Sigh, rollercam vs. non-roller!

[Brian1973]

Ok, so I'm doing an engine swap after a hydrolock caused by a bad fuel pressure regulator... prior engine (non-roller cam) I had some head and valve work done so was looking for a non-roller cam engine to use my almost new heads on.... found a truck that should have had a non-roller... but most likely it's had a swap done to it in it's life.... soooo, I have a ROLLER CAM engine.... can I still use my heads? looking at some of the numbers on the heads.... not sure which is a cast number but looks like some numbers are the same and some aren't!? by eye, everything looks the same... I can tell the push rods are different length on the roller cam engine but wonder if I can just swap my heads with valves already in and my rocker arms and just use the pushrods from the roller cam? Should everything else match up?

 

[JP02XLT]

Valve springs are different between the heads, later models use beehive style, One of the things I can possibly see happening is the newer roller lifters not liking the valve spring pressure of the older springs & you might collapse a lifter a little on idle and get a little tick. But it also might work fine, I do not know the spring pressure differences between the springs, You will need to use the correct roller length pushrods. About the only way to verify is to put the head on & put one cylinders valve train together & start checking, look closely for any coil bind, and check the relation of the rocker arm to valve tip & check the movement, the rocker tip should be centered in the valve tip & move equally across it during the cycle.

JP02XLT

 

[Brian1973]

beehive style? like tapered?

springs look identical on these two blocks.... only difference I see is pushrods....

suppose I get some kind of block number and check with Ford? neighbor/mechanic suggested swap rods AND rocker arms... put together without intake and turn engine manually to make sure no binding! which number would I want if want to consult dealership (block? heads?)... would hate to put together and then have "ticks" much less a failure!.... lol but my upper end looks a heck of a lot cleaner than this engine... compression check gave me some consitent 140# readings on this rollercam engine but after sinking 400 into my heads, hate to sink another 400 into these heads and go through the hassle of selling the others!?!?.... also from the looks of things, looks like someone has removed the cam at some point as there is gasket sealer towards the back of the engine in that spot... maybe was just leaking..... hmmm Sounded descent when I ran it, was being scrapped because of transmission seal failure....

at this point, if this doesn't work, I'll buy a reman for $1700 and sell my heads with new gaskets for $400.... pita to do much more....

 

[JP02XLT]

Yes by beehive they are also called tapered, That could be an option to check block & head cross reference with the dealer, I still like the idea of putting one cylinder together with the parts and checking, like your local mechanic suggested also

JP02XLT