I watched the video and I was tempted but they sort of glossed over how to test runout, which is apparently a problem on our later models. What tool to use?

Let us know how it goes....

-Sin

 

It's not a difficult job.

Pull the tank and go through the rockers...it's very little extra work plus you'll have a chance to check specs and such.

 

Yea I was so glad i only had. 040 runout on my crank after 90,000 miles. Its worth checking if you plan on a big bore down the road.

 

OK. Well they are in and the job is done. The install was not hard at all, just time consuming. I had purchased the bearing puller and an installer from George's Garage, the cam install kit, tw555, woods dir lifters, and FM push rods from Jamie and crew at FM. Jamie sent me the map the day after my package was fedexed. Everything showed saturday and I went and found some bolt cutters at harbor freight.

My 17yr old son helped and we started saturday evening. He was a very big help, especially with the tear down etc. That went very well. Though we had one PR push down into the the chrome on lifter block and mar it a little when we cut it. Battle scars are alright with me when I know how they got there and it was me that put it there.

Assembly.
Install of cams and lifters went in easy peasy, in fact it was going great until I went to put that spacer tool in on the intake pushrod tube to start running the threads up on the lower piece and then adjust.

It was a serious PITA to get that little spacer in to hold the tube up far enough to adjust the PRs. I large flat tip, with a round shank and a little oil helps a lot there. Sorta the same idea as reinstalling the pushrod tube clips. If I had to do it again though, I would like shorter tubes (or maybe that tool for the clips?), I would rather just hang them out of the way and adjust the PRs. Don't get me wrong, the pushrods seem to be top notch from FM and each one is even labeled intake and exhaust. I just wish I had PR tubes that allowed for adjusting without having to use that little spacing tool. But in the end got it done.

We rotated the wheel to watch everything work. And it all looked fine. So buttoned up the PR tube clips and the cam chest and let it sit overnight. PS: wear gloves when doing the clips so you won't have the pain like I do in the end of my right thumb. The damn cooling fins are sharp.

This AM, we put all the other stuff back on, ensuring the exhaust had a good seal, wiped all my chrome down and polished everything. Uploaded the map Jamie sent me. Pulled her down off the jack and fired her up. Verified oil pressure and yes it was a loud valve train for a few secs, then the lifters pumped and it started getting quiet. Still heard some ticking up in the front cyclinder, but as it warmed, that too went away. Once it warmed a little and idled down, the lope sounded awesome and the engine had a little more shakey shakey. Went and took a shower and cleaned up garage.

Took her for a test ride and I can't hear anything unusual at all. In fact valve train is quieter then it was before. No backfires or decel pop at all, and no bad reversion when decelerating down a hill. Pipes are definitely a little louder and deeper sounding now. Throttle is more responsive and she pulls hard right about 2800. 65mph in 5th is fun. 70-75 in 6th is awesome. 90 degrees out and get a few pings if I roll on relatively hard below 2500K, but that is an easy fix. I had stage 1 headers, AC, JP Pro Touring slip-ons, and PCV. It sounded good, but I would get backfires occasionally between shifts and sometimes deceling. I kept looking for exhaust leaks and had mostly tuned it out, but still had a slight issue. With the TW555 installed and the new map, I have none of it. It just lopes more at idle, barks with authority with a little throttle, runs a deep note turning 3K going down the road, and is quieter on decel then it was without the cam. I love it.

Well I think once I pull a couple degrees out <2500 and do some mileage 2up loaded, I will really be happy. Initial impression is it was very much worth it. Would I do it again. Yes, though I would probably look into seeing if I could find pushrod tubes that are shorter and just replace them during the install so that I don't have to find that little spacer to hold the tube up to adjust them in the future if needed. I really do like the FM pushrods though, and the install kit was complete and great quality. All the FM peeps were also very supportive and helpful. Plus the tune seems to be pretty spot on.

What's next??? Painted inner fairing, bars, and probably chromed forks...

 

Hey, good for you. Going through the rockers doesn't add that much complexity to the job, and saves having to muck around with the adjustable pushrods. Some guys spend so much time with the adjustables that it would have been faster to have gone through the top.

Pulling the rocker boxes and heads isn't any more complicated than the job you just did, and the 107 upgrade is something you can do later in the year. You can leave the cam chest intact now that you've done the cam upgrade and just swap in the pistons and jugs.

The pusrod tube clips should be fairly easy once you've done them once or twice. I use a fairly small screwdriver for that job, and they pop right in.

 

Did you follow the video and leave the oil pump attached to the cam plate for removal? It didn't show them aligning the pump on the install, wondering if that doesn't need done if left attached to cam plat.

 

I left mine atached to the cam plate and it was easy! Put some asembly lube on the 3 o-rings to keep them in place.

 

Did you notice a "huge" loss in low end like some have stated you'd get in a stock 96"?

 

???Should be a good low end gain with that cam...Was with my Andrews 26H...555 has reported good gains also.

 

I did leave my oil pump on. I replaced the o-ring and verified alignment of it when I put it back in.

Low end feels good, so I can't say I noticed a huge loss in low end, but when I hit ~2800, it starts coming on hard. I took me and the wife for a little ride ~ 50 miles and she even noticed the difference. It feels great @2.8-3.2K rolling down the road and hills are not an issue. @70+ in 6th is the same. Engine doesn't feel like it's even working hard at all.