Quite frankly, it's been a while since I rebuilt my banger, so I don't remember all that much. I'm gettin' old and senile you know...
The cam kit includes cam, lifters, springs, and retainers. The machinist didn't like the retainers and used his preferred style/brand- and that was OK with me; he had 45 years experience to back his judgment. I couldn't tell by looking that the lifters or cam were any different, but the untrained eye can't tell unless the cam is pretty radical. We assembled the engine using a tube of assembly lube very generously, especially on the cam and lifters. I also had some Molybdenum disulphide grease that was used also- generously! Everything was torqued to spec and a spare distributor shaft was milled down for pre lubing the engine- it was strange to watch black moly grease ooze up out of the pushrods. It fired right off and was run at about two thousand rpm for about two minutes, and we were standing over the top of the open header! Talk about noise! Woo-Hoo! After leaving it sit and cool down, it was started again and run thru the rpm range a couple of times, then let sit and idle- a rorty, lumpy idle. Turns out the O2 sensor was bad. Ultimately, we got everything working and an exhaust system on. The idle is smoother and there is noticeably more low end power. According to what I've read in a couple of places, I should be roughly equal to a six in power and torque. I think it's pretty close, but I can't say it is because I don't have access to a dyno. Was it worth it? For me, yes it was. A lot of people think I'm missing a few neurons, but I'm not breaking parts with regularity like some of the more vocal naysayers.
I'm using Mobil 1 oil, and look for the ACEA rating on the 5w-30. It doesn't knock, tap, or click; it starts when it's cold, I can scare myself with the speed (I hit 80 mph once and that's fast enough!), it crawls over, thru, and around places that "bigger and better" rigs have trouble with.
