I have some questions I have ran into some problems with the build of my 383! The first thing is people say to grind the rod bolts for clearence well wouldnt that weaken the bolt? and dont they sell bolts made to fit this application? What is the biggest cam I can get to fit? I am thinking of the Comp cam 268H would this be ok?
Thanks

 

Yes it weakens the bolt especially if done carelessly. I dislike doing it for that reason, unless there's no other choice.

ARP 400 rod bolts have the notch already made into them. Of course if you change the bolts you have to get the rods reconditioned, because R&Ring them distorts the rods.

Think about how a cam is made. As they make a cam gets "bigger", the lobes don't get bigger. The limit to their size is the diameter of the cam bearings: if they made the lobes any taller, the cam wouldn't go in any more. The operative spec of the cam is the difference between the tall side and the short side; so what they do to make a bigger cam is grind the low side of the lobes down. That's why you can regrind a worn out cam (remave metal) and end up with a higher-lift cam than you started out with. So actually, a lesser cam tends to have more clearance problems than a wilder one, except with rollers; those have "wider" lobes than flat-tappet ones.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."