Amici...
A detailed description of what happened during the development of GT40 lifters
in TR engines.
>From Kevin Potter, Beady Eye?s mechanic.
Bill Dentinger
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Kevin Potter <kdplep at gmail.com>
> Date: November 16, 2017 at 7:53:45 PM PST
> To: Bill Dentinger <billdentin at aol.com>
> Subject: Re: [Fot] GT40 lifters
>
> Bill,
> The cam bearings we put in the freezer to contract the outside diameter to
> aid in installing the into the block. The lifters had a slight "slopiness' in
> clearance, to allow for lubrication, so they pretty much just fell into
> place!!
>
> Symptoms varied. The lifter and cam hardness, needed to be matched. I do not
> know the metallurgy that was needed between the 2, (Bob did!) but the
> aftermarket available parts didn't get along all the time. Ken deducted the
> soft lifters were the cause most of the time, and came up with the ones he
> would supply to us. The first symptoms would come up when you did a valve
> lash check, and you found one, or several, valves having an abnormally wide
> clearance, In extreme cases, you probably felt a loss of performance. If the
> lifters were soft, the wear was on the lifter. Too hard, or in some cases,
> soft cam grinds, the cam lobes would be worn off. Either way, the damage
> could be extensive. An oil sample would indicate metal in the oil, from the
> cam lobe, or lifter base, basically being worn off. The cams, and some
> lifters' were a ground, machined, casting, not billet, so they were extremely
> fine "grindings' that would not be trapped by the oil filter. Once through
> the filter, the bearings, pistons, rings, cylinder bore, etc. took the
> beating. Kind of a slow death of the engine!!
> Unfortunately, we had quite a few Kaestner cams that were ruined....Once we
> ran the reground, hardened cams and GT40 lifters, our cam issues there went
> away. By the way, the original Triumph factory lifters were very good. The
> after market pieces available were the issue. For what it is worth, the
> regrind work we used, was done by Crower cams. As I mentioned earlier, Ken
> and Babe Erson worked together on some of his cam/lifter stuff..
>
> I hope this helps, Kevin
>
>> On Thu, Nov 16, 2017 at 1:31 PM, Bill Dentinger <billdentin at aol.com>
>> wrote:
>> Kevin...
>>
>> Note, Richard Taylor's question below.
>>
>> Richard is an interesting guy. He's an architect from Georgia, who drives
>> his 'street looking' TR4 to race events, towing a small trailer with his
>> motorcycle, race tires, and tools on board. When he gets to the track, he
>> unloads, puts the race tires on the car, and goes racing. For what appears
>> to be a mildly prepared TR4...he goes FAST.
>>
>> He is most famous for being part of a team that recovered one of a half
>> dozen famous WWII fighter airplanes, which crashed in Greenland, after
>> running out of fuel on their way to Iceland. They crash landed on the ice,
>> the crews were rescued, but the airplanes (two bomber, and six fighters),
>> were absorbed by the iceberg. That quest to recover those airplanes nearly
>> cost him his business, home, etc. They finally did recover one of the
>> airplanes. They had to dismantle it in order to get it out of the iceberg.
>> When they got it out, they could not afford to restore it. Some Texas
>> millionaires took over the project, restored the plane.
>>
>> It is a very interesting story. If you have further interest, google
>> "Glacier Girl".
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Richard Taylor <tarch at bellsouth.net>
>> To: Bill Dentinger <billdentin at aol.com>
>> Sent: Thu, Nov 16, 2017 10:48 am
>> Subject: Re: [Fot] GT40 lifters
>>
>> What are the symptoms of lifter related problems?
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Nov 16, 2017, at 11:58 AM, Bill Dentinger via Fot <fot at autox.team.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Amici...
>>
>> I contacted Kevin Potter, our engine builder/mechanic for most of our
>> thirty-six years of racing concerning the Ford GT40 lifter option. He said
>> at the time, we (and others) were experiencing lifter related failures due
>> to the lack of consistent metallurgy for the lifters Ken Gillanders was
>> obtaining and selling at the time. Some were real hard, others were real
>> soft. Ken was seeking an alternative, probably via Erson, and came up with
>> what turned out to be the Ford GT40 lifter. It was a perfect match, except
>> for its smaller diameter, which was addressed with a bushing. It was a fix
>> and we never experienced another lifter related failure thereafter.
>>
>> Bill Dentinger
>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
>
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