Does anybody know of a aftermarket BBF camshaft or crankshaft that would fit a 430? Let me introduce myself. I am new here. People call me JC and I own a 1960 Tbird with a 430 (J code). I live in Brooklyn, NY. I am thinking about having someone rebuild my 430 in this area. Pointers are welcome. I know Green Bay advertises .060 over-bored pistons for the 430. They also sell a regrind camshaft. Anybody has even tried them? I am thriled to find a MEL forum.
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.....I'm not aware of any aftermarket crank shafts for the MEL. The orig. cranks are strong enough for almost any application IMO.
Congrats for your T-Bird, that's a rare one. It should run very strong w. a 430. I think there's nothing really needed to give this combo more performance since this land jacht needs all torque it can get from the well designed moderately small orig. cam.
Good luck w. your project. Any pics you can show us?
regards
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If you want more power, you might consider putting a 462 into the BIRD. The cranks can also be offset ground to achieve 500 plus cubic inches.
The cam and crank are MEL specific so you would most likely have to have a current cam regound to performance specs. At one time ISKY offered cams for the MEL. I have heard CROWER can grind a cam for it, but have not researched it yet.
I don't know about the cam on E-Bay as no manufacturer or warranty is mentioned. As for the other, it is most likely a stock regrind for OEM replacement.
You need to speak with specific cam manuafacturers about their ability/willingness to grind a cam for you. They will get together with you to discuss how far you want to go and how much you are willing to spend. A lot also depends if anyone has any new blanks available. If not, a regrind of a stock cam is the only option.
Use a search engine for ISKY, CRANE, COMPETITION CAMS and CROWER for a start. MEL came through with hydraulic tappet cams so any type of upgrade is going to cause a resultant upgrade in the valvetrain. It all needs to be planned out.
Thanks again, Kultulz. I found a machine shop and they quoted a good price to regrind my cam. They will be doing the engine rebuild including over-boring. Speaking of boring, the psitions in a 430 is 4.3 and the pistons in a 462 is 4.38. Can I use the pistions from a 462? Also, the cranks on the 462 produce longer stroke. Can those cranks be used on a 430?
The engine is my focus on the Bird right now. Besides that, I already have the front end rebuilt, installed front disc brakes, installed Crane Hi-6 electronic igition, converted the 35 amp generator to a 135 amp alternator for the electronic ignition and electric fans.
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Regrinding a cam is usually a clean up of the lobes........
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May 20 2004, 5:59 PM
.....in regard of reconditioning its' functional architecture. IMO this should only be performed with a severely worn camshaft that can't be obtained from any source.
First of all, one should take into consideration that the grinding process will take off the hardening surface of the cam and therefore make it less durable on the long run.
The cam itself will naturally have to let go some beef which translates into less lift and duration.
I'm not aware of a shop that can weld some additional material on the lobes. It would take some high skill plus technology to allow welding cast iron. I've seen a German report that shows how it is done. The job will be very prizy and probably won't justify this kind of action.
Those so called custom order grinds that the major brands like Comp Cams offer are only based on popular engine blanks. If they don't have the blank or if you can't provide them w. a blank then they won't be able to help you.
Finding a MEL cam blank is much like a "finding a needle in the hay" task I guess.
Finding an orig. replacement cam isn't a big deal. I once stumbled over an offer, but can't remember where it was.
If you jc need to know more about it, I can try to get back to it,..just let me know.
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I think the shop is going to change the events on the cam. The shop was trying to provide ways of performance improvement. I told them there is no aftermarket cams available. Sounds like they have done this for customers when aftermarket cams is not an option. My understanding of cam regrind for performance is taking out a thin layer of the base so that relatively, the lobes can produce more lift. I guess the vales need to be adjusted also. This is a just theory to me and I am not all too sure about the detailed geomotry and the outcome. But the shop makes it sound they have done this many times before. I found this on the web about cam regrind.
Good luck on your project. I had my motor done a few years back and found out later what they did wrong, making my motor use oil.
You should ask your shop if they will be "plate honing" your motor and finishing your block with a plateau honing procedure. Also, the piston rings should be long lasting moly-coated. This will give you the best result for a well-sealed up, smokefree motor.
The other problem I had was a bad valve guide procedure. They nurled the valve guide in because it was cheap to do, but it was a bad idea. Most economy rebuilders use this technique. The proper way is to bore and install a new properly clearanced valve guide with a proper teflon valve seal.
Hope this helps.
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At one time there were available special plates that allowed proper boring and honing. I doubt if very many of these are left as new boring techniques negated their use.
There are companies that fabricate honing plates and I was thinking of having a set made.
I think I will make a call to Holman-Moody Mon. morning and see if they still have any of the special machine tools available.
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These odd honing plates would probably cost a $...
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May 22 2004, 2:45 PM
....I once had a co make my FE plates as I figured that this way it would pay off since the shipping cost would be stiff. The good thing is that they made them from my specifications. They are about 2 1/2 inch thick and made from steel, not aluminum.
Here's one of my FE projects with it on top. I think it would be way cool to have MEL plates, but how often do you need them in life? I payed 300 $ for the FE plate.
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....I didn't want to talk them out. It's just that I think that it quite costly especially since you're not gonna use them that often. Let us know how they look like once you got them. I'm curious
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I talked to the guy from the machine shop and he told me they only do plate honing. They also worked with a cam shop that has access to Isky's archive to find the profiles of the cams Isky marketed in the 60's. Pretty knowledgable and nice people. I bought some NOS valve quides from eBay. I am going to get the pistons from EGGE and they should have good piston rings.
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Sounds like you found a good quality machine shop. I live south of Albany and I might consider redoing my motor there if you have a good experience even though it's a bit far for me.
My motor smokes like it's spraying for mosquitoes, so I've stopped showing or driving my car because that's all people look at or talk about when they see it. Embarrassing. My rebuild cost me a good chunk of change, too!
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I will let you know how it goes. The shop is called R-E-D Engines and they are located in Brewster, NY. That shouldn't be too far from Albany. It's about 70 miles nort of NYC. They advised on Hemmings sometimes.
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I KNOW ITS BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU POSTED . I WAS WANDERING IF YOU STILL HAVE THE ORGINAL PISTONS OUT OF YOUR 430 60 BIRD. IF SO I NEED 2 LEFT SIDE STANDARD PISTONS CASTING NUMBER ON THEM IS B9LE6111A EMAIL ME @ dcraver@bellsouth.net thanks
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The block is bored .060 over. Will you bore out the cylinders? The rebuild for my 430 is not officially started yet. I had a bad block, and it took me a long while to find a good block. Looks like now I have everything I need for the rebuild. Let me know if you need those pistons.
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