Modifications: Cams In my motor I have ran everything from bone stock, to full solid roller. Every cam has its strong points, it is just up to you to figure out what the motor needs to do. I built my motor to do everything from rock crawling to drag strip racing to mud racing. And while it is possible to have a motor that does good in all areas, it is hard to make one perform in the extremes. I am trying for the extremes without giving up too much in any one area. To do this I decided to build a motor that would have awesome power through mid to high rpms, then use gears to allow for crawling. I am not sure if the cam is too agressive or not. And will hopefully find out soon. I will dyno the motor when it gets broke in and see if all this work to put in a roller cam was worth it. The cam is a custom cam made by Crane Cams. It has 236/244 degrees @.050. 286/294 advertised. And 560/579 lift. and 114 lobe seperation with a 109 centerline. I chose this profile for the rpm usage. And 114 lobe seperation so that it should still be able to idle around easily. It is a solid roller, so acceleration should be very fun =). To accomodate the solid roller, I had to change the springs, valves, studs, rockers, pushrods, valve covers, thrust plate, oil system, and other small changes. And while this seems like a lot of work to do. Most of these things are done anyways when you want to modify your motor. I just made most of these modifications with the cam in mind. I have "Beyond Severe Duty" stainless steel valves from Frerrara (or however you spell it), 2.055" int. and 1.71" exh. These valves are the strongest that you can get that are not titianium. These were needed to withstand the abuse given by a roller cam and the dual valve springs. The studs are 7/16" studs with Harland Sharp roller rockers and 2" double bar Nascar style stud girdles made by Ridgeway. It is these stud girdles that require the use of the taller valve cover. You can take a taller steel cover, and either cut and weld in a section for additional height and clearance, or really beat up the metal on the steel cover. Either way is not that reliable, and getting a good seal out of either will be difficult. And the aluminum valve covers that I chose, have about 4 1/2" clearance, and the bolts go throught the top of the cover. This offers more clearance and better strength. The covers also have a large area to hit the valve cover gasket. Meaning that sealing is not an issue anymore. Note. The quality of AMC castings are not always that accurate. And I noticed that the ridge that the valve cover seals to is not even and level. I would suggest checking this out with a straight edge on your head before investing in these covers. Good thing is that it is very easy to run a thicker gasket to make up for this inconsistency, but you will need to use longer bolts. So far this has worked fine for me, and I haven't had any leaks so far. I will however straighten this surface out at a later date, just one of those small things that bug me. --Back--