Upgrading Cam

[66BeachCruiser]

I took a picture of 1st gen and 2nd gen driveshafts side by side and also cross members. You can visually see how smaller the 2nd gen driveshaft is right away. Mark told me the difference in tower locations. The 2nd gen seems to have about a 12” space in the middle before towers start. A first gen has about 9”. Last picture is me just using the measuring tape As a straight edge to show the distance of the motor mount to the measuring tape when I centered it on the frame mounting hole. It shows first gen motor mount base to be further away Forward while 2nd gen was closer to measuring tape (to where frame mount holes are located). I can use a real straight edge and make actual measurements of the difference for record keeping.

[66BeachCruiser]

I used an old moving dolly with some added wood to be at the height of the oil pan and transmission pan. I unbolted my transmission z bar, trans cross member, and shift linkage, along with motor mounts before using a wood block under the harmonic balancer to jack the motor up and unbolt the engine cross member. A few bolts unbolted and the driveshaft came out pretty easy as well.

[66BeachCruiser]

Since cross member was out for the first time in my ownership I took the opportunity to unbolt the motor mounts and motor mount brackets. After all my motor painting on all parts those are the only parts with grease still beneath them. The motor mount brackets were degreased, wire brushed, primered and painted. I put them under the sun to bake for the day. I took the chance to degrease and paint the mount surface of the engine as well. Motor mounts were still decent since I’ve replaced them in the past but threads were stripped from my Previous install. I remember adding a nut on the other side of the mount at the time. I bought a new set of mounts from Rockauto. The molded rubber is melted into the threads of new mounts and causes difficulties in threading the bolts...possibly causing such cross threatening. I used a 7/16-14 tap to clean out the threads on my new mounts and on the old ones for storage. The bolts thread in nice now on all of them.

[66BeachCruiser]

These are my core power steering control valves out of a Ford F-250 steering assist setup. There are 2 types: Garrison and Bendix. I’m using the Garrison type. I received my rebuilt control valve (wrapped in plastic).
I originally ordered the tie rod ends and adjusting sleeves from a G30 as suggested on our site for creating a custom drag link.... but the stems on the ball stud were too thin to work. I had to send those parts back. Maybe I didn’t get the right ones? Well, I just tried out the F250 drag link ends I have and the ball studs seem like they’ll work. They lock into the hole when reaching a certain part of the stem that has a similar girth as the van drag link end stems. I may need to use a small spacer though on the thread part of the studs/stems so that the cotter pin can be used to lock the castle nut in place. Luckily the long male end from a 4x4 application and a short female end from same make (non 4x4) seem to make up the same length as the van drag link when added to the new control valve. Seems like the Ford F-250s with power assist of those years came with 2 different size sets of drag links (4x4 applications & non 4x4?). These trucks were also called Ford Highboys. I’ll be posting a small YouTube video soon just showing an up close look at the control valve and ends for the drag link.

[66BeachCruiser]

I had a broken oil pan bolt when I installed my pan after the Camshaft install. It’s been bothering me. It was in the worst place for attempting an extraction. It was right under the engine cross member, under the motor mount. I had a broken bolt on the other side years before but when pan came off to do the camshaft I was able to drill it out, tap, and add a helicoil to receive a same size bolt. The clearance Without an oil pan at that time was great to allow room for my drill. This time around, having the cross member and motor mounts and bracket out of the way allowed me to tackle that broken bolt. I definitely didn’t want to take off the oil pan and do that whole job again. I left the oil pan on but clearance for my drill was limited and felt like it tried to angle my drill bit. I tried using a reverse extraction bit, but no luck. After a big battle, I did the same as the other side and drilled through, tapped it, and added a helicoil. It’s a worry off my mind now. Glad I got it tackled now that I had a chance. Funny how something like this makes you feel proud. I guess because it’s something I could have made worst but did it right. That paint was rubbed off by the drill turning against the pan, trying to keep the drill straight as possible. I scuffed it smooth, cleaned it, and repainted it. Looks great now.

[66BeachCruiser]

I’m about to install the 2nd gen driveshaft on my first gen. Do I just tighten as much as possible with a wrench? Locktite? I can’t find any torque specs on any of my books for the bolts attaching the driveshaft to the differential. Is there a correct torque?

[Leroy Jackson]

There's several ideas in the works for my van such as AC, power steering pump for steering and possibly hydraulic brake booster. I've only collected parts. I installed my recently refreshed head in the 230 and went ahead and took off the original doghouse to make room for accessories I want to add, and more airflow, plus later on be ready for a v8 swap. So a v8 doghouse will be put on. Right now I'm having fun playing with this 230. Got me a Clifford intake, split headers, v6 power steering bracket, pulleys and pump. For now I was going to just button it up but since I lifted the engine up and it's sitting with wood blocks between the engine mounts and now no doghouse in the way.....I measured that there was enough clearance to pull out the CAM. I went ahead and pulled it out. It's CAM upgrade time
Not taking engine out.
For now I'm thinking a marine Cam.

Question: Do I need a name brand like COM CAM or can I just order from my local Car Quest? And any duration numbers to stick with? I want better than stock but not radical at all.

Question 2: Do I need to change out the CAM bushings or can I leave the ones on there. I saw light scratching shown in pictures on the first bushing but did try lightly sanding off scratch with 1000 grit.


First picture is showing how I used a hammer and a chisel to go under the doghouse lip and knock out the spot welds

Question1 - Stick with a quality cam manufacturer. Specifically one with a good warranty. Comp, Herberts, Crane..ect. The reason is due to reformulation of oils and increased cases of 1st run cam failures for flat tappet style cams. This is very very common, cams fail during break-in procedures and they ruin the motor. Also replace the lifters if you are doing a cam, same reason.

Question 2 - No, you do not need to change the cam bushings IF your oil pressure is well within limits. 10-15 psi per 1000 rpm is typically the cut-off point, but a good motor will make and keep max psi ( 60 or so for a SBC ) even at idle.

With all the accessories that you are planning to run, don't get tempted towards high duration camshafts. Look at where you want to run the motor and what RPM's you typically run at and go a bit conservatives with overlap and lobe separation. Regarding lift, go as big as your engine can handle while maintaining safe ramp speeds. The larger the lift, the faster the valve will be moving up and down if duration remains constant.

[66BeachCruiser]

Today I put the replacement 2nd gen driveshaft in its place. Bolts aren’t tightened yet. If anyone knows torque specs? Either way, if I recall there might not be enough clearance to fit a torque wrench. I also installed the replacement 2nd gen engine cross member. That says 100-130ft/lbs. I did 100 and stopped there. I’m working on the floor under the van. The engine mount brackets are back on at 30 ft/lbs. so are the motor mounts at 30 ft/lbs. I haven’t moved the engine forward yet. You can see the difference in length with the shorter 2nd gen driveshaft from how much yoke is exposed and not in the tranny. Also you can see at the motor mount how much the engine needs to be moved back to align to the 2nd gen cross member mounting pad.

Tomorrow, I’ll try moving the engine back while driveshaft is on to see if it slips further in. If it’s harder I’m going to have to take off the driveshaft.

[66BeachCruiser]

The engine has now been pushed forward, well, rearward actually, and bolted into the 2nd gen cross member. I straightened all the wheels on the dolly and unhooked some pieces on the parking brake mechanism to take away any resistance. A few pushes at a time and slowly matched the holes to mount. Nothing has been tightened down for a final torque. Once again, what’s your thoughts? Do I put loctite on engine mount to cross member bolt or just torque down. Same question for driveshaft bolts. Can’t wait to see fan clearance after this is all buttoned up.

[66BeachCruiser]

Install and initial break-in of CAM went well with stock manifold and exhaust. I took everything apart to put the new manifold and headers and install bigger cooling and start the power steering and A/C options. But... recently We moved and had to hurry up and button everything up to get my van out of the house. I was hoping to drive it out of there and not tow it. Once I buttoned everything up it wasn’t sounding steady or staying on. So I towed it to a muffler shop to add pipes to the headers and then towed it to a mechanic to adjust everything for me so I could drive it 20 miles down to my InLaws. At this time we sold our house and don’t have ability to move into our new house since we were just closing escrow. I’m staying at my in-laws until we get the keys on the 27th. So my classic vehicles are in between homes and essentially homeless. The mechanic called me back saying there’s something going wrong internally like maybe rod knock. It sounded louder than usual and I towed it out of there and to my inLaws street.

I started it yesterday and sounds pretty bad. No clicking like you hear caps moving as a rod goes up and down but more like something heavy drying in the dryer like shoes...if that makes sense. With all the aftermarket accessories I bought and work I’ve done for my 230 I was leaning on just rebuilding mine into a 250 by machining the engine and replacing everything new like installing a 250 crank and 250 pistons. But all that money can go into a 350 engine. Unfortunately that’s the route I’m now leaning on. I’m not sure what I’m doing with my 230 yet. I’d like to just keep it and possibly still rebuild it slowly. Anyways...a big bummer as far as not keeping it the nostalgic straight six and also unexpected expense. Still doing hydro boost/power breaks/power steering, and A/C though.

[Buddy]

Just a thought but maybe the cam gear has come off the shaft and is banging on the cover. It is a common problem for them. That's what was wrong with mine.

[jrinaman]

i would find out what it is first. could be as simple as a loose flywheel bolt or bent pushrod. where is noise coming from? you can use a wooden dowel, foot long piece of broom handle and place on end nearyour ear and the other on the engine and move it around to better locate the noise. since you just did the cam swap, i would suspect something behind the front cover (cam bolt?), bent push rod, bad rocker arm or rocker arm stud pulling out of head. is the distributor fully seated, fuel pump riding on cam correctly? while it could very well be a rod bearing, doesnt seem likely. even if it is, you could probably just replace the bearing. spun one in my 250, drove it another 20 miles knocking, cleaned up the crank with emery cloth and replaced the bearings. ran that motor a couple more years!