Bleed down lifters opinions for the 69 L/36...

[Greg L.]

I have never had the chance to use this type of lifter from Rhodes or Crane Cams or whom ever else might make them but I remember in the early days of this type that some say they were noisy. I have also heard that the ones made today are as quiet as regular lifters. Can anyone comment on this?

I'm probably going to go with a Crane Cam L/36 version for my L/36 but was thinking that I might go a "size or two" larger IF and only IF these bleed down lifters will retain a stock idle and NO lifter noise with the larger cam. I'll run this same question past Crane Cams when I call their tech line on Tuesday but first I wanted to get some un-biased opinions from you guys.

If anyone uses them or has friends that use them I'd like to hear what you think of them.

Greg Linton
#45455

[Verle R.]

Re: Bleed down lifters opinions for the 69 L/36...

Greg,

Present day Rhodes lifters make noise at idle after the engine is warmed up, sound about like solids that are set a little tight. Anything above idle you don't hear them. If you set the idle a little higher, which you may with "more" cam, you might not hear them.

Verle

[Mark #28455]

why bother unless you have headers?

These lifters are used to allow a "too large" cam to still provide some lower RPM torque and better idle vacuum but still have the upper RPM power. Be realistic, once you get much over midrange RPM, the stock exhaust is too restrictive to give you good power anyway (none of the cam grinders recommend the bigger cams to be used with a stock exhaust). You would have a better running engine by keeping the stock cam and having the heads pocket ported.

You don't need a HUGE cam to make decent HP with a BB Chevy engine - the 454 HO makes 425 HP with only 211 degrees intake duration at .050 lift. If you really wanted to get more power, just use one of the 4.25" stroker cranks (available for $225 in nodular form) with KB pistons and keep everything else stock! (you will gain about 50 ft/lbs).

Unless you enjoy swapping cams a lot, keep a close eye on the factory specs to run well with a stock exhaust.

Been there, done that, didn't even get the T-shirt!
Mark

[Duke W.]

Re: Bleed down lifters opinions for the 69 L/36...

Unless you want to do an R&D project, stick with the OE cam and lifters and massage the heads.

Many think that a rougher idle or more noise means more power. That is often not the case, but low end torque, idle quality, fuel economuy, and driveability are ALWAYS lost.

Duike

[Greg L.]

Re: Bleed down lifters opinions for the 69 L/36...

Why bother...ya good point! My 2" exhaust will be choking it enough as it is so I guess a "bigger" cam would be a total waste. Thanks guys for the slap up side my head...I need one every once in a while.

[Mark #28455]

If you have the 270 or 512 block

a stock 454 crank will bolt in without modification. In addition, the 4.25 stroker crank will usually bolt in with no clearancing as long as you use the stock type "I" beam rods, not the racing "H" beams. Actually, if any clearancing is needed, it's usually at the camshaft tunnel, not at the pan rails or bore bottoms.
Mark