Going to be putting in a xe274 cam, torker intake, and a 750 street demon carb. I have mostly only worked on Chevys. I know Chevys valves are adjustable and from what I have read olds are not. So these are just torqued down? What are they torqued to and what is the sequence or how to torque these down? Still install dot to dot on timing chain and then turn 1 time to get to tdc #1 and go from there?

 

First off, make sure your new cam has the same sized base circle. Mine turned out to be a bit smaller and therefore my pushrods were too short. You need to get between 0.030 and 0.060 preload on the lifters.
As far as procedure; just make sure both valves are closed, lifters off the lobes, and torque the bolts to 25 ft. lbs. (at least that's the value for an Olds 350). No certain order but I like to tighten the two bolts by alternating until I get to the torque value.

 

Wow, slow down, have you checked for push rod length? I'm pretty sure you can't run the XE274 with stock rocket arms and I would degree the cam, only way to verify your installation. Too set preload , I use EOIC "exhaust opening-intake closing"
Search the net, there are many threads...

 

I haven't touched anything yet. This is why I am asking lol. Not familiar with olds at all.

 

Or you can buy Comp Cams roller tip rockers and adjust them like a Chevy. Mark the ends of your valve stems to see if the wear pattern is in the middle of the stem or close. Too far in or out is a problem.

 

Which is what I'm doing right now. But because the base circle of the new cam is smaller than stock, my pushrods are too short causing the roller tip rockers to bind on the Comp Cams studs. I have to get the roller tip rockers higher on the stud. I bought a CC measuring pushrod but I'm guessing at this point that I have to add 0.10 to my pushrod length.

The EOIC method is right in the roller tip rockers instructions, so yes, that's a good method.

Didn't know it would be this complicated, ChevyDude? Lol, neither did I.

 

Lol I see the xe274 is out of the question then... I was told if I stay at .501 or less lift I would be able to still use the stock rockers and pushrods. Is this true? If so then which cam would be best? 280 mag? I'm on a really tight budget this year. Have basically only enough for cam, intake, carb, and gaskets.

 

I ran the 280 mag. and it calls for a 402 spring rate valve spring i dont know what the stock rockers can handle and the stock springs wont work for that cam either. That cam kicked *** in my 350 but i have the springs , and adjustable valve train. I would sound a llittle diffrent on a 455 but you can get an idea. I also had 10 to 1 compression.

 

There was a time when all this neat valve train stuff was not available. I have a 425 with a 590 lift hyd cam and have a totally stock valve train with exception of adjustable pushrods. It was built in 1977 with Mondello stuff and will rev to 7000 rpm. It even uses a points distributer. You can use a pretty big cam with stock rockers.

 

Same firing order as a Chevy but counter clockwise, took me half a day and several distrubitor removals to figure that one out.

 

Yet another reason why the first "tool" you should get is a Chassis Service Manual