I thought it was a bad HLA

[J. Caraco]

3-1/2 yrs ago when I went to drive home from work with the SVO it made an AWEFUL noise at startup. Limped it 3 miles home. Reasearch at the time pointed to a bad HLA. Got 8 new ones and replaced all.
Did the 20 min run up at 2K plus rev's to pump them up. Still sounds exactly the same. Car has sat in the garage since then waiting for funds etc to really check it out. Could I have damaged the cam? It's the a-237 roller.

Can someone point me in the proper direction to get this fixed before ANOTHER summer goes by with no SVO to drive? Keep it simple for now.

TIA!

Jim

[MikeFleming]

Slider or roller cam? If slider any wear on the followers or lobes?

Did you check/adjust lash when replacing the HLAs? What values did you get?

[J. Caraco]

Roller with new rockers when is was installed. Didn't know I was supposed to check/adjust lash. I guess I'll need to look that up in the work shop manual I have.

Thanks Mike.

[k98dave]

Mike said "Did you check/adjust lash when replacing the HLAs? What values did you get?"

I thought there was no adj for lash with HLA's for a roller? How is this accomplished and how does one adj lash? I have a complete roller set up from a low mile 93 2.3 to put in my 84 after a complete valve job this summer so I would like to know more.

Thanks
Dave

[MikeFleming]

With the lash adjuster collapsed completely (with no oil in it), measure the clearance between the follower surface and the base of the cam lobe. Goal is 0.035-..050".

If the clearance is too high, shim the HLA in the bore a bit and check again. If it's off by a lot, a longer valve or lash caps may be needed. If it's too small then remove material from the bottom of the HLA or shorten the valve stem.

When using longer valves, large lift cams or cams with a reduced base circle it's critical to check and adjust for proper valve train geometry.

The lash adjuster has a total range of about .240". Here's a cutaway of one fully bottomed.
3395

And one of one fully extended. The blue marking on the side shows the total travel range.
3396

Here's a pic of checking the clearance between the [roller] follower and cam base circle. This is done with the lash adjuster fully pushed down (collapsed).
3399

A pic of a lash cap. This particular one extends the valve effective length by 0.150".
3397

HLA with assorted shims. to raise it in the lifter bore, to decrease clearance.
3398

You have a stock lift cam?

[Chalky]

Mike, what I'm gathering from the pics, and correct me if I'm wrong, but if you remove the spring from one HLA could you use that for testing clearance?? Obviously you'd never want to run the engine that way, just testing.

[MikeFleming]

Yes, as long as the kind of HLA you use bottoms out the red plunger in the HLA body and isn't using spring coil bind as bottom. In the example above the plunger bottoms in the body - but be sure to check each HLA assembly to see it isn't using the coil bound spring as the bottom.

Note that a check for each and every valve/rocker/HLA set is required.

[dew34]

Mike have you ever seen a cam lobe touch the follower right before the roller on the follower ? I have an essy d port with one of Bo s 2.5 cams and it appears that the 1# exhaust lobe is touching the follower. This weekend i am going to ck TVL to see what is going on. I have shimmed the HLAs once and repacel the HLAs once with a re-shim chasing a valve train noise which I am sure is caused by the lobe touching the follower before the roller.
mike

[MikeFleming]

Mike have you ever seen a cam lobe touch the follower right before the roller on the follower ? i have a essy d port with one of Bo s 2.5 cams and it appears that the 1# exhaust lobe is touching the follower.this weekend i am going to ck TVL to see what is going on.I have shimmed the hlas once and rpl the hlas once with a reshim chasing a valve train noise which i am sure is caused by the lobe touching the follower before the roller. If the lobe is touching anything other than the roller on the follower, your geometry is all wrong.

Assuming the 2.5 is a reduced base circle cam, you probably need much longer valves (or lash caps). You should use a dial indicator (and light valve springs) to measure max valve lift (with lash adjusted to zero). If the lift measured at the valve isn't within 0.005" of the cam's specifications, then the valve length needs to be adjusted. All the instructions on which way to go are detailed in the Esslinger catalog.

Someday I'll write an article on setting up valves, rockers & cams in these heads but that's not gonna happen real soon - my plate is full for now.

[dew34]

Mike it is a small base i think its 1.100 i will measure it , also I have some solid lash adjusters set up just for checking TVL. I figured the valves were too short as I was eyeing the valve train the only cure I saw for this was longer valves/lash caps. I will let you know what I find.

Thank you for the response.
mike

[MikeFleming]

I have found lash caps in both 0.080 and 0.150" (with one of the 0.150" pictured above) - Iirc the longer ones pictured above came from Race Engineering, but that was many years ago so I could be mistaken.


According to the Esslinger Racing Catalog (PDF, get your own copy here: http://www.esslingeracing.com/catalog/esslinger-catalog.pdf ) Page 35:

Note the break-in procedure below is for slider-follower (cast iron) camshafts:

Recommended break-in procedure for Esslinger cast camshafts (slider cams)
Important: Setup is critical on the Ford overhead cam engines
Make sure of the following:
- During installation: Liberally coat moving parts with assembly lube.
- Check valve spring height - see drawing #1.
- Clearance between valve guide and retainer should be a minimum of .200" with the valve open. Clearance between valve seal and retainer - .050" - see drawing #2.
- Clearance between piston and valve should be a minimum of .090" . Check with cam and crank in sync. Also check with the adjustable cam pulley at 6 degrees advanced and 6 degrees retarded.
- Valve lift is correct per the cam sheet. Check lift at valve spring retainer with zero lash. If lift is correct, the cam lobe will ride on the contact patch.
- Set lash between rocker arm and cam.
- Always use new rocker arms.
- Apply assembly lube liberally to camshaft lobes.
- Run for a minimum of 30 minutes non-stop @ 2500-3000 RPM.
- Vary throttle occasionally to change oiling pattern and pressure.

Page 36. Note the two bold lines below: If TVL is high, lengthen valve (shorten at HLA side). If TVL is low, shorten valve (raise at HLA side)

Correct Valve Lift Set-Up For Esslinger Cam Kits
Solid Lifter and Hydraulic Lifter *
1. Solid lifter installed. *
2. Valve, Valve springs, Retainers and Keepers installed correctly.
3. Two rocker arms installed on #1 cylinder.
4. Adjust solid lifter so that follower is at zero lash. **
5. Dial indicator on retainer (same angle as valve stem) reset to 0.
6. Rotate cam to maximum lift per the dial indicator - this will give you total valve lift (TVL).
-If TVL is within .005" of the camshaft spec sheet - that is o.k.
-If TVL is greater (more) than the camshaft spec - then the valve needs to lengthened - (use a lash cap, and then
shorten the valve as needed.)
-If TVL is less than spec sheet - then the valve needs to be shortened.
-Proceed to the next cylinder.
Note: The rocker arm ratio is constantly changing throughout the cam rotation. Generally, shortening the valve around .050" increases the valve lift approximately .025".
*For hydraulic camshaft application use two solid lifters set up with the insert sleeve serration turned or ground down to slip freely into the lifter bore. Part #2288HYD.
** Lash is always checked between the follower and the base circle of the camshaft.
Note: (When using hydraulic lifters) - Once the TVL is correct following the procedure listed above, final lash must be checked with the hydraulic lifters installed. Check lash as follows: Fully collapse the hydraulic lifters to get the oil out of them, insert in the lifter bore and install rocker arm. Collapse lifter side of rocker arm and check lash (between rocker arm and cam). Lash should be between .040" - .050". Shim or trim bottom of lifter as needed to achieve correct lash.
If this procedure is followed, and the TVL is correct and the cam and cam kit is designed properly, the geometry will be correct.