Centerbolt valve covers and stud girdles.

[WayFast84]

I'm in the process of putting the valvetrain back together and I have a set of stud girdles I want to put in. I know I need tall valve covers for it but some places are saying I can't use girdles with centerbolt covers even if they are tall. Has anyone ran them? Will I need to get the adapters and just run regular covers? Has anyone ran adapters? Any problems?

I'm also thinking about ordering the proform 2 piece covers if I have to run standard covers so if you have experience with them let me know.

[Featherburner]

Get a girdle for center bolt heads. Do not get adapters to convert to perimeter bolt valve covers. They are nothing but trouble and leaks.

[Paul Huryk]

While I haven't seen girdles for center bolt heads, they may be out there. Another option is to get larger rocker studs to help with stability if you can't run the girdles.

[LTb1ow]

Is this a SBC gen 1 issue?

I have never heard of a rocker stud bending enough to warrant such stuff in LT1 land. Get some 7/16 ARP hardware and be done.

[BonzoHansen]

Are you building a 7000rpm race motor?

[WildBillyT]

Moroso used to make something. PN 67040.

It is no longer available and you'd have to find a set used.

[conlinj]

The problem is the girdles occupy the same space as the tubes for the valve covers. Do you have screw in or press in studs? Honestly you really shouldn't need a stud girdle on a street motor

[sweetbmxrider]

He thinks the stud girdle will prevent him from snapping studs.

[WayFast84]

I'm just trying to get a reliable motor here. I have screw in studs, downgraded to 1.5 rockers and I had the girdles sitting here.

I've looked at the wear on the valve stems and the pushrods don't seem to be long, 1 is long and the other seem short based on the wear. The wear is also not straight across.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by WayFast84

I'm just trying to get a reliable motor here. I have screw in studs, downgraded to 1.5 rockers and I had the girdles sitting here.

I've looked at the wear on the valve stems and the pushrods don't seem to be long, 1 is long and the other seem short based on the wear. The wear is also not straight across.

Are they all the same length? When you roll them on a table do they appear flat?

Are your Vortecs modified for the 1.6's? One of the reasons I am not running them is because I didn't want to deal with opening up the slot.

[WayFast84]

I was not aware that the pushrod holes had to be elongated when I had the heads machined and I'm not sure if the machinist new what ratio arms I had or not which is why I got new ones.

That was one main issue that I was worried about the other was that I supplied valve springs that didn't require the guides to be machined, he didn't use them and supplied his own for some reason. Would a respectable machine shop check the clearence of this stuff or is it possible that the valve guides weren't cut?

I really appreciate all the help and ideas from all of you.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by WayFast84

I was not aware that the pushrod holes had to be elongated when I had the heads machined and I'm not sure if the machinist new what ratio arms I had or not which is why I got new ones.

That was one main issue that I was worried about the other was that I supplied valve springs that didn't require the guides to be machined, he didn't use them and supplied his own for some reason. Would a respectable machine shop check the clearence of this stuff or is it possible that the valve guides weren't cut?

I really appreciate all the help and ideas from all of you.

I think some heads may need it and others may not. Depends on the castings.

If you can, pull a valve cover and post a pic of a valve spring and also your pushrod holes. Post a pic of the head where you broke a stud as well. From my understanding if you run a cam above .480 on Vortec heads with a regular valve spring and no head modifications you are taking a big gamble on clearance. Somebody more experienced can jump in if I'm off base here.

I think I can speak for more than myself when I say a few pics would go a long way.

[WayFast84]

From Nastyz28. I had supplied the crane dropins. The box that he gave me back with my old parts(I'm assuming were the springs he installed). Are PSILS111ML springs and a quick search shows the specs are PSI 1.290 Beehive, max lift .625, 130#@ 1.800

Great, I'm interested in Vortec heads, but am concerned about retainer to guide clearance. What can be done about this, and, are there any places I can buy Vortecs already modified for use with high-lift camshafts?

Good question, easy answer.

Scoggin-Dickey sells Vortec heads already correctly modified for use with high-lift performance camshafts. They also sell a complete kit which has the modified Vortecs, intake manifold (Edelbrock Vortec), rocker arms, etc to basically bolted on your existing short block.

Sallee Chevrolet has an interesting solution to this problem (from their website):

The Sallee Chevrolet solution is to use Crane Cam’s 10309-1 drop-in valve spring and retainer kit which is good for .550” lift with no machining. The installed height for this Crane Cams kit is taller and the lower part of the retainer is shorter. The “AVERAGE” clearance between the retainer and seal is .575” for this kit. We have found that some of the Vortec heads, coming from the factory, do not have the valve seals driven on all the way. You need to check that they are before installing this kit. If they need to be driven on all the way, we have found that a 3/8” drive - 1/2” socket fits the valve seal just about perfect.As with all modifications to performance engines though, you should always measure to assure that there is proper clearance and fit.

Comp Cams sells a tool that will cut down the size of the Vortec valve guide and is around $50 or so.

Another method is the infamous Vortec retainer "ghetto grind". If the camshaft being used only requires a stock 1.25" diameter single-wound valvespring, it is possible to only need to grind off approximately 3/32" off the bottoms of the stock Vortec retainers with a grinder or on a grinding wheel to achieve enough R-G clearance to run up to approximately .530" -.540" safely. I must caution here that R-G clearance must ALWAYS be checked to verify that there is in fact enough clearance - also include allowing for coil bind. One other thing - you must remove the dampner in this modification. Don't worry -- the stock Vortec valveguide being much larger in diameter than other SB heads will act as sort of a dampner and I never noticed any RPM issues related to lack of running one when I did this mod. Although myself and others who have done it this way have had no problems, I must caution this basically for those on a strict budget and cutting down the guides either with the Comp tool or at a machine shop is the best way to go. However, I'm of the opinion that since it works well within the noted constraints, then you're really only out your time to grind down the retainers. The choice is yours.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by WayFast84

From Nastyz28. I had supplied the crane dropins. The box that he gave me back with my old parts(I'm assuming were the springs he installed). Are PSILS111ML springs and a quick search shows the specs are PSI 1.290 Beehive, max lift .625, 130#@ 1.800

He may have just grabbed a random box off of his shelf to throw your parts in. You are SURE you don't have beehives on there now?

[WayFast84]

I couldn't really get any good pictures because of the reflection. Hope this is somewhat insightful http://imgur.com/a/1e6SM

[conlinj]

I would get a length checker and make sure you have the right length pushrods before you buy anything else. How much do you know about the bottom end? Was it decked? were the heads milled? what head gasket is on it? I don't believe those are beehive springs either

[conlinj]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

He thinks the stud girdle will prevent him from snapping studs.

I figured that, But that won't fix the problem, it will just find out the next weakest link (rocker, pushrod, lifter, all of the above). I know his frustration level is high with this car, hate to see him go all through this, throwing parts at it, and not fixing it. Nothing about this motor should break a stud unless it was held at 7k+ for a long time or the studs were made in Malaysia. My guess, its the wrong parts combination.

[conlinj]

Originally Posted by WayFast84

I'm just trying to get a reliable motor here. I have screw in studs, downgraded to 1.5 rockers and I had the girdles sitting here.

I've looked at the wear on the valve stems and the pushrods don't seem to be long, 1 is long and the other seem short based on the wear. The wear is also not straight across.

Take a sharpie and color in the top of the valve stems, rotate the motor a few times and you will see the wear pattern clearly.

[conlinj]

See if you can get a pick of the guides/seals behind the springs as well.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by conlinj

I would get a length checker and make sure you have the right length pushrods before you buy anything else. How much do you know about the bottom end? Was it decked? were the heads milled? what head gasket is on it? I don't believe those are beehive springs either

Yeah, neither do I.

WF said he's measuring pushrod length next. No way should this thing be busting studs.

[WayFast84]

I'm going to check the length of the pushrods before I do anything else to the motor. Since I'm basically retarded with cars I'm using these methods. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmzbHgVY3cI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ROU7D-6meY

Before I order this does anyone have a checker I could borrow or swing by with? Beer is on me.