Hi guys, I`m new to this board.

Read this question on hydraulics, and 2 replies. Maybe you can help me with figurein a way outta the mess I got myself into, due to lack of experience with the slant 6.

The car I`ll be referin to is a `72 Plymouth Gold Duster (red)with around 15K original miles (garage kept it`s whole life). Was my mother`s car from new, and I owned it from `84 until this year. I decided it was time, since I`m now gittin older (59), and my main hobby interest is with motorcycles, to pass it on to my nephew. He`s 47, not terribly mechanicaly inclined, but takes good care of his stuff.

He wanted to do a dress up/ mild hop up to the origional 6 (225 S6 with auto and air)(I wanted to do this for years, but never got around tuit). I`ve been reading info for quite a while on different methods for mild hop up, and said I`d help him order parts and such. He has an excellent mechanic to do the mechanical work, but the S6 hop up is new to him, as well.

This story`s gettin pretty long, so I`ll cut to the details. Have an Offenhauser 4 barrel manifold, new 390 Holly, Clifford headers, Offy alum valve cover, hi performance electronic distributor (can`t recall name right now), had head cut .080, AND clifford hydraulic cam (hi torque model) with cam kit.

Herein lies the problem (thought clifford`s would have been more help). The `72 is solid, and my thought was to go to hyd for ease of maintance and quieter motor. I figured since the cam and kit was ordered from a 6 expert, should be a bolt in...........WRONG!! Cam and lifters are in, but the pushrods (part of cam kit) are too long. Called clifford`s, not much help, they said the solids and hyd lifters were same length. Well, they`re right, in a way.......body length the same, but hyd has diff length from face to pushrod....... .280 longer!

This, + solid pushrods (where`s the oil come from), leads me to believe I`ve FU!!! I would have thought clifford`s would have, or should have, been able to tell me, when I called with the problems,,,,,,,,what to do, or at least a "this won`t work". Last discussion I had with them was either custom pushrods (they would refund price of thier pushrods when I return), or they will exchange cam and lifters for a solid cam.

I would like to run hyds, but if it`s not feasable, I`ll go solid.

What do you all think!!

Bob

Keep it solid.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Stay Mechanical. Does Clifford even sell a performance hyd cam? I'd call Reed cams in GA.

Solid adjust: Adjust hot and running. Use a good 12 point box wrench to do it and don't worry about the oil squirting, just lay a towel on the fender.

The quiet is really the only reason to go hydraulic. Slants aren't like brit cars- once you get the valve lash set right, they'll hold it for many thousands of miles.

Going hydraulic isn't a big deal either (see this thread http://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14492 )- basically you need a hydraulic grind cam which should also have a full circle groove on the cam bearing that feeds oil to the rocker shaft. Then you need hydro rockers and hollow pushrods to feed the oil back down to the lifters.

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Thanks for the help guys! Sounds like the best and easiest way to go would be to exchange the hyd cam & lifters for a solid one.

Staying with the hyd setup sounds like more trouble than it`s worth, givin I`d have to come up with rockers for a hyd setup and pushrods with the oil holes. I`m also questioning whether the cam I now have does, in fact, have the needed oil groove........it`s already in, and would have to be pulled to verify. I`m not comfortabe with the mixin an matching of parts, with the hope that it works.

What do you think of Cliffords products and service? I`d have to say, I`m less than thrilled with the after the sale advise I rec`d when I called with my probs! As for thier "hyd cam kit", it would not have worked with the later models that came with hyds stock........the pushrods they sent were solid, not having the needed oil holes to supply the lifters.

Thanks again for the advise. It appears this forum is much like my motorcycle forums, ya get tips and "what works and what doesn`t", from people that have "been there, done that", real world experience!

Bob

Never heard much good about clifford, but at least they make some stuff for us...

I'd be real careful about buying anything from someone claiming to be a slant six expert. Even the gurus like Doug Dutra are not prone to proclaim themselves "expert".

At least clifford is trying to support slant six. Good thing this forum exists to fill in the blanks.

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1980 Aspen 225 super six