ranger cam

[SVOeric]

Mike just dislikes the ranger cam, says it's not a good turbo cam, it's not.... bla bla bla, but the fact of the matter is, it works. some have even pushed their cars down the strip with 11's and 10's with the ranger roller cam.

I have not seen one single documented case of someone losing power after changing to the ranger roller cam from a stock cam. I have seen quite a few cases where people have reported gains.

It is completely true that the ranger cam is smaller lift everywhere than the stock SVO cam.

This is one of them cases where you can say how does it work; well how does a posi track on a Plymouth work, it just does.

If I had the money to spare, would I buy a ranger roller over one of BoPort's cams ? nope.. I've got a custom grind cam in my black car that will some day hit the road... and I sure wouldn't change it out for a ranger roller cam.

but for street purposes, the ranger roller cam is not a bad cam.

[BrianO]

back on topic, did you reconnect the EGR when you swapped back to the stock cam?

yes, everything is connected and it starts and idles perfectly as before. no sounds, nothing, smooth...

[BrianO]

I have not seen one single documented case of someone losing power after changing to the ranger roller cam from a stock cam. I have seen quite a few cases where people have reported gains.

lots of opinions out there I guess. Like I said, wish i had some concrete evidence. if the RR cams suck then I ask myself why is everyone installing them? I found a document with a bunch of specs on it and other cams and it does in fact show the 89-94 RR cam is smaller than both SVO cams.

I talked to Jim at Motion Dynamics the other day and he put a RR in his Merkur.. he said low end torque is good, but of course it dies at the top end. He said he likes it though.

I figure if all these people that installed them lost power they would have mentioned that.

If I had the money to spare

that's one thing I don't have..

thanks

[Eyelawdoc]

Performance wise I think a RR cam is pretty much equal to the stock 84-85 SVO cam. It does have an advantage in durability due to the roller followers. That's why I have used it in several of my cars.

[SVOeric]

the biggest thing to remember with turbo engines Brian; power is made from the turbo.
While cams may make some difference, and they can be a limiting factor,

Forced induction changes everything. While a cam may make or brake a NA engine, that's typically not going to happen with a turbo engine. (unless you do something like huge overlap)

Not saying there's not power to be made with the right cam, but just saying it's a much larger hitter in a NA engine.

I'm not sure where that info went, but I'm pretty sure someone pushed their 2.3 down the track in 10 secs with a ranger cam. my memory is sure not as good as it used to be tho. Now I'm sure Mike would say they did it in SPITE of the ranger roller, but it still did it.

[SVOeric]

What Mike said is that in a stock unmod'd engine, the RR will lose power compared to just about any cam out there.

So we've gone from every cam, to just about every cam, well I guess you're making progress...

[Horsewidower]

Is there a difference in rocker ratio between the roller and the slider?

[BrianO]

ok.. I just installed the roller cam again, with followers and the lifters that came with the cam. turning the cam manually is about impossible unless it's just because the lifters have no oil in them. also, there is zero clearance between the roller and the cam circle area.

dumb question..when shimming/trimming which it sounds like I may have to do... when you trim off the bottom to get the clearance on top by the cam and roller, aren't you also moving the body of the lifter above or below the oil hole?

Seems like if I raise or lower the lifter to come into spec with the cam/roller, then the oil hole is now raised or lowered out of range of the oil.. make sense?

Since mine is not budging and I see no clearance at all I assume mine have to be trimmed some.

[BrianO]

sorry guys, I obviously don't know enough about the 2.3 valve train to get this right. this is my daily driver so I put everything back the way it was, it's been almost a week after all and I don't have it right yet. Pretty stupid for a "bolt on" part. Once I know more about it and how to do it I'll tackle it again. I may get tired of it all and just sell the roller stuff. I searched the internet for 3 hours last night and found no documentation on how to do this on this motor.

oil feed hole...again, what if you shim or trim it how is the oil feed hole going to stay aligned? call me crazy, but if you raise or lower the body of the HLA the the oil feed hole is going to move out of alignment with the feed hole on in the bore.. correct? Yet, you state to make sure that hole is aligned. Maybe I'm missing something..which is why I'm stopping at this point.

[SVOeric]

oil feed hole...again, what if you shim or trim it how is the oil feed hole going to stay aligned?

One of the reasons Mike told you to use the lifters with the larger goove in them. if you are trimming them enough that you are getting out of the oil groove with the large-groove HLA's, you got a bad problem somewhere...

[Boport]

Excellent cut-away pics of the HLA Mike.

First off, have you drained the oil from an HLA yet (with the use of a vice) reinstalled and checked the actual clearance? In order to help we need to know that information first, so start there. It will take possibly more than 5 compressions in a vice to completely remove any oil left. You should be able to compress it with your hand and feel it mechanically bottom out when you are finished.

Bo

[BrianO]

Excellent cut-away pics of the HLA Mike.

First off, have you drained the oil from an HLA yet (with the use of a vice) reinstalled and checked the actual clearance? In order to help we need to know that information first, so start there. It will take possibly more than 5 compressions in a vice to completely remove any oil left. You should be able to compress it with your hand and feel it mechanically bottom out when you are finished.

Bo

bo the problem is I have nothing telling me what to do.. I've read through this entire thread twice and trying to put things together and cannot. If there is some sort of How-to on this then I don't know where it is. I've searched, asked, and everything else. I have a shop manual and it's not even in there. I'm not looking for opinions, I need facts on what to do.

I started this swap becase all the info here says "direct swap", "easy upgrade"...now I run into all of these issues and now other info comes out telling me it's not a direct swap or easy upgrade. If you've done this before you already know what to do, but what about those of us that haven't?

I would just like to know what exactly I need to do. Pretend I've never touched an engine and don't know what anything is or means. I've spent 5 days on this and have gotten only frustration. This should have taken me an afternoon at best.

grrrrrr
TIA

edit..not trying to make this sound sarcastic..just frustrated.

[tateg]

This isn't that hard. First, I'd make sure I had the HLAs with the wide groove. If you're not certain it might be a good idea to spend the $50 or so and buy them from Bo. This easier to do with new HLAs anyway.

1. Install the cam in the head and set it up for (rotate it to) TDC.
2. insert a (new or oil free) HLA for cyl number 1 making sure that it goes in for the intake valve which should now be on the base circle.
3. Install the roller slider.
4. using your thumb press down on the HLA and you should feel some movement.
5. insert a tappet feeler gauge between the roller on the slider and the bottom of the cam lobe (the lowest/smallest part of the lobe).
6. verify that you have .040 - .060 of clearance.
7. if you have too much add shims/too little grind off a little from the bottom of the hla.
8. repeat steps 2 thru 7 for each valve. You will have to rotate the cam to put it on the base circle of each lobe that will be checked.

PM me if you need further help. I'll shoot you my cell number.

EDIT;
If you have the wide groove HLAs don't worry about getting too far from the oil hole. They have a VERY wide groove. If you have to grind that much off, or shim that much, your valve train is FUBARed before you even start.

[BrianO]

now THAT is good info..thanks!!

so you install the HLA's totally empty? didn't know that. I bought a feeler gauge earlier so I may give this ONE more try. can't spend any more time on this. I start work very soon.

I have the wide groove ones already in there, the ones that came with the roller were the narrow ones.

from what I have seen, every one will need trimming.

I'm worried though, if I go through all of this and still doesn't work then my HLA's are screwed for the stock cam.

[BrianO]

4. using your thumb press down on the HLA and you should feel some movement.

I assume I check the clearance while the HLA is compressed with my thumb or while it's just sitting?

5. insert a tappet feeler gauge between the roller on the slider and the bottom of the cam lobe (the lowest/smallest part of the lobe).