verbs

OK, so here is my problem.

For those that don't know my setup, I run year and a half old TEA 5.3L stage 2 heads, and a TR 230.8/224.3 .576/.563 110.8 LSA cam purchased from Nick Gette (a.k.a. Trahn Zam a.k.a. Fenris Ulf).

According to Brian Tooley my heads were milled .010, which was done at my request because we added dished exhaust valves. The dished exhaust valves dropped the compression by say .15 or so, therefore I had the heads milled slightly to raise it back up to what should be 10.8:1 ....and I had the chamber size tested to confirmed this. The valves are 2.02/1.55 in size.

Now, I did a P/V clearance on the car using the clay method when I first installed the cam, and I had .085 clearance, which is definately good enough clearance.

Well, I had a valve drop test doneb today on the intake side, and the numbers came out to be wayyyy too low. My valve drop on the intake was between .138 and .148 (some of the valves were sticking a bit), and this was tested on multiple cylinders.

I was looking for at least .175 clearance in order to put in a new cam, but I'm not even close.

Louis@LG did a valve drop on the same sized valved heads and came up with a .175" drop I believe.

Now since my heads are milled .010, I should have been at least .165" drop on the intake side, but I'm not close.

Louis thinks my heads were milled as much as .030-.040, and so does the shop working on my car but I was told they were only milled .010. If my heads were milled that much, wouldn't I have about an 11.3:1 or so compression ratio? I have a ton of timing, and in this desert heat it doesn't ping, plus we have crappy 91 octane gas. I know my semi large cam helps bleed off some of the compression, but if I was running 11.3:1 on this gas I'd have detonation everywhere.

The other issue is, a TR 230 cam would never have enough clearance on my car with aftermarket valves and milled heads of .030-.040, so I'd have pistons hitting valves.....ESPECIALLY SINCE I'VE HAD VALVEFLOAT above 6600rpms with the Yella Terra rockers!!!

The shop took a peek at my pistons and said they are spotless. They told me there is no carbon anywhere or any bad marks, and that they look like I only have 10,000 miles on the car (I have about 43,000 miles).


So I'm completely stumped. Either Nick Gette didn't sell me a TR230 cam (the numbers were scratched off the cam so I couldn't confirm), the heads are milled way more then they are supposed to, or the valve drop wasn't done right.

The guys doing the valve drop have done this before, so I trust them on that end.

Any ideas guys? I'm perplexed

SSean

Well, as for verifying if its a TR230 cam, was there a serial number inscribed at the read end of the camshaft? I belive TR has a serial number or which cam it is. Atleast the two TR cams I've had so far have has a serial number on it


just saw the part about the number being scratched off....im a dumbass. Sorry

BB

iTrader: (7)

Why would a number be scratched off? Are these your heads and they were used to build your S2 heads? If they weren't may they had been milled before. I did the valve drop method too and the measurement was 0.147. I have the same head as you with the same milling.

Damian

iTrader: (89)

OR your springs could have fatigued causing float and possible PV contact. OR higher rpm's could have caused PV contact due to float issues. You've ran the 987's for a LONG time. I wouldn't be suprised if the last few miles they were dying quick....

2xLS1

iTrader: (25)

See if you can measure the thickness from an outside head bolt boss to the head surface and compare it with a stock head. You should be able to do that with a set of calipers. I've heard that is a good place to measure to determine if heads have been milled.

verbs

Like I said, they checked the pistons and they looked spotless. So no p/v contact. But yes, with the valve float and tight tolerances, there was a good chance that there could have been problems.

verbs

The heads are 5.3L truck heads that were from TEA. They did a straight up trade for my 5.7L heads.

Damn, looks like my valve drop #'s are right then


The previous owner of the cam told me Thunder scratched the # off because at the time the specs weren't public.....

Jason99T/A

iTrader: (21)

Matt, something to keep in mind is the valvejob. The deeper the head porter sinks the valve during the valvejob, the larger your valvedrop will be. This varies quite a bit from shop to shop. I have a set of TEA 1.5s at the shop that only have a cleanup pass taken off the decksurface and I can let you know the valvedrop on them tomorrow. I have measured the valvedrop before and it definitely was not as much as a set of GTPs with the same valves/milling.

BB

iTrader: (7)

You and I have the same heads, same measurements, and same issues - valve float, can't fit a big cam, etc. You must be my evil twin.

verbs

So are you saying that even though my valve drop may not be as much as I hoped, I could have enough clearance for a much larger cam because TEA didn't sink the valves in as deep as other head porters do?

That would be great if you could tell me the valvedrop...if it's about the same as my heads, the could I have enough clearance?

Thanks for the tip J!

verbs

Me





You

WS6MB

I just posted after doing a search about this and didnt realize this was so recent. Are you going to a differnent cam than the TR230? I am running that cam and looking into 5.3 heads. So after reading this it got me concerned about how much to mill. I guess i am confused in what your plan is? Trying to fit a new cam, or checking for the current cam.

Brian Tooley Racing

iTrader: (13)

Exactly, If we "sink" the valve job the midlift numbers come up but then the port stalls before .600" lift. Some other shops are sinking the valve job (I think AS does this) and still manages to get the head to flow, so this may be why Lou has more valve drop then others.

The down side to sinking the vavle is the fact that it makes the chamber volume much bigger. The other thing is if the valve job stays high then you can valve job it more times before it is sunk too deep to flow. Hope this helps, Brian

Jason99T/A

iTrader: (21)

Matt, I measured the TEAs today and got a valvedrop of 0.156", keeping in account a .053" headgasket and the pistons coming out the hole .007".

The exhaust measured 0.236"

FWIW, a set of stock heads come out to 0.210"/0.231" (intake/exhaust).

verbs

well, it looks like my lack of clearance and valve float from my Yella Terra rocker/987 spring combo bent a few exhaust valves and put small marks on my pistons. I'm lucky that's all that happened.

Scalpel

iTrader: (4)

I don't really buy that claim you were told. TR ALWAYS posts specs when they finalize them. That statement just strikes me as "not right." I dunno, only way to tell is to send off the cam to TR and put it on their cam doctor.

I'm not insinuating that you were lied to just that it comes off as an odd statement since TR is always known for publishing their specs when they put their new grinds up for sale.

verbs

I wouldn't be surprised if I was lied to; Nick was shady ...kept my money for too long w/o sending me a product, and to this day still owes me $50.