Originally Posted by vettenuts

If you need a couple of 0.015 shims, let me know I think I have some. I can shoot them to you in the mail.

Originally Posted by Gearhead1

I just got done setting my spring heights. It took five hours (not too bad) but my back is killing me. I did it siiting on the garage floor (no room in the garage for a work bench) with the heads sitting on my DR's to prop them up a bit. Anyway, the first head was pretty close. There were a few springs that weren't as close as I wanted, but I was able to mix and match retainers and locks to make them all good. Now remember, my cam has .015 more lift on the exhaust than the intake, but I was still able to get them all between .053 and .059 from coil bind. Not the .003 spread that vettenuts managed, but a .006 spread isn't too shabby. However, I ran into some difficulties with the second head. That .015 less lift on the intake reared it's ugly head and I had three out of four intake springs that are going to need an additional .015 added to bring them to where I want them. One was .068 from coil bind, the second was .069, and the third was .072. With the addition of the above mentioned .015 shim, the second heads numbers will fall between .052 and .058. (There's that.006 spread again ) All of my springs had one .060 shim under the spring and the shims that I got from the machine shop turned out to be .030 instead of the .015's that I thought they were. So....I'm dead in the water until Monday morning. As far as what everyone has said about these heads being able to accept a .620 lift cam, well.....it's pretty darned close. I had one spring that would have been within .047 of coil bind, but I'm sure with a little juggling of parts you could increase that enough to make it good. All in all I'm pleased with what I've accomplished so far, and I'm also pleased with how close everything was straight from Dart. I'd like to thank SStrokerAce and vettenuts for offering their (much needed) assistance and pointing me in the right direction. Thanks guys, it's members like you that make this website a pleasure to be a part of. One more thing, if any of you have been debating whether or not to try something like this on your own heads, but have been hesitant because you think it's too difficult...go for it. It's not really that bad, it's time consuming, but what isn't now days. And by all means, GET A PNEUMATIC SPRING COMPRESSOR. I'm not saying to go out and buy one, but beg borrow or steal one if you have to. These things are awesome and make it sooooo much easier.

Originally Posted by No Juice

Noob question here:
Should one be checking these heights if they are using a small lift cam? Or is this just for cams that are reaching the max spring capabilities?

Originally Posted by slt200mph

Where did you beg, borrow, or steal a air powered spring compressor??

Originally Posted by Moxie

Gearhead1, if you need shims, email me at gwold@dartheads.com, and I'll see what we have.

Originally Posted by Gearhead1

It's funny you should ask that because I just called Dave (the guy who I borrowed it from) and was telling him how great his compressor was. He said that they were looking for a second one to buy for the shop and they were having a problem finding one because they haven't made them in over twenty years. Sorry about getting your hopes up, but if you do happen to run across a manufcturer that still produces them, post it so I can let Dave know. This one is a Snap On Model #CF700