Hmm.. boost / cat. converter questions.

The car just isn't as fast as it was before.. the cam isn't allowing enough lift.

Just wondering what the downside is...

The downside is that it indicates something isn't right. It could be that cam timing is of such that unbuned gas is finishing burning in the turboi rather than the combustion chamber - great for spooling the turbo but..........

The way Ryan is doing it would allow some boost building but 14 or so psi is beyond what would be expected.

I popped the valve cover. The lobes don't look too amazingly worn, but my feeler gauge indicates that the "ridges" on the top of the lobes are about 0.8000" to 0.1000" deep. They are kind of scratched looking but I can't catch my nail in anything.

Another thing, if I don't start my car at least once a day, the HLA's have to pump back up. If I let it sit for more than 24 hours or so, the damn tapping noise comes on for about 15-20 minutes of driving and then goes away. I told Pete this last night and he said his SVO thats in storage doesn't do that, so could I possibly have worn lifters & would that create this problem? I'm contemplating shimming them with dimes tonight just to see what happens..

I get a nice tapping when its cold out for the first few miles, usually when its below 50 or so out.

Shimming is not a cure for lifters bleeding down. You only want to shim when there is too much clearance and there is a special process to measure it.

I dont think a valvetrain would be shot until at least 180,000 miles. At 205,000 a valve stuck in my head, but the cam wasn't completely worn. Of course, maybe popping off the head, getting it cleaned with a new valvetrain and a new head gasket might not fix your problems, but it couldnt hurt. If you have the time, money, and another vehicle its a good idea.

ridges" on the top of the lobes are about 0.8000" to 0.1000" deep.

I think the decimal point is in the wrong place Ryan
Could it be more like 0.008 to 0.010"?

Any of these number, yours or mine, exceed the factory tolerance of 0.005"

Can you run a cam that is worn greater than factory spec. Of course you can. I don't know how much further but remember that the cam lobes are only induction hardened and that isn't very deep

Yeah, wrong decimal point, Pete. lol

The followers are in pretty awesome shape too (sarcasm).

I tried compressing my lifters to measure the lash, and they won't compress more than half way. Is this normal? I lost my damn feeler gauge anyway so I can't continue tonight, but I actually can see the clearance between the lobe and follower and it looks like its going to be way out of spec.