Is it possible to swap a modern (late '80's, early '90's style) roller cam and roller/hydraulic lifters into an older (mid '60's) small block? What's happening is, I'm putting together a 327 I've had sitting around for years. It's been balanced and blueprinted, and has a pair of ported and polished double-hump heads (461's). A pretty nice setup, but definitely "old school". Recently, I picked up a worn out '89 Firebird with the "E" TBI. I've been researching swapping the entire fuel system and control electronics over to the 327 (I'm really, really sick of carburators). I'm pretty sure I can pull it off, but I want to go one step further: I want to put in a roller cam and hydraulic/roller lifters, like the original 305. In particular, I think an LT1 cam would be an excellent choice for what I'm doing.

So am I nuts, or can I get away with it?

 

if it has a steel crank (pre '68 I think) it can rev way higher than a hydraulic roller cam can. You'd be really wasting its potential. Find out what year it is.

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-Tas
'89 Formula WS-6

305, TBI, 700R4, P.A.W. 14x3 open element with K&N, Milodon 160* thermo, functional Formula hood, cross-flow Flowmaster, '99z28 rear pipes and tips, Hooker 1-5/8" 50 state legal headers, Dynomax 3" I pipe (PN 44063 and 43248)
Super GRK_Taz World
F-Body Dual Exaust
EFI & Intake Options

 

Or just tell us what you're building it to rev to.

 

as the guys above said, as long as you aren't looking to rev the whole deal very high rpm, the hydraulic cam will be ok, however, you need to get an aftermarket style lifter, which are sold in pairs, as they have an anti-rotation bar on them(the stock ones use a figure 8 shaped thing that is held down by a spider spring, held in place by machined bosses in the lifter valley. I don't think you can retrofit those lifters, so you'd have to go aftermarket.

 

I don't think you are nuts for doing what you javein mind if you have the money and don't mind spending it. Otherwise, I would be content with a nice Comp Xtreme Energy flat-tappet camshaft and lifters. with 112 lobe sep, of course.

 

You can retrofit the stock lifters. You have to sdrill and tap the lifter valley, and put studs on and lock them down with nuts. It is alot eaiser and alot more expensive to put in aftermarket ones

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69 Chevelle 2dr hardtop blue, bench seats, 12 bolt w/3.73's muncie 4 speed. TBI w/custom harness and prom best 14.5@90

 

OK then, I should probably go with an aftermarket set of *solid* rollers then? I'm not so much looking for brute horsepower, but I'd like to get into the 1 hp/cu in range, maybe a bit more. Something I can commute to work in. I like the rollers because of the reduced friction, as well as the ability to use a more "abrupt" cam. And frankly, the reliability of the things is impressive: the last two hydraulic roller lifter-ed motors I took apart both had in excess of 200k on them and looked *really good* in the top end. As to redline, high is good, but not crucial. It seems that the TBI setup allows a higher RPM range than other options, and I'd like to be able to take advantage of that. And the sound of a 327 in a hurry is something that promotes immediate woodies on smallblock lovers...

 

lol, I know about that 327 sound, friends 69 maro brings a smile to my face every time we talk.
As for doing the aftermarket roller setup, go with the most inexpensive. They're all great and if you're going to be running an LT1 cam, they'll all work. If you were thinking about going with a higher performance cam you'd probably need to get one of those anti rev setups that keeps the lifters from floating. At high rpms this can be a problem if you don't have really strong springs on the heads.
If I were you: Aftermarket roller cam parts, used Lt1 cam, slap it in with new valve springs. What intake are you using? Hopefully not the stock TBI unit. You could probably get away with a machined stock 1 11/16" bore TB unit. Just remove the ridge and get an injector spacer. Get 350 injectors and adjust the fuel pressure to performance, not spark plugs or any of that jazz. With a 327 I would go with a single plane intake or at least the RPM manifolds.

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, Jon (350 TBI!)
91 Red My website

 

Then get the HotCam, make sure your heads can take the associated lift/ramp speed, get retro-fit lifters and some nice rockers (not necessarily true roller-rockers) and you'll be well on your way to high rpm. Make sure you have screw-in studs, too, and appropriate valve springs...

Make sure you have better/new valve guides in those old heads or you'll ruin them VERY quickly with an aggressive roller cam.

 

As to the intake, I was thinking of using a old Holley "Steet Dominator" single-plane that's also been lying around my house for a long time, and using one of the Holley adapter plates for the TBI. I mean, if I'm going to concentrate on the upper RPM band, I may as well go with a single-plane setup. I know they can be "twitchy" at idle and very low RPM, but I'm hoping the TBI smarts will keep things fairly smooth. Really, it's a no-brainer; I can try this manifold for free, and if it doesn't work, get a more appropriate one later.
I'm sure enough thinking I'll try the 350 injectors, but I'm also thinking there's the Holley 670 cfm throttle-body assembly, ready to bolt on and really not ridiculously expensive. Maybe the original throttle-body to get it running, and then the Holley later on. Or, maybe just the Holley right away - it all depends on what She Who Must Be Obeyed says when she finally notices the savings account dwindling. She's a great woman, make no mistake, but sometimes there's just things she's better off not knowing. (Well, actually it's *me* that's better off, but that's neither here nor there).
In any event, thanks for the assistance, everyone, I appreciate it. Once the mechanical phase is over, I'll be turning my attention to the programming of the chip and final tuning and troubleshooting. Hopefully that'll be *after* the thing is running, but in any event I'll no doubt be asking more questions in this forum later on - it's a great resource. The awesome "how to tune your TBI chip" article is a lot to digest in one sitting, and I may need some hand-holding on the more subtle aspects of it...

 

Tell me about it... My wife doesn't work. All she does is spend cash. She watches the kids all day and night, though. That was the deal.

She can never give me sheet about what I spend, though. That's for sure. But she can (and usually does) try to keep up with me and my spending habits...

[This message has been edited by fast_broker (edited November 30, 2001).]