I have been searching around and found crane cams (now Howard cams) that stated they can take a camshaft core and regrind it. They state that i will have a longer duration and a higher lift profile. The thing is, I don't fully understand how grinding off more of the stock camshaft can increase duration and lift. Wouldn't the numbers be getting smaller and not bigger. Sorry to sound so stupid but I really do not understand this concept. Could someone please explain this to me?
It's perfectly reasonable to be confused. It intuitively didn't make sense to me at first either. The idea is to grind off more of the base circle (round part when the valve is closed). This way, you get a larger difference between the base circle and the peak of the lobe. The hydraulic lifters we have then pump-up more to take up the gap of the new, smaller base circle. Also, because the lifters have a small tolerance for these gaps, the cam can only be ground down so far.
If that doesn't help, you can try searching this forum or even google for a more clear explaination. I know we've discussed this several times in the past.
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That does make since. Thanks for the info on that. one other Question on that. With that part being ground off will there be more vibration it the motor or will it not even be enough to notice?
For our intents and purposes, oil is an incompressible fluid, so that shouldn't be an issue. Cam regrinds are very common.
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One other thing to add, you almost always have to get new pushrods when you have your cam re-ground to account for the smaller base circle. Since the cam gets physically shorter from the bottom of the base circle to the top of the lobe, you have to make the difference up with a longer rod.
Whalesac stated that the hydraulic lifters will just pump up a little more to take up the slack. So therefor should I still need longer pushrods? If so, can I get the longer pushrods through my cam supplier or should I just find some that are a bit longer through a parts catalog? Should i just find out how much is going to be taken off the base of the lobe and just get them exactly that much longer? Thanks for all of the input.
The "lifters pump up more" doesn't sound right to me. Hydraulic lifters are meant to operate with a specific amount of preloading.
Depending on how aggressive your cam grind is, you may be able to make up the difference with aftermarket adjustable rockers. However, getting some pushrods from Crane would ensure proper geometry, along with reducing deflection (Crane pushrods will be stiffer than stock). Approximating pushrod length as stock + amount removed from base circle is adequate.
fortune cookie say: better a delay than a disaster
Pushrods are so cheap, it isn't worth risking your cam and valvetrain. A set of 16 (you only need 8) is like 50 bucks max on Summit. If you are only adding a couple thousandths and a degree or two, the stock setup would probably be okay, but nobody does that.
If you can get shortened pushrods, that would be the way to go. I'm just talking about from an LD9 perspective here. We have no rockers or pushrods to help lash the valves.
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