FRPP cam install this winter

[Tony Conti]

I got a set of FRPP hot rod cams and I'm going to install them this winter but need to do a few things while I'm in there. On startup after the car has sat for a few days I get a puff of blue smoke so I most likely need a set of valve seals. The car just hit 100k miles so since I'll have it opened up to do the cams and seals I figured I might as well just pull the heads, lap the valves and replace the lash adjusters/rocker arms and replace all the timing components.

I want to be able to rev it out to 7k safely. Would all new OEM timing/head components and a new oil pump be ok or should I use a different brand? I get all OEM parts at cost so it wouldn't hurt the wallet to to that route but I'd rather spend a couple hundred bucks more to do this than pop the motor.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

You'll need to upgrade the valve springs in order to rev the engine past 6800rpm safely. The PAC-1233 valve springs are rated up to 0.550" of valve lift and are compatible with the OEM retainers/keepers, resulting in a significant cost saving.
You could also upgrade to an OEM '13-'14 Shelby GT500 high pressure oil pump (Ford part no. DR3Z6600A). It'll drop straight in especially if you mate it with a new OEM 3V oil pump pickup tube (Ford part no. 4R3Z6622AA).

 

[GlassTop09]

pull the heads

In addition to all else posted, this is the perfect time to also get all chambers softened to aid in knock resistance (remove any\all sharp edges in combustion chambers to alleviate the formation of hot spots that can cause premature cyl knock.......not necessarily "porting the chambers" so to speak, even though this kinda is what's happening in the process). Doing this can get you some potentially more HP\TQ by giving the ability to support a little more spark timing advance w\o detonation occurring from sharp metal edges retaining more combustion temp\heat in the chamber relative to the rest of the chamber area that is in more direct contact w\ the coolant flowing thru the coolant passages in the heads.

So, you might mention this to whomever you take your heads to for valve work to include this as well............unless you have a die grinder available to do this yourself.

Just another suggestion for you to consider.............while you got the heads off.

Hope this helps.

 

[JC SSP]

Yeah if your installing a cam and pulling the heads now is the best time to get a port & polish, new valve springs etc.

Obviously new chain, guides and tensioners while you’re in there.

Oil pump is a no brainer too.

 

[Tony Conti]

Thank you guys for the info, I wanted to pull the heads to do a full hardware refresh and port them as well. I've seen some videos on it and I'm confident I can do it correctly, it'll be time consuming but not hard work.

The other thing I just thought about was MAYBE having the heads milled to bump the compression since I'm saving a lot on parts and labor doing most of the job myself. Haven't done any research to see if its really worth it but it just popped in my head as I was on here. That would be done after I prep everything incase I fucked it up lol.

 

[Tony Conti]

Yeah if your installing a cam and pulling the heads now is the best time to get a port & polish, new valve springs etc.

Obviously new chain, guides and tensioners while you’re in there.

Oil pump is a no brainer too.

Yeah I was going to get every timing component brand new. I wasn't nice to this thing the first two years I had it lol. Bought it in 2018 with 51,000 on it and only drove it in the summer but still managed to put 10,000 miles a year on it.

 

[Midlife Crises]

heads milled

I would advise against milling the heads to raise compression. There are pistons available for that purpose. Milling the heads will move the valves closer to the pistons and make valve timing much more critical. It can require additional relief cuts to the piston domes to avoid valve to piston contact.

 

[Tony Conti]

I would advise against milling the heads to raise compression. There are pistons available for that purpose. Milling the heads will move the valves closer to the pistons and make valve timing much more critical. It can require additional relief cuts to the piston domes to avoid valve to piston contact.

On that note I will not have the heads milled

 

[dark steed]

This has me thinking that I should just remove the heads on mine. I have what sounds to be a broken lash adjuster.
I have new hotrod cams, lash adjusters, springs, timing kit, new oil pump, and water pump are on the way.
I’m not a spring chicken anymore, and the thought of trying to do all that valve train replacement while leaning over a fender has my back hurting already!
It seems I might be a lot better off just to pull the heads and do the work on the bench. Any advice from you guys that have done this?

 

[Midlife Crises]

I had no problems getting pistons to top dead center and using air pressure to hold the valves closed. Leaning over the finder for long periods is certainly a pain in the back but the big killer for me is there are a few valve locations where the retainers and keepers are damn near impossible to reach and see at the some time. Especially when there is a spring compressor tool in the way. With the heads on the bench you can easily service them. Good time to replace the valve seals and maybe even reassemble with ARP head studs. The down side is you must be very careful cleaning the deck surface of the block. You don’t want trash in the oil pan.