So I was looking on BPE's website...according to them:
...If you are installing a B Engine, 360-383-400, either booster generally will not cause any value cover interference when using production style valve covers...
Soooo, I might not even have to use a different booster at all...I do have aftermarket covers, but I can swap to standard ones or fab on the aluminum ones to make them fit. If I do swap boosters, I won't be spending over $270 for the midland dual diaphragm from BPE, it'll be a $96 one from AutoZone for a 1984 D250/350...the 3/4+ ton trucks already used the dual diaphragm booster...money saved. Either way, I won't truly know until I try to get the thing in there, which ain't happenin' for at least another year...and that's being optimistic.
As far as the solid cam, I've talked to at least a dozen different people regarding how often they actually had to set their lash. My friend with a '93 Cobra (solid roller 408W) saw regular 1/8 mile strip duty for two seasons (roughly twice a month) before taking the 408 out for a bigger engine; it only required adjustment twice...that's for two years...I helped him both times; none of them were more than .002" out, and most were still where we put them the year before. On the flipside of that, my Dad told me about his '56 Bel Air with a solid cammed 283 required it every three weeks or so until he had to pin the studs, then it was about every oil change. Then there's a guy named Gerry-I can't recall his last name at the moment, but he used to race at the drag strip near my hometown (Little River/Academy) when I was growing up, then he and his wife wound up in the same town I did after I joined the AF some years later. He used to drive a red mid '70s Camaro with a 355, then swapped to a 383. He loved flat tappet solid cams and raced every weekend the track was open, that engine saw the high side of 6K RPM every single shift and he said he checked them twice a season just to verify, OR, when his ETs slipped more than about 0.08-0.10 sec from normal. He told me until he lost two cams to non-zinc/manganese oil (before a lot of folks knew about that), the lash usually wasn't out, but he checked them just because it gave him something to do on a weekend. He did say however, the 70s and 80s were a different story for him because he didn't have the money to buy really good pushrods or rockers, so they'd wear a little more quickly and did require a more periodic adjustment...which is why he stuck with that practice later on despite having better parts.
In short; what I gleaned out of those stories among many others I spoke directly to, is that with quality parts, I probably won't have a legitimate
need to be in the valve covers more than twice a year...if I do, something is probably wearing prematurely and needs to be fixed or I've suddenly lost my ability to use a feeler gage. In either case, if I'm only in there every few months, I can handle that...and just like Gerry, it'll give me something to do on a weekend.
Jeff
