Inliners International Forums General Discussion MOPAR Isky Cam

I just bought an Isky cam for the 218 flathead. The lift is .435 and the duration is 266 degrees. What is the stock lift and duration? How do you think this cam will sound? Lopey, I hope. Should any additional mods be done when the cam is installed? Thanks in advance to all for the information.

preston,

one thing you should check, especially if you've had the head milled, is the clearance from the valve and cylinder head.

i don't have the stock cam specs, but in some cases with hypo cams, it's necessary to have the head fly-cut to ensure there's no interferrence with the valve at max lift.

one easy way to do this is to put modeling clay on the head of your valves, install the head with gasket, then carefully hand-turn the engine over. then, remove the head and check the thickness of the modeling clay.

careful! if you feel resistance as you're turning engine over, stop..something's wrong.

the most accurate way to check clearance is with a dial indicator on the valve life, then a depth guage on the combustion chamber.....

Preston;
I am running an Edgerton regrind in my engine. Advertised specks 260 duration @ .410" lift. I did as Dennis mentioned and used a dial indicator to check the lift. The lift measured .396" (the advertised .410" minus the .014" valve lash adjustment) and I did not have any valve to head clearances. I am also using Chevy valves in my engine and they are slightly larger than the stock valves.
Don Coatney

Hi Don,

Which chevy valves did you use? What is the overall length of the valve and the installed height of the springs? What springs did you use? I am trying to budget my build before I start. I am going to have Chet Herbert cams do a regrind for me. They were great to talk to on the phone. I talked to the cam grinder himself and he asked all the right questions (now this is the plymouth and not the big chrysler, is it staying in the 49, what are you going to run for carbs, what exhaust,what compression,etc.) He said that they even have cores on the shelf if mine is not salvageable. Cost is 75.00 for the regrind.

Thanks

Excoach;
I did not measure the valves out of the engine. Have your machine shop measure your stock valves and spec them to Chevy 6 cylinder valves. I purchased and installed new Mopar flat 6 valve springs. There was not much difference between the old and new. Sounds like a good price on your cam re-grind. What specs are they grinding it to? I am using two Carter B&B single barrel carburetors.

As long as you are this deep into your engine I assume you are also going to replace the rod, main, and cam bearings and turn the crank if necessary. You should also replace the timing chain and gears and the oil pump. And dont forget to replace the water distribution tube.
Don Coatney

Thanks for the reply Don. I will be doing a complete rebuild on the 218 with performance in mind. I am trying to decide between 2 carter singles for being period correct and a single two barrel for ease of finding parts and tuning. I inherited the car from my Grandfather and it has been sitting for the last 30 years with the head off so it has some rust in the cylinders even though it is in Arizona. I have an oil pump rebuild kit. I am looking for a 230 crank and rods if I can find them resonably priced. They're available from Vintage Power Wagons but are too rich for my blood. My local NAPA has everything for my rebuild except the cam and lifters. The machinist and I are good friends and he is a Mopar guy as well. He even has a set of .030 over flathead pistons sitting on the shelf.

Dan "Excoach" Bauer

Dan

if there's a wrecking yard close to you, you can often find old flathead MOPAR engines and parts on combines, irrigation pumps and aircraft tugs....as well as in old cars and trucks. a friend, several years ago, got a very nice factory rebuilt 230 dodge engine, from a massey-furguson combine. installed in his old plymouth coupe, it ran like stink! with nothing more than a cam, milled heads, headers and a pair of carter single barrel carbs, he had a very peppy little machine! there is a noticeable improvement in torque between the 218 and 230 engines, too! good luck!

When we built my 230, my mechanic found that the diameter, stem length and groove location was identical to that of an SBC V-8. We wound up making all of my valves by taking SBC exhaust valves and turning down the head diameter to what he wanted.

Marty Bose