Any experience with Jims Shovelhead Tappet Kit?

[confab]

A wealth of information..

Thanks all for your help.

[JBinNC]

As with many things, your pocketbook will be your guide.
If you have questions about a particular choice, fire away.

Jim

[Whoremonger]

I would definitely stay away from Jim's products mainly because their customer service is shit. Also stay away from their big axel glide hydraulic lifters. I got a set and FROM NEW they always one or two would always leak down making for hard starts.cant comment on any of their other parts. They used to be real good 25 years ago but like many manufacturers they got to big and quality control along with customer service went to shit. Velva touch is the way to go. Yes they are pricey but for as long as those lifters are in that motor you will NEVER have to worry about a lifter wheel grenadeing unexpectedly and ruining your engine or hearing a tappet on start up.And a HUGE factor for me is not only that Dave is easy to work with, HE BACKS HIS PRODUCTS ! I have them in both my pans 63 and 65.Both bikes one kickers and I attribute a large part of that to the lifters always staying fully pumped. As Jim stated above Dave now only makes his lifter sets that require changing to an evo cam and oiling system. I was able to get him to make both sets for my pans without requiring a cam change but he did charge more which is understandable.Just picked up another set of the cherriest oem 63 panhead cases that I am hoping he will make me a set for.Good luck.

[Guest]

for what its worth, I replaced my stock harley hydraulic lifters with Hylift-Johnson lifters when I went to a better cam. Left em to soak in fresh motor oil for a couple days and installed em with adjustable rods. They took a lot longer to bleed down than the instructions reckoned but they have been great with no problems so far.

[JBinNC]

for what its worth, I replaced my stock harley hydraulic lifters with Hylift-Johnson lifters when I went to a better cam. Left em to soak in fresh motor oil for a couple days and installed em with adjustable rods. They took a lot longer to bleed down than the instructions reckoned but they have been great with no problems so far.

We're talking about shovelheads in this particular case.

Jim

[Guest]

my bad, i didn't realise AMS didn't cater for shoves

[LDNCLR]

Im running evo lifter blocks, taper lite pushrods, and jims shovel roller rockers that come in their evo style kit.
If i remember correctly, I had to use the twin cam upper pushrod tube clips because they are shorter and make up the difference from the taller evo blocks. its been happy and quiet since 2008 or so...
and i plugged the shovel oil line ports.

[JBinNC]

Im running evo lifter blocks, taper lite pushrods, and jims shovel roller rockers that come in their evo style kit.
If i remember correctly, I had to use the twin cam upper pushrod tube clips because they are shorter and make up the difference from the taller evo blocks. its been happy and quiet since 2008 or so...
and i plugged the shovel oil line ports.

Do you have any problem with the pushrod tubes leaking because of the slightly different angles involved?

Jim

[LDNCLR]

Do you have any problem with the pushrod tubes leaking because of the slightly different angles involved?

Jim

No sir... If i remember correctly its using evo bottom tubes with the O rings.

[confab]

Im running evo lifter blocks, taper lite pushrods, and jims shovel roller rockers that come in their evo style kit.
If i remember correctly, I had to use the twin cam upper pushrod tube clips because they are shorter and make up the difference from the taller evo blocks. its been happy and quiet since 2008 or so...
and i plugged the shovel oil line ports.

Thanks..

I was looking at it last night. The EVO setup looks way better. More oil and cooler oil to the top

My lifters, blocks, cam, pushrods are all worn pretty bad. Amazed it ran as well as it did, honestly.

Is this strictly a bolt in? Evo cam, rockers, push rods, lifters and blocks? I am told even stock EVO rockers work?

It's that easy? No other oil mods?

[JBinNC]

Thanks..

I was looking at it last night. The EVO setup looks way better. More oil and cooler oil to the top

My lifters, blocks, cam, pushrods are all worn pretty bad. Amazed it ran as well as it did, honestly.

Is this strictly a bolt in? Evo cam, rockers, push rods, lifters and blocks? I am told even stock EVO rockers work?

It's that easy? No other oil mods?

To make this swap using HD evo parts, the cam, tappet blocks, and tappets from an evo will bolt in to a shovel case. You must use the mid-'77- up shovel pinion gear and breather gear with the evo cam. And of course, you would want to change the cam bearing as a maintenance item. You must use the evo pushrod covers, at least the lower tube, to match the tappet blocks. LDNCLR noted above that the twin cam pushrod cover clip can be used. You will have to use an adjustable pushrod set with a lot of adjustment range, and S&S offers such a set. You can use your existing shovel rocker arms, and if you do you must keep the shovel top end oil lines. The shovel rocker arms have a 1.43:1 ratio, as opposed to the 1.62:1 evo ratio, so valve lift is proportionately less than the evo cam listed lift.
You can also convert the shovel rocker boxes to evo rocker arms, but this swap is NOT a bolt-in. You can either machine the rocker arms shorter, or use a custom made spacer to deal with the length difference. Using the evo rocker arms, you can delete the shovel top end oil lines.
You will have to set your valve travel and spring pack for any evo cam you use, as the mildest evo cam has more lift than a stock shovel head will handle. Evo rocker geometry in a shovel is not all that great, but is acceptable with mild cams.

I am going to try this swap myself, but do it the easy way and keep the shovel rocker arms.

Jim

[Guest]

These guys make a fine pushrod also. Running some in an evo, possible downside they were not quick install style, but I had the heads off.

https://www.pushrods.net/harley-pushrods?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI38en4_7u4gIVGMpkCh1WAgJpEAAYASAAEgKsPPD_BwE

Our latest offering of high performance tapered adjustable pushrods will impress even the most discriminating Harley engine builder. We have released the strongest available pushrod in the industry and are excited to be offering it to our customers. Call for more information!

[JBinNC]

To do the evo tappet block swap on a shovel, you must have an adjustable pushrod with A LOT of adjustment. S&S offers a set with 9 1/2 to 11 1/2 length adjustment, or something close to that, and I think that would fit the bill, which is why I mentioned them.

Jim

[Davestune]

for what its worth, I replaced my stock harley hydraulic lifters with Hylift-Johnson lifters when I went to a better cam. Left em to soak in fresh motor oil for a couple days and installed em with adjustable rods. They took a lot longer to bleed down than the instructions reckoned but they have been great with no problems so far.

very good lifters for twinkies, but unaware of them for pans and shovels

[Davestune]

Now, if you want trouble free tappets, or you want a big cam (and can't afford VelvaTouch) you have the solid tappets and solid tappet conversions.

The factory shovelhead tappet consists of a tappet body with a drop-in hydraulic unit. So, you can pull the hydraulic unit out and replace with any number of tappet adapters.
The one you will see most often in old motors is the Sifton type with the 1/2" dia. aluminum pushrods, and the large radius pushrod tip. These work, but the large diameter pushrods rub the pushrod tubes, causing them to wiggle and leak. (You can often see the tubes moving when the motor is running.) I personally will not use these because of the potential leak problem. There are some kits with 7/16" dia. pushrods that work better.

Next is the '48 - '52 pan style tappets and tappet adapters which essentially work the same. The adjusting screw is in the tappet, and the pushrods are plain, like an ironhead. These work very well with big cams and high rpm, so you see this style in race motors. The main thing is that the plain pushrods can be very strong (depending on mfg.) so you get a nice stiff pushrod for use with big valve spring loads. S&S sells this style tappet adapter kit, with chromemoly pushrods. They used to sell the pan style tappets but I don't know if they still offer them. Eastern and Jim's do offer the pan style solid tappet assembly, with the Eastern adjusting screw being a little weak.

S&S and Colony also sell a solid tappet adapter that uses the existing stock pushrods, and that is the lowest buck way to convert to solids, but I wouldn't use these with big cams.

S&S also sells a solid tappet adapter and pushrod set that uses an evo style adjustable pushrod, and these are good for hot street motors with moderate cams. Crane used to offer something similar, but the pushrods were so long, you had to pull the cam to install the kit, and FUCK THAT!

Jim

valuable info, thanks for sharing