Ok, a few questions. Been working on the mechanicals of the car and got back to the engine. I noticed previously that the car had very little vacuum at idle. The valve cover was never put on so I tried loosening the rockers until the engine smoothed out and the vacuum came up. When I did that the lifters rattled but I had good vacuum. Motor sounds very solid. No smoke, no knocks.
What I think I have is a big overlap cam. VERY lumpy idle, pretty much needs to be about 1000 rpm to not shake the car. It was much smoother at lower RPM when the lifters rattled.
I'm running power brakes and need decent vacuum.
I suspect this indicates a cam change. Any suggestions as to what cam is appropriate, where to get it etc. I'll change the lifters also. Remember this motor has some fairly significant head work with V8 valves, Clifford Tube headers and Clifford Aluminum intake with Edelbrock 500 cfm carb. Currently has 1.5 ratio small block rockers.
I want as much power as is reasonable but need driveability more. It's a driver not a race car. This is a 2200 lb 5 speed manual car and I don't want to have to feather the clutch at 1500 rpm to get it to move.
Also, I have a cheap set of guages on the car with a capillary tube oil pressure guage. Once it gets up to temp, the oil pressure at slow idle (800rpm) is very low...probably 5psi...runs about 40 psi at fast idle, 1250 or so. A friend suggested that it might have race bearings (double groove. When I had the pan off I didn't pull a cap so I don't know. I'm getting plenty of oil on the top end. When I was adjusting the lifters I was splashing oil everywhere even with the anti splash clips over the oil holes.
