Question about lifters please help!
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Teching In
Joined: Jul 2010
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Question about lifters please help! Ok guys im fairly new to the sbc world, i have a 77 four bolt main truck motor with 882 heads and i figure its a motor worth building, now im pretty sure it is solid lifter and i want to put in a thumpr cam. The problem is they come with hydraulic lifters, so my question is can you just pull out the solids and drop in the hydraulics or is there more to it?? also can someone recommend a thumper cam that woould wrk in this application? I like the 279 and 287 but comp says the 287 needs 9:1 compresiion, would this cause problems in this motor?? thanks in advance!!
Launching!
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A 1977 truck motor with 882 heads...your compression is probably closer to 8:1 (unless someone changed some things). I had a 1975 Nova with those heads and the compression was horrible. A shim head gasket would help some. If you want to just put in a new cam, I would go with something other than the Thumper line. They have a tight LSA and that low compression engine will not be happy. Look at the Extreme line instead (110 LSA). Go small on the cam! Those heads flow like crap! You can swap the hydraulic cam and lifters in. You should check the valve train geometry (push rod length). I would also replace the timing chain while you have it apart.
What intake manifold and carb? Headers?
What intake manifold and carb? Headers?
Thread Starter
Teching In
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but on the comp cams site it says nothing about compression for the 279 but says the 287 needs 9:1, so the 77 motor might not be my best choice then, but i want a thumper cam. What about a carbed vortec could they handle it?? the only problem is can they be converted to flat tappet easily because i dont want to dish out $350 for a cam??
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it has alot of sentimental value so i want to run the 882s and try to keep the main parts original less the carb intake cam and headers, it will just be for street use but hopefully have some power there to show off the odd time, the 279 seems likeit will work comp says nothing about a c/r on that cam, but i need to know can i run that cam with solid lifters or can you swap to hydraulic by just dropping them in, im new to this stuff guys please help
Your engine has hydraulic lifters unless someone has changed them. Either way flat tappet lifters either solid or hydraulic tapped are interchangeable but the cam is ground for one or the other. All of your stock valve train parts will work just fine for a mild camshaft.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 38
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Your engine has hydraulic lifters unless someone has changed them. Either way flat tappet lifters either solid or hydraulic tapped are interchangeable but the cam is ground for one or the other. All of your stock valve train parts will work just fine for a mild camshaft.
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