camshaft

[kendak]

does anyone know of a machine shop that will regrind a L134 cam for a little more lift & duration ?...thanks for any help ...Kent

[rocketeer]

Waste of time and money. There is minimal clearance between valves and the head so attempting to increase lift could result in catastrophic failure. Duration would put more mixture into the cylinder but the compression isn't there to take advantage of it and the carb isn't calibrated to provide it. What would you expect to gain?

Larry

[kendak]

Vic Hickey was getting 15 to 20 more HP. out of this little engine with a reground cam & some porting with a shaved head back in the 50's....EX. valves are replaced with In. & the shaved head will raise comp. to 7.75:1...besides you can offset bore with custom pistons & get the piston above deck in the comb. chamber for compression.....find & read Hot Rod mag. Jan. 1953....I build antique pulling tractor engines & am always on the hunt for HP. & besides it's my jeep !! ....thanks for the help.....Kent �

[RussellL]

This may be a silly question, but is it possible to increase the lift or duration of the valves by taking MORE metal off of the cam? �I'd think you would have to have a different cam that is shaped differently with taller lobes to open the valves farther than stock. �

[rocketeer]

Son I was building and racing engines before you were born. Don't need to find and read old magazines. You asked about grinding a cam, nothing more, and I gave you my opinion based on the question asked. Now if you want to do everything on the list you just provided, and dump several grand into an antique engine while doing it, yes, you can gain 15-20hp. Not much gain for the money spent but hey, it's your jeep.

RussellL - If you grind off metal on the low sides of the cam lobes and leave the high point alone, then adjust the lifters to make up the difference the effect will be a higher lift. If you grind some off the low sides and also grind the top off the lobe the effect will be a greater duration. The problem is the cam needs to be re-hardened because of the mushroom lifters or the lobes will wear off in a jiffy since the hardened surface was ground away. Not many shops will tackle it and it wouldn't be cheap.

Larry

[kendak]

don't get your panties in a wad Rocket...was just trying to find someone that does just jeep cams..I have a grinder friend that operates Bullit Cams in Memphis who will do the work ...BTW I overhauled my first GPW in 1962 & was born 7-21-1948 & don't think you were building anything before 48....these little engines were used in swamp buggy racing back in the late 50's so old racing mag. are a great source of info... �

[Carls_jeep]

I did all of what you mention and more, much more, to a Ford flat head in the '50's. Yep, you can do it all. You don't have to stroke it because it's already a long stroke. Find a cam shop to grind it for the power curve you want. You can bore it out into the water jacket and sleeve it, then put oversize valves in and relieve the area between the valves and cylinders, Grind out and polish the intake and exhaust ports for more flow. Surface the head and flycut it for the valves. Get a set of popup pistons or deck the block so they stick up out of the bore and dome the head for the piston clearance.

Then you can make a dual carb manifold and split the exh header for dual pipes. The next thing is to rework the distributor for a good advance curve.

It could be a fun experiment but I suggest doing it with a second engine and keeping your original engine.

[rocketeer]

don't get your panties in a wad Rocket...was just trying to find someone that does just jeep cams..I have a grinder friend that operates Bullit Cams in Memphis who will do the work ...BTW I overhauled my first GPW in 1962 & was born 7-21-1948 & don't think you were building anything before 48....these little engines were used in swamp buggy racing back in the late 50's so old racing mag. are a great source of info... �

Nobodies panties are in a wad. Not quite 1948 but I was building and racing flatheads in the 1950's. Heck I was married before you did your first jeep. As I said before, it's your jeep and your money. Do what you want but don't be upset when performance doesn't meet your expectations. If you did everything in the book to a 134ci, 60hp flathead four and gained even 20hp you'd still only have 80 hp. Seems like minimal return for maximum investment but hey, have at it.

Larry

[kendak]

thanks Carl ; I'm just trying to get a little more HP because the OD unit pulls the motor down quite a bit....have 4 or 5 motors to work with but all mods. have to be internal because it is a restoration in progress on a orginal M38 with the water fording option [issue date 4-52]..a cam regrind to move the torque curve with intake valves in ex. holes & head rework to get CR in the 8:1 range ought to be enough...thanks for the help ...Kent

[Carls_jeep]

Well, you can do the cam and pull the pistons and relieve the block between the pistons and valves. Then mill the head and flycut it for the valves if needed. You don't have to use popup pistons to get that comp ratio.

Porting the intake/ exhaust ports and giving them a swirl finish will help and lot along with the relieving job. Put a larger exhaust pipe on it too with a low pressure muff.

You will have to have the distributor advance curve recalibrated for all this to work right.

The WO carb is easy to make rich or lean so that's not a problem. Richen it up until the plugs are a medium dark tan. Your fuel mileage will suffer since they only get about 15 mpg now. You may only get 8 to 12 mpg after the mods.

[rocketeer]

You want something like this! �:)

http://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/twin-carb-intake-for-l-head_topic17543.html




or this:

http://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/car-craft-magazine-supercharged-l134_topic17446.html?KW=super



Larry

[kendak]

thanks Larry !....thats what I'm looking for...do you think the "correct police " will allow that in my M38 at a MV show ?? LOL...take care ...Kent

[Redrockman]

 Wow. did i miss something here? must be great to have all those extra motors/time/money to play with, are the bottom ends strong enough to handle the mods?

[kendak]

well I don't know about the time & money thing but when I do something I do it right.... I'm 63 with heart trouble working two jobs & taking care of a disabled wife....jeeps are easy to find here in Miss. since 4-wheelers came out....I know where there are two CJ2A's running for $1200 for the pair & a CJ3B running with PTO winch for $600 & a running CJ6 with �metal cab & orginal V6 engine & PTO winch for $500 all within 15mi. of my house...military vehiciles are the ones that are near impossable to find

[Redrockman]

Wasn't trying to give you a hard time, and after you telling me about the abundance of Willy's stuff in your neck of the woods that's great �;)

 Here in N. AZ almost Utah most jeeps are the ones driving thru...... except for a few owned by us "loco's" er i mean locals Wonder how much shipping is for some of that stuff out here??

Glad you find time for this hobby, it help keep me sane during the slow times �:)