[DeTomaso] CHI heads

Justin Greisberg justingreisberg at hotmail.com
Tue Mar 8 19:24:17 EST 2011


Regarding the push rod guide plates, dave told me buy some cheap chinese garbage from summit.  so I went on jegs and summit website and found whatever non-name brand guideplates (forgot the brand, but definitely not comp or crane) they had - not the comp cams ones.  They were a totally different shape and fit perfect.  i am pretty sure it was jegs, but i could be wrong.  
 
I am surprised I am not more frustrated with the car.  I have pretty much got my 7 year project pantera mostly done.  And I sat in it - and my 5'10" head hits the roof, and my legs hit the steering wheel, and it is hard to hit the gas pedal without hitting the brake, and the tire well gives me no room, and the steering is a pain in the a-- when moving around the driveway, and if i ever got on the road, I cant see what is behind me.  No offense to anyone here, but who the heck wants to drive this car??
 
so, i am happy to work on it and look at it, assuming that one day i might actually have a nice ride in it somewhere...
 
justin
 


Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 08:03:17 -0600
Subject: CHI heads
From: mdmcdougal at gmail.com
To: justingreisberg at hotmail.com


Message: 15
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2011 17:39:59 -0800
From: Justin Greisberg <justingreisberg at hotmail.com>
Subject: [DeTomaso] CHI heads - valve guides
To: <detomaso at realbig.com>
Message-ID: <SNT133-w294C065B24A08210F79CB2A8C60 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I have the CHI 3v heads.  i assembled the engine myself after Dave Storlein in Wisconsin assembled the heads.
 
>>>>Mine are 4V, mostly the same as yours.  Dave Storlien spec my cam.  Intake valves are Ferrea #F6189  2.19 dia.  Exhaust Ferrea  # F6179  1.65 dia. 
 
  have them running for over a year now, but not many miles.  still fighting with electronic fuel injection system from powerjection/retrotek.  When the weather clears, I will provide a summary for this group of my experience with "self-tuning" EFI -- right now I am not thrilled (sometimes furious about lack of customer support), but I recognize some of it might be my fault, and I have more work to do.
 
>>>>Good luck with all that.  I know nothing about it.
 
Anyhow, regarding the heads, first question -- do you mean valve guides, or pushrod guides?  The comp cams cleveland pushrod guides DO NOT fit this combo.  Dave Storlein who does this for a living told me that after I asked him what I was doing wrong.  Wish someone told us that a while ago.  I threw all 16 away.
 
>>>>Valve guides are completely shot.    What brand pushrod guide plates did Dave recommend ?
        
The valvetrain alignment on these heads is a real pain.
 
>>>>Agreed.   I have 2 different length pushrods and 2 different length screw in studs.  The intake pushrod is 1/10" longer than the exhaust pushrod.
 
 
 I got good comp or crane screw in studs, with harland sharp roller rockers, and crane roller linked lifters.  I got a pushrod measuring tool, and found the rocker had best run over the top of the valve when it was at quite an angle.  In fact, I am using small block chevy 3/8" pushrods (coioncidentally exactly the right size), A LOT smaller than stock (even accounting for longer lifters).  the rockers are not sitting level at all.  I think my valves will be OK like this, but it just looks funny.  A smaller rocker arm (not as long - lower ratio) would probably sit more level.  no one seems to have any answers for me, which is surprising because there are more than a few people using these heads.  I wonder if the valves/springs are too long, or maybe that is why a lot of cleveland builders use big block chevy rocker arms, which I think are just a bit shorter than true clevelands?
the trouble with a "custom" build, is that, even after you spend all the time thinking and planning for everything to work well together, nothing ever seems to.  examples -- rocker geometry on CHI head; self-tuning EFI that seems schizophrenic - runs different every day; brake system that is sometimes soft, sometimes hard, but never consistent; electronic temp sensor that is supposed to turn fans on when engine is 190, yet engine runs to 220 and no fans; custom fuel cell which fits perfect, only to find out needs to be discarded after 5 years because the liner deteriorates (and it spent 3 of those years waiting to be installed); fancy dropped air cleaner base that is designed to fit over normal carburetor and drop down 1 inch, but actually hits my polished throttle body because it is about 1/16" bigger than a holley.
 
>>>>And WE do this for FUN ???  
 
   Mike
And the piece de resistance ---- fancy air cleaner with filter top for almost $200 that looks great, but hits the rear decklid first time I close it.  i can't repeat exactly what I said when that happened, this being a family web site...   justin
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