Camshafts and ValveQuestions


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By PWH42 - 17 Years Ago
I was recently given a pair of 56(ECZ-C)heads that have been redone with new guides and hardened seats.The seats have been given a 3 angle grinding.I have a new set of stock 56 292 valves.Will they work OK in these heads or do I need to have the valves ground to match the seats?

2nd question.I have two camshafts and lifter sets and am wondering if there is any difference between them.One  is out of a stock original 56 292(Fordomatic tranny)and is marked ECK.The other is out of an engine that was a short block installed in a truck about 20 years ago.The block is a 57 292 casting.The only thing marked on the cam is CAF directly behind the front bearing and the number 34 between the 3rd and 4th lobes.Side by side eyeballing them,the cams look the same,but the one out of the truck engine has a slightly higher lift,I believe.

By pegleg - 17 Years Ago
There's no way for us to tell what angles were used in the heads or where the seats wound up when they installed the iron. You'll have to take them to a good machinist and find out. Take the valves with you.

    As far as the cam goes, again, what kind of shape they're in is impossible to tell without seeing and measuring. If you don't have the original lifters correlated to the cams, you have two heavy pieces of scrap iron.

By pcmenten - 17 Years Ago
You can try hand-lapping the valves to see how they fit. I would paint some DyChem on the seats and valves and than hand lap to see how they seal.



For the cams; the metallurgy changed and you need to keep matched sets of valves and lifters. The ECK cam was an earlier cam. One way to tell the differences in lifters is the thickness of the foot of the lifters.



When I got a cam reground at CamCraft in Maryland, I sent the lifters in at the same time to get the surfaces reground.



Lately, they have been taking the ZDDP out of motor oil and the effect is the loss of cam lobes on flat-tappet camshafts. A kind of planned obsolescence. Use the STP Oil Treatment for 4 cyl engines, it has enough ZDDP of the right kind.
By PWH42 - 17 Years Ago
Believe it or not,the guys that took these two engines apart kept track of the position of the lifters so they can go back where they were in relation to the cam.One of these engines has about 25,000 miles on it and the other has 40,000 original miles,so the cams are in good shape.I guess I'll toss a coin to determine which one to use.

You've pretty much verified what I thought about the valves and seats.That is take them to a machine shop and have them checked.

Thanks for the help!!!

By PF Arcand - 17 Years Ago
PWH; the cam you have marked CAF may in fact be CAB. ? Is there also an X on it? If so it's a 1964, 246 deg (advertized) cam. The ECK is a 1955, also advertized at 246 degrees. This is from a list by J.Mummert, published in YBM, issue #77. Lobe separation is the same for both & specs are very close. Unfortunately, neither is a 1957- 256 degree cam, which for whatever reason is now seemingly not readily available, as far as I know..?.. Both should be cross drilled cams, by the list ..