Dropped my '56 off at Cnut's today

[55 Rescue Dog]

I always wondered why they were called poly-locks?. They are not nylocks. I would think they would be called posi-locks. Anyway, with a hydraulic cam what would be so bad with the stock lock nuts?. Never recall one loosening up, back from when that's all we had. That's the great thing about hydraulic cams, you just set once, and forget about it. Mechanical cams would be where the benefit is for posi-locks.

[chevynut]

Anyway, with a hydraulic cam what would be so bad with the stock lock nuts?. Never recall one loosening up, back from when that's all we had.

You can't get a stock locking nut down into the rocker body. Most roller rockers only have .600" to .650" for the nut. That's why they make the polylocks with a long cylindrical body and a hex on top. The top of my Scorpion polylocks sit .750" above the top of my rocker arm studs. No reason they need to be that long imo except to clear the top of the rocker. If you need a stud girdle they need to be a lot longer than that.

[markm]

I think they build them that way so you can run stud girdles, which are ran on any serious HP application which never has a juice cam.

[hutchenc]

Good news all around. I got my new short valve covers in today and just now put them on. They fit just fine, with room to spare. The tall ones are just that, too tall. These are right at 2.5" tall...I have a solid 1/2" clearance on both sides now so it does look like around 3" is the limit with the motor sitting like this. I am running a thick (reusable) valve cover gasket...it's a solid 1/4" thick.

See here for comparison.





If I ever step up from these rockers, I'll go to shaft rockers. I thought about that before, but the builder didn't think it was necessary on a motor that won't see more than 6500 RPM...that and they were another $1,000. No way a stud girdle is going to work for me.

I might media blast these valve covers to keep with the general look of the motor. Not sure I like the polished valve covers, but I wanted die cast aluminum (no painted steel). Opinions on polished vs. media blasted (to make them look more like bare die cast covers)?

[chevynut]

Good news! I think they look great polished. Blasted they will probably get dirty faster.

[hotrod]

hey lazlo its kenney i just stumbled onto this site and found this thread alot of good info in here for when i get my clip and start putting it together!
are there any updates on hutch's build i see he hasnt posted in a few days i cant wait to see how it sits when its done..

[chevynut]

Hi Kenny, welcome to the site. I don't know where Chad is with the assembly of the car right now but I know he's been slowed down with other stuff going on. His should sit the same as any of the frames we've built since it has our standard 3" front drop. My Nomad also has the 3" drop in front and you should be able to find pics of it here. Chad has the 8.8 Ford rear in his and I'm not sure what the drop is on that.

[Custer55]

hey lazlo its kenney i just stumbled onto this site and found this thread alot of good info in here for when i get my clip and start putting it together!
are there any updates on hutch's build i see he hasnt posted in a few days i cant wait to see how it sits when its done..

Check out my thread in Member Project Updates - C4 Frame project.
Pictures on the last few pages should be pretty close to where you will end up.
Brian

[hutchenc]

hey lazlo its kenney i just stumbled onto this site and found this thread alot of good info in here for when i get my clip and start putting it together!
are there any updates on hutch's build i see he hasnt posted in a few days i cant wait to see how it sits when its done..

Hi Kenney...I've been waiting on a few parts before I post another update. I just got the parts a few days ago...basically a trans mount spacer to help me get my engine angle correct. I'd already mocked it up with some random steel scrap I had laying around, but I wanted something nicer so my pop made the spacer from aluminum on his Bridgeport mill...he's busy too so it took him a while to get it done.

I don't have the front clip on the car yet, nor the hood. Once I get it all back on I'll post a picture. I can take a measurement from the bottom of the crossmember to the ground if you'd like now though (or, from the bttom of the lowest part of the frame rails to the ground). I am running adjustable coilovers on the front though so I may adjust it a bit depending on how everything measure up once the front clip is back on.

My rear is a little high right now for my liking...I'm still running leafs out back. I'll put in either a 1" or 2" drop block to lower the rear of the car.

[pa2000xxxx]

Good morning. I met with Laszlo yesterday--great guy. He told me you had done most of the OEM mods before going to his c4 clip and you weren't happy with the performance. I'm on the fence about spending the money for the c4 versus ordering a bunch of performance parts and updating frame. Can you talk to me about your opinion on the bolt on mods? I can call you if that's better. Thanks.