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Dear Jack.....I just bought a 74 Pantera # 6434, it has the XE1 block, fuel injection, Haltech, Weber throttle bodies, non-roller solid lifter cam, And a full Mind Train super loud exhaust system. The valve train sports: 4V heads, Crower Enduro stainless roller rockers at 1.73 ratio with 7/16ths screw in studs, 3/8 push rods with guide plates, the valves are single groove retainer type with double springs with the harmonic third spring and I see a bit of purple color on the bottom of the springs. I have measured the total Exhaust valve lift to be .574 and total Intake lift at .560. I measured this by setting the lash to zero and then taking the measures of the valves closed and then at total open from the top of the valve spring retainers/cups (bumping the motor over to do so). I do not know who makes the cam or it's part#. I plan on taking the front end apart to be checked this winter. The previous owner said he had the same problem, but that he set the lash for intakes and exhaust to .028 When I opened the valve covers and checked the lash on a cold motor I found the lash to be between .022 to .026, with a trend of the intakes at .024 and the exhaust at .026 And yes, driving it home 1400 miles after the purchase sounded like we were being chased by noisy beetles from the valve and injector clatter and then followed by the thunder of the Gods from the exhaust pipes. The local Go fast shop tells me to set both intakes and exhausts to the same lash at the .020 to .022 range. The motor runs very lopy up to about 3500 rpm and then it cleans up and screams smoothly past 6500 and then I back off before it hits the MSD rev limiter. I believe this motor has less than 20,000 miles on it. So my question is.....in your experience, what do you think is a safe valve lash setting for this motor. Thanks in advance................Doug.H
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Doug,
Did you buy this car from Jack Tunnel? There is no exact right lash setting but I would go for .018-.020 on the intakes and .022-.025 on the exhausts. The tighter you set them the more camshaft overlap and duration you end up with. An old drag race tuning trick was to tighten or loosen the lash some in order to dial in more or less bottom end.
You've sorta answered your own question. The engine seems more comfortable running around 0.020-0.022" according to your story. Lengthening the lash slightly decreases the duration and the lift, and tightening it does the reverse. The cam specs and 3/8" pushrods & rocker studs tends to point to an engine that was made to really spin some serious rpms. You need to find a mfgrs mark on your cam so you can ask them what they intended; some put it on the end of the last journal (you'll need to remove the cam to see this), some in between the cam lobes. Practically speaking, ANY lash will more-or-less work, but too loose makes mucho noise & beats up the valve stem tips & rockerarm rollers, and not-quite-enough will potentially burn the valves & hurt performance. The outside might be the old Duntov '30-30' for '60s 'Vettes (0.030" lash) And don't worry too much about ultimate precision, either- most sharp mechanics can't consistently set valves closer than about +- 0.002".
Hello Forrest.G...and yes that would be the car, I am currently sorting it out. Thanks for the help, will you be going to POCONO?

Jack.D....Perhaps I mis-spoke, the reference to .020 to .022 was suggested by the local Speed shop, this is also the guy who tells me that I should set both the Intake and the exhaust to the same lash spec, that being .020 to .022. He sites that they are set the same the as "it's the Head that expands and not so much the difference in the valve expansion". I also get others who tell me that the "old" solid cams go around .028 to .030 and that the "new" solid cams go for settings around .018 to .22. I think that based on all the noise that heard at .024 to .026, I will take your advise of both you guys and go down a little more and set at .022 and .026. On a different note I happened to have found a Detomaso factory certified mechanic right here in N.J. He actually has a Certificate from the Factory....did Detomaso actually certify guys in American? And thanks for the help with the valve lash......Doug.H
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