Just a word of warning. We were just dyno testing a set of the Crane/FRPP
hydraulic roller link bar lifters on the dyno and several of them came apart.
We caught it while swapping out the intake for a test but a couple of the
cam lobes were damaged in the process (custom Bullet hydraulic roller). We
pulled out a pair from the dyno mule 351C and it's apparent what the problem
is. The pins that retain the link bars to the lifter body were not swedged
properly and the pins backed out. On the good ones, the button diameter is
0.287" while the unpeened set measure 0.195".
My guess is these were some of the last ones made by Crane before going out
of business and were never finish machined.
Some additional info below.
Dan Jones
> Remember how I was hearing new lifter noise on my engine????
Some of that is common. Roller rockers make some noise and the
link bars clack a bit.
> I had better pull my intake to be sure! It was leaking oil anyway....
Yes. I spoke with Dave about the oil seepage and he recommended
removing the turkey pan. It's main purpose is to protect the oil
from the cross-over heat which your intake and heads don't have.
> What do I do if I pull mine apart and find problems????
You'll need to back off the rocker arms and pull the lifters to
inspect as the swedging is on the opposite side from the link bars.
If the pins are not swedged, the tips of the pins will need to be
mushroomed, either by a hammer blow or by deforming in a press.
You could also weld a bead of stainless on the end.
Orville's came apart quickly. The engine had been run in and the
initial timing and jetting set. When we pulled the first intake
manifold off to try another, several of the link bars were disconnected
and the pins were sitting in the valley. Luckily, all were all present
and accounted for. With Orville's smaller carb (700 CFM), iron 2V
heads and the first intake installed, the engine seemed to run well
and made right at 440 HP (corrected) through the mufflers, fairly close
to the prediction (the initial prediction was higher but assumed the
dyno HP950 carb). Oddly, the engine was not noisy. If yours have come
apart, you'll need to inspect the cam lobes for damage.
I had another set of FRPP/Crane lifters in the parts bin and they were
not swedged either. Dave is going to experiment on one of Orville's
bad lifters to see how best to mushroom the tip. While we were in Reno,
one of the Reno Pantera owners mentioned he had a Crane link bar lifter
failure. I bet he had the same problem. The ones in the 351C dyno mule
are older and were properly assembled.
We are using the Mallory steel alloy distributor gear on this engine
since the Accel distributor supplied has a 0.490" shaft and the Crane
gear is only available in 0.500" and 0.531". In any event, the Mallory
gear looked good and showed no signs of wear.
I'm going to cc my reply to the list as some of this may be of use to
others. While disappointing, we caught the problem quickly so the damage
was limited to the cam and lifters. The engine will be disassembled and
cleaned to make sure there's no debris floating around. This is another
good lesson from the dyno program to save others trouble down the road.
Erson lists link bar retrofit hydraulic roller lifters for the 351C and
we're going to order a set for evaluation. So far, only the Cranes would
work in all of the Cleveland blocks with a standard base circle cam.
Dan Jones
Original Post