I have bit the Bullet!

Jeff, you stole my idea! Which AFR's are you going with, 185's? Im sure they will scream. Did you get the water passages anodized? I assume you went with the heads that are machined for stud mount rockers?

Cam Research will build a cam to any spec you want- I got the impression that pretty much all their cams are custom. Roller would be nice, but then you get into the added expense of machining the block or adding $$$ tie-bar lifters.

Roller roller roller ... cant say it enough, boat engines need rollers

GottaSki wrote: Wow, but if you are going custom, why not go roller cam?

Honestly I talked to them about a roller cam last winter but it seems as though from what I remember it was going to be more work than I wanted to bite off at the present time as well as cost/benefit factor. As TRBenj mentioned above there was some extra work on either the block and/or the tie bar lifters that were pricey. Cam research was not knocking the roller cam at all but they really were not pushing it either on this application to be honest. I was also stretching my budget for this project but I was open to there suggestions. Cam research strongly advised me if I had to cut any part of this project out to cut out roller lifters/roller cam and roller rockers if I had too but get the good heads up front. These heads could grow into a 408 c.i. stroker if necassary with minimal work and be great. I was considering a less expensive head with roller lifters/cam/rockers at one point but again they advised to cut the roller lifters/cam and get roller rockers if I could swing it and the AFR heads would never out grow a 351W for this particular application. So I got everything they recommended except the roller cam but the engine has 680 hours so probably what I'll do is in the future when I rebuild the engine I will look at a roller cam/lifters and maybe a larger bore which will probably be way out in the future (hopefully).

p/allen wrote: what the heck does That's not a Snow Cone that's my Ring!" mean

It is kind of an inside joke...it's from a Rap song meaning that he is not holding a Snow Cone that is round with all of the ice crystals shining but a very large diamond ring on his finger with lots of Bling.

JR vic, i just like spending other peoples money,

eric lavine wrote: JR vic, i just like spending other peoples money,

I'm with you...in the back of my mind now I am wondering if I am going to be your customer. I need to look at my notes but with the current engine combination I am running it will probably be close or slightly above the 400 H.P. mark. Are the 1.23 transmissions still reliable at that HP rating?

reidp wrote: After reading this thread, I sense that my wife is not going to be very happy with me. Thanks a lot guys. (stargasimicly spoken)(sic)

there's that word again. I think it ought to be copyrighted.

to just anodize the water passages is a major hassel since you would have to mask everything else off except the water jacket, not very practical. Anodizing is basicly dipping them in to an acid solution and the amount of masking would be just too much to do

See it's more than just the passage that gets anodized anyway.

JR, they put them behind 502's, I get alot of calls regarding can my transmission handle the horsepower... in theory all the horsepower is absorbed at the prop so if you had a 13x 13 with 200 horsepower in front of it you could actually put 10000 horsepower in front of that same prop and you would see no change in speed. in your case JR if your not re-propping the transmission will not notice the extra horsepower, you wont twist shafts or break shafts or anything like that.
Its when you start thinking my boat does
46 and i want it to go 66 and thats when the horsepower starts to matter because now you put a prop on the boat that requires lets say 350 horsepower to turn the new prop to achieve that 66 mph

Update on the project. Here are a few pics...

Brian,

I remember talking to you. Glad you finally got the heads and cam sold. I ended up going with the AFR aluminum heads and a custom grind Cam Research camshaft with a new billet double timing chain, roller rockers, beefy push rods, AFR head bolts, rocker studs. I should have it running this weekend. It has taken alot longer than I expected due to work, family vacation, minor surgery, etc. There has also been numerous challenges along the way that slowed the process down. I'll have more details after this week end. More pics...

Thanks!

Those roller rockers look sweet. To bad you have to cover them up with valve covers. Would be nice if they made some clear valve covers.

nuttyskier2002 wrote: You have a SWEET buildup there! I know you are very anxious to get it fired up this weekend. Hey, are those Polk speakers you have mounted in your side panels? If not they look very similar. Great quality and sound. I just got my tower mounted last weekend and am getting a set of Polk Momo 6x9's and a pair of fiberglass tower mount enclosures for them. Will be under going my engine mods when fall rolls around. My Vortec heads and Weiand intake are ready. I'll be ordering my cam and all the gaskets very soon. Don't forget to take some pics of your maiden voyage. Brian

Those are Polk Momo's. When we installed them the original hole was too large and my installer made a round plexiglass filler plate that is chrome and it filled in the hole nicely. Here's a pic...