tyler72

Hello, I am going to be changing my 72 302 over to a roller because I am damn tired of rounding off flat tappets! I just stroked it to a 347, and drove it 20 miles before it wiped a lobe. Now I have to buy all new bearings and get the crank polished. Anywya, it is carbed, and I was wondering if the Z303 will be a good choice for me. I have a 3000-3200 stall converter in the trans. I am just going to get a set of crane retrofit roller lifters to put in my block, since using a spider and dogbones requires a reduced base circle cam to run in an older block. What do you guys think???

mjr46

personally I like how well my xe 282 hr just performed saturday in my new 347 stroker..it's a dual pattern cam and has a nice lope 565/574 = better than the out dated tech of the alphabet cams.....bad thing for you is you'll need the expensive lifters with link bars

tyler72

Hey man, nice to hear from you! I actually found a different route that I am now persuing. I found out that Coast High Performance offers Retrofit Roller Cams with a reduced base circle. This will allow me to do some slight modification (drill and tapping two holes, and do some grinding) on my current old school block and install a late model style spider, dog bones, and roller lifters. This is no big deal though from what I understand. I found all of the used factory parts on ebay, got all of it for $66, and used the money people so kindly donated to me to buy the parts. Also, the cam has pretty much the EXACT same specs as my XE284H, except it has a little more lift. It will work out reat though because I can still use my 3000 stall converter, and it should make more power than the Comp did. The other major plus is that Jegs is going to give me a refund for the pushrods and cam kit, and since the roller cam is the same price as the cam kit was, I won't have to spend any extra money for it. I will just have to change my dizzy gear to steel, or bronze. Also, because the Comp ate one this time, it needs the brand new Eagle crank polished now [:@] and also all new bearings. But oh well. I shouldn't have any more problems at all after this, so maybe I can get it together once and for all here pretty soon.

Joel5.0

Have you checked what a reduced base circle cam is like? FYI, the generic @.050" tappet lift doesn't mean the cams are identical or similar.




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r.barn

+1, stick with the orginal plan and get the link retro-fit lifters

my 357ci made decent power with Comp Cams 236HR-14 cam
idled good, made good vacuum

67mustang302

Use a steel gear, not bronze.

tyler72

Rbarn, Ill stick with the original plans if you want to give me the $500 to buy the retro fit linked lifters. Everybody has their own opinion. The conversion tpo factory roller parts can be done, and works really well. I am just a poor college student playing a rich mans game. I don't have the money to be doing ANYTHING to the car, but I have to because I have to get it moved out of the way. I have already gone above my limits fixing it from the first cam failure. I have to look at the most economical route, and I beleive this is it.

Joel5.0

BTSTDT...... a little advise learned from experience looooong time ago...... the most economical route is not necessarily the less expensive.

mjr46

well, I wish you luck with it...2 eaten up cams?? man that sucks..hopefully you'll get it on the road soon

tyler72

Yeah, did you not know about that??? I got the 347 together, ran break in procedure as Comp reccomends, used Vavoline VR1 Racing oil (high ZDDP content), and Comp's break in lube. I even double checked spring pressures which were 110 lbs seat pressure. It lasted longer than the Eddelbrock cam, but after about 20 miles, it wiped the 2nd lobe off the cam, and the first one looked like it might've been trying to round off. I have had it with this crap. I did everything I could possibly do to prevent it, and it still happened. That's why I am just going to put in the Reduced base circle roller cam in and use the late model lifters and spider. CHP said that they have done it before and never had any problems. They even offer cams specifically designed for the conversion (this is the kind I am getting).