HA HA!! We had an emerald green 1974 Malibu wagon growing up, I don't want my El Camino sounding like the ol' wagon!The sound didn't come thru.As far as that Isky goes,it won't make anything like the overall torque,and power of the 0950,and it has a smooth idle[sounds like a station wagon motor].
Yes,the springs and pushrods have to match anytime you do a cam change.If your engines original rockers are in good shape,you'll be able to use them with that cam.DO NOT attempt to use the aftermarket stock rockers,they're JUNK,even on a stock cam and springs.
I was just out in the garage and took a few pics of the heads. When I got this car in 2004, it looked to have been gone through at some point. Looks to me like it has dual valve springs installed and they look like Comp Cam units. The heads were just gone through and I told the machine shop guy to basically just get them up to specs so I can put it back in service. I told him I wanted hardened seats as well. Thoughts on the valve springs in there? Especially as it pertains to running a 0950 cam in the engine?If you go with the 0950 I would use stiffer springs and be sure to use chromoly push rods. Ask me how I know
Without the paperwork for the springs only way to tell what they are is to have them tested. You might want to shy away from the hardened seats and just run stainless steel valves.
So say I bought these set of springs, can I just swap them out with the ones on there and be good to go? Again, I feel like a dumb ass asking these questions, since it's stuff I should've learned in high school auto shop, but I never took high school auto shop, I stuck to auto body instead.This cam will work fine in an otherwise reasonalibly stock 9.5-1 engine.Have your head guy check for about a 1.73-1.75 installed height ,with about 115-120 on the seat,and 275-290 open .Also,the max.lift when using the stock rocker ratio of 1.75-1 is .525 so that clearance needs to be verified.Those springs just might work.
And since you're going to replace those 2 piece valves[ I hope] anyway,it doesn't cost any more to go up to the 2.09 in.,1.725 ex. valves.Show Cars has them for 159.95 in all the stock 348/409 valve sizes.Your engine will love it!
I have never used one. I have my machine shop test them for me. You are correct I don't think that they pay much attention to the springs either on a normal valve job.About testing the valve springs,how do those testers that work in a vice and have a dial readout work out.I have not used one and was thinking of buying one,a customer of mine just had a valve spring problem with a small block on a set of heads that were just worked by a machine shop,i don't think they[machine shop] pay much attention to spring tension on a normal valve job.
How can you tell they're two piece valves? Is that what the "TP" stamping means?
Honestly, I was planning on assembling the short block and going from there. I will say that the top of the pistons were close to the top of the block, so I might have to figure that out once I'm there. Otherwise, I have some FelPro's that came in an engine gasket kit.If those are stock valves,or stock replacement valves,they are 2 piece valves.The material in them is incompatable with unleaded gas and will not live long,and they have a tendancy to break.Those springs that you asked about will work with the cam that we've been discussing as long as they've been set up correctly.One question is what are you doing about head gaskets,and what is the distance between the top of the piston at top dead center and the top of the block?
Good info, thanks yet again! It did have steel shim gaskets in there when I tore it down.Please do measure that.The reason being that just about all the Fel-Pros,as well as the other gaskets made now are too thick.The minimum quench area[the distance between the piston top and the cylinder head ]is about .034 but there's a maximum of no more than .060 that must be taken into account.Failure to do so will make the engine much more detonation prone.In the case of my 380,after the block decks were squared,the pistons came in at .014 down,and the only gaskets that I could get rather cheaply were about .050 and up.Show cars to the rescue as they recently bought out somebodys stock of the original steel shim gaskets which come in at .022[giving me a quench of .036].They're a little pricey at about 43.00 each,but the only other option was Cometic gaskets at .030 which come in at about 100.00 each.If your gaskets are from an older set,they may come in at .040 or so.The thing here is under no circumstances do you want more than a clearance of .055.Measure the gasket thickness and subtract .003 from the measurement to arrive at your compressed gasket thickness.Add the numbers up and see what you have.