Hi Guy's

                now I know there is guys out there with a wealth of knowledge so here is my question. I'm thinking of running a set of S&S 570 gear drive cams with crane roller lifters and adjustable pushrods. Do I need to change out my valve springs due to the cams producing a .570 valve lift or will my stock valve springs be ok ?

Hi Scotty,

                 thanks for that info, when you talk about the valve pocket and that 0.188 is the limit does that still leave a 0.050" clearance or is the clearance 0.001". The reason I ask is that the 510G has intake at at 0.187" and exhaust at 0.178" and this cam is consided by most to be a nice upgrade. I'm not trying to be a smart arse or nothing I just need to understand what I'm doing before I purchase the gear. A buddy of mine is running the 510G and said it idles a little lumpier but only slightly better preformance on the road and that he felt the money spent was a waste. So right now I'm picking brains to find a warm/medium cam for my sled.the ones I've considered are:  S&S 570G,  Andrews 54, SE-255, and the one I liked the most was the Crane HTC 290-2 though on your recommendation this puts me over on the exhaust lift TDC which is at 0.198, 0.010 over, its doing my bloody head in

Hi Scotty,

                I've been doing some more research on which cam to run, had the impression that the more valve lift the better. But what I've read so far tells me this is not nesseccarilly the case. What a head fuck, anyway here's what I've got a 96cid vance and hines staggered big shots and a kuryakyn pro hyper charger, with a thundermax auto tuner ECU. The bike runs well now with a smooth idle at around 970rpm, what I'd like is for it to idle a little lumpier and pull a little harder 50 foot out from the lights. What would you recommend at this point as a good combo ?

Hi Scotty,

                its me again, I've been going over our last conversations and the head gasket 0.030"  is this how much less in clearance you have or is it 0.030" less than the standard gasket  and if thats the case my 0.188"TDC clearance I started with would drop to 0.158", am I on the right track here, some advice would be much appreceiated.

Hi Scotty,

             man you have been a wealth of information for someone as ignorate as me, but your advice has been extremely helpful. The way I'm leaning now is to install the 0.030" head gaskets to create a little more bang, and run a Andrews 31 cam which has a TDC of 0.151" and an overlap of 18degrees compared with stock of -05degrees. So the way I see it with the reduction in head gasket thickness of 0.015" that puts my TDC at well with in the safety margin of 0.60" for the heat expansion, though since I've got the heads off and eventhough I have enough clearance do you feel I need to mess with the stock pistons.

I did not know where to go tosee your photo's, as they did not come through

Hi Scotty ,

                 I'm full of questions today, with a reduction in head gasket thickness of 0.015" what compression increase would you expect from stock ?