It was already on a 108 ICL.
This build was a little difficult in the fact that we're not really running the intake/carbs that Cliff will run in the end. So, I'm aiming for a camshaft that works perfectly with Webers. Webers want stack velocity, or else they get into reversion. Advancing the cam timing helps with that.
However, this situation was clearly a situation where there will be sustained high rpm use....which is not a good scenario for a hydraulic cam.
On the dyno, you can really hear things that you wouldn't hear in the car, and at 6300 rpm, we could start to hear the lifters giving up. These were Morel short travel lifters, with .010" preload after the engine warmed up. The cam lobes were not overly aggressive, so the intent was not to toss the valves. I used a thicker viscosity
oil to keep the lifters juiced. The Dart aluminum block that we used has a lifter feed right off the mains to the front of the lifter passages as well, which helps to keep
oil there instead of starving that area of the block.
I had a very adequate amount of spring pressure....trust me.
At the beginning of this build, Cliff's intention was to have a nice street car that he could get on the track every now and again. Towards the end of the build, Cliff changed his mind so that this car will be a dedicated track car. He's been road racing his Cobra Mustang and truly has the bug...
He also has the bug to spin the engine up a little higher, and with a 6200 rpm peak on the hydraulic roller, he would have to shift a little higher, which could keep the engine in a spot where it could be in a continued loss of valvetrain control.
I'm not going with a *huge* cam, as Cliff isn't bent on making earth-shattering horsepower. There will probably be a little bit of an increase, but the focus here is to make the engine rock-stable at the rpms that he needs, along with increasing the peak hp rpm a little.
I did make the decision, for Cliff's sake, to go with a flat tappet cam. Even the most expensive solid roller lifters require time-specific inspections, and with a 302, pulling roller lifters requires pulling the heads. Having to pull the intake, undo the headers, plus pull the heads in a Cobra for an inspection doesn't sound like much fun.
Going with a nitrided Bullet solid flat tappet, plus a set of Crower EDM lifters.