good luck to Alamo28

Griff

Glad to hear it is running well.

Adjusting the valves/rockers is really not very hard. It just takes a little while. There are a few different ways to do it. Is the intake manifold installed on that engine????

Griff

Actually Crane's site has very good directions and explains it very well with pics. The basic principle is adjust the preload on the intake valve when the exhaust valve is open and vice versa for each cylinder.

Its a little easier with the intake off because you can see the top of the lifter and see when the pushrod starts pushing on the lifter. It can be done just fine by feel with it on as well.

http://www.cranecams.com/?show=techarticle&id=2

This is the method from the Crane site


Adjusting Hydraulic Lifters for Proper Preload

In order to adjust the preload, the lifter must be properly located on the base circle or "Heel" of the lobe.

At this position the valve is closed and there is no lift taking place. You will need to watch the movement of the valves to determine which lifter is properly positioned for adjusting.

1. Remove the valve covers, and pick a cylinder that you are going to set the preload on.

2. Hand rotate the engine in its normal direction of rotation and watch the exhaust valve on that particular cylinder. When the exhaust valve begins to open, stop and adjust that cylinder's intake rocker arm. (Why? Because when the exhaust valve is just beginning to open, the intake lifter will be on the base circle of the lobe, the correct position for adjusting the intake.)

3. Back off the intake rocker arm adjuster and remove any tension from the pushrod. Wait a minute or two for that hydraulic lifter to return to a neutral position. The spring inside the lifter will move the pushrod seat up against the retaining lock if you give it time to do so. (If you are installing brand new lifters they will be in the neutral position when they come in the box.)

4. Now spin the intake pushrod with your fingers while tightening down the rocker arm. When you feel a slight resistance to the turning of the pushrod, you are at "Zero Lash". Turn the adjusting nut down one half to one full turn from that point. Lock the adjuster into position. The intake is now adjusted properly.

5. Continue to hand turn the engine, watching that same intake. It will go to full open and then begin to close. When it is almost closed, stop and adjust the exhaust rocker arm on that particular cylinder. (Again, when we see the intake almost closed, we are sure that exhaust lifter is on the base circle of the lobe.) Loosen the exhaust rocker arm and follow the same procedure described before in steps 3 and 4 to adjust this rocker arm.

6. Both valves on this cylinder are now adjusted, and you can move on to your next cylinder and follow the same procedure again.

alamo28

Damnit,

I had a feeling that I should have done this before I put the intake on. I knew it and I installed it anyways. I will check out the thread that you gave me and see if I can figure it out.

Griff

I am assuming you have hydraulic lifters. Flat tappet or roller lifters does not matter. They get adjusted the same.

Solids are an entirely ball game.

Does your engine info you got from the prior owner say what cam or the cam specs are???

alamo28

Yes I actually have the cam card in my hand here are the specs.
ULTRADYNE INC.

CAM GRIND NO. BB 284/292 HR12

DURATION AT .050 INTAKE 230 EXHAUST 238
LOBE LIFT INTAKE 3533 EXHAUST 3533
LOBE SEPERATION 112*
SEAT DURATION AT .006 INTAKE 284 EXHAUST 292
GROSS VALVE LIFT INTAKE 601 EXHAUST 601
DEGREES INTAKE LOBE TO 106*
SEAT TIMING INT 33 BTDC 71 ABDC 106
SEAT TIMING EXH 81 BBDC 31 ATDC 118


Thats all that is on the cam card is that enough info for you. I have had some people say that it is an aggressive cam and others say that it is not---I have no idea

I am looking at the receipt and it shows 16 hydraulic roller lifters

blue thunder

That is a very agressive cam for a 454. It is probably causing the rust on the valves. You might want to consider dry exhaust. Also I would guess much higher rpm than 5200 is needed to get to the hp of that cam. Probably 5800 or so.

Good job on the timing alamo... persistence is the key and finding helpful people like Griff always helps. These boys have helped me and others plenty over the years.

BT

alamo28

Blue Thunder,

One of the guys that I was running with had told me that since the intakes were so low and small it was causing to much vaccum due to the size of the cam and it was sucking water back into the exhaust it only happened at low rpm in no wake zones and when I was docking. At high rpm she was fine. I was thinking of going with dry exhaust but I would have to replace my pipes. I have stainless Marine Exhaust and the actual manifold is fine but the pipes have to go all the way through the transom if I remember correctly. Right now my pipes come about 8" short of the transom and connect to the exhaust tip with the typical exhaust hose, my flappers inside of the tip are gone, I have the external flaps also but they dont seem to help a whole lot. I would think that that the exhaust hose would melt if I went completely dry with the exhisting pipes.

The guy I run with has a SWEEEEEET 38 Cigarette SE Flat deck. One of the sweetest boats I have ever seen. He has the dry exhaust with his bassett headers but the pipes connect to the headers and go all the way out the transom.

Somebody please correct me if I am wrong or if these is a way to utilize my exhisting pipes and convert to dry exhaust. Also how much louder will the boat be. My friends Cigarette has HUGE power 1050hp per side and he is loud as hell but I know that my engines are 500 maybe 550 hp each.

blue thunder

Intake has nothing to do with the reversion. Its all in the cam and how many degrees the exhaust valve remains open while the piston is moving down in the bore. It can be grind or how the cam is installed. Either way, your water is mixing too early for those cams and reversion will occur at some level. New dry exhaust or figuring out how to make yours dry is in order. In the meantime, run a pcv valve and idle as high as possible and as little as possible. You have to worry about the water hitting the hot exhaust valves and causing them to fail, that is unless they are inconnel. This topic I have far to much experience with

alamo28

For now I am going to get the other engine running (set the valves) and plop her back in and see what I get. I was told that my rpm's will increase with the new intake manifold. Now you mentiones a PVC valve. Where would I put that? I am confused about what you are referring to with the valve.