Well, finally got most of the running issues dealt with,so yesterday was my big day on the rollers with the new engine. We made about a dozen pulls,best of the day was 351rwhp and 379tq. Of course,what a day to find out that it was breaking up at about 5000rpm and up,( I suspect/hope it is just an ignition misfire,....afr's were good ,no nasty mechanical noises) I feel that it could have been better,I'm sure I am leaving at least 1000-1500rpm on the table.............now to deal with one more niggle,

Not bad power.

Dynochart?

spark blowout from not tight enough gap, wrong heat range?

Is this the 347, Alex? You're still running my old heads & intake? How about an update on big blue?

Edit - nice numbers, too!

Update..God I am begining to hate this thing.Well Tueday..#%$@ retro link bar lifter broke....ruined a new roller cam,this is the second time I have had rlb lifter probs(a lifter collapsed within 5mins of initial startup, had to replace that,..Alexrequires cyl head removal) what with $50 head gaskets x 5,$35 intake gaskets x 3 sets, $350 roller cam, never mind the lifters themselves which were quite costly,now another bunch of $'s on new cam/lifters/pushrods. Put this together with the rear main seal leak from hell (it is on the 4th one now...last 2 were installed by Bel engines,apparently rear cap was crap...2piece rear..) in case you wondered...yes, I have had to pull the engine each time,...and I still have a leak,small..but still, all this in aprox 2,300km.I should be shot with a ball of my own sh!t for being such a sucker for punishment. Matt,sorry not your heads, ,the guides were on their way out..didnt feel like putting $'s into them,swapped them plus cash for some afr 205's,new intake too performer rpm. Anyhow....I just finished repairing it again.... Alex.

Wow, this Ford + Volvo thing sounds familiar... I feel for you, Alex, I really do.

Live and learn I guess.....now I'm deathly scared that the TFI dist from my roller block has the wrong gear on it...(steel) although Compcams tech line said I should be ok....To many threads on stripped cam/dist gear teeth for my liking.I replaced the roller s#it with flat tappet cam /lifters,apparently a cast cam should have a cast gear ?? Should have bought the engine from the guy in speedy creek,sask.....(he used to be in Calgary...has a really good rep,told me he built an engine for a guy with a black Volvo) was only marginally more expensive....at this point...way cheaper

I also feel your pain.
You know my experience with a SBF and several CompCams??? Even after "tech support" said all would work well!!! I will NEVER use another comp cam in any engine. I would suggest switching to a Crane Cam, mine has worked great

CompCam after 20 minutes

Crane went out of business, last I heard.

They reopened, last I heard

Not really. The "bank" auctioned off all the old machinery and some or most of the parts stock. The name and "some" stock was bought out by S&S Cycle, them of the cool side drafts, like Keihn flat sides but better (that'll start some fights).

Rollers>flat tappets, what the issue is, is you guys aren't ordering the -9 full steel cams, you are getting the induction hardened -8 cast core cams. Look at the last number The trick deal is a -9 and ceramic gear on the dist. Trust the guy who had a wood pallet with sides, largely full of cams like the one above, in his care... That's warranty, BTW.

I am aware that there are differant cam materials,I am sure these days, like most things, stuff is not like it used to be. I have been reading about the decline of some oils these days,at least to do with flat tappet stuff..........I will try and run whatever is best for wear additives(zddp..?) and hope for the best.On a side note here,put new lifters in, came with the cam, they are noisy sometimes not others,I can start the car cold they are good,other times they will tick for a few seconds,this happens warm to....you can shut it off for 2 or 3 seconds, restart it will be quiet half the time,the other half..powerstroke comes to mind. I am not quite sure how a lifter can bleed down so quick,... yet again I am "wrenching" ,I will try resetting them,this is getting old already. Can I have got another set of bad "ones",the Link bars lifters were at least quiet(relatively speaking) although I am now sure they are why I could not get past 5500rpm on the dyno.....no other changes,now it will pull over 6000. Ian, I ran a crane cam in my old engine,didnt give me any trouble either,put many 1000's of km on it,maybe I was just lucky I dont know.Seems to me if you start worrying about things,Murphy's Law wil kick in. Did you have the "hole in the front oil gallery plug mod" to spray on the gears done when your cams disintegrated??

Neither of us did when both our dizzy drive gears failed. I had a Crane / Trick Flow steel cam, Ian had an iron Comp cam. I was using the Explorer cam phaser (no distributor) and the stock gear on that, which was in good shape, and a high volume pump, and I know Ian was using a standard volume pump and MSD distributor, but I don't know what gear he was using.

Well......adjusted valves for 30 and 20 thou using my dial indicater,both of which are within spec (3/8-5/8 past zero)the noise is absolutely not acceptable....sounds worse than a diesel at -40. They can be quiet some of the time,and are truly bad most of the time,its almost like they bleed down while I am driving then pump up/bleed off....I bought the approved comp lifters 832-16,upon doing some research,compcams seem to be having some quality control issues with some of there products. So where do I go from here...most places here dont stock other brands(I dont know about mail ordering,as I have 18 link bar lifters to try and return=$460..good luck,... thats right I had 2 warrantied right off the bat for collapsing)I am just about done with substandard parts,I dont care if it says made in USA or not,the quality seems to be crap either ways.I did the "spray on gear mod"the last time I had the motor apart enough(which time was that....Hmmmm) so I hope that adds some life,also took out the HV pump at the same time.

The lifters didn't get noisy right after the "spray on the gear mod", did they? Is it possible they aren't seeing enough oil pressure?

I was wondering that myself..........BUT, this mod was done the first time I had the head off (after the about 15 mins of run time,when the first lbl collapsed) since then have put a couple 1000km on. The roller lifters never made noise like this,they were fine except for a link bar falling off,which is nothing to do with the internals.I am at a loss as what to do next.....