RC Engineerings cam followers.where are they now ?

zed1015 wrote: Only around a couple of grams lighter than stock then.
That's a bit disappointing...

As you said before, the holes may be to make up for more material around the top.

This discussion is really interesting. Does anyone know the weight of a full set of Ti retainer, under-shim, and matching buckets from APE or KPMI, as compared to the weight of the stock shim/bucket/retainer? Of course, it depends on the shim size, but...

And are stainless valves lighter than the stock valves?

zed1015 wrote:

DFIGPZ wrote: as far as the followers are concerned I see no need today as we have much better valve springs than they used to have.

If that were the case then there would be no need for Ti retainers to be used either but they are also readily available for KZ motors.
Any reduction in valve train inertia is a good thing regardless of the valve spring quality.
That aside, the question was, is there any good reason why no one is producing the RC style followers today, even just a shim under lightened version,

ok i understand now the question would be why in the world would you be concerned so much about the weight savings on having the drilled buckets when the shim on top shims weigh way more than the shim under shims it would seem to me that the shim under shim would be the way to go if someone is so concerned about weight ??

DFIGPZ wrote:

zed1015 wrote:

DFIGPZ wrote: as far as the followers are concerned I see no need today as we have much better valve springs than they used to have.

If that were the case then there would be no need for Ti retainers to be used either but they are also readily available for KZ motors.
Any reduction in valve train inertia is a good thing regardless of the valve spring quality.
That aside, the question was, is there any good reason why no one is producing the RC style followers today, even just a shim under lightened version,

ok i understand now the question would be why in the world would you be concerned so much about the weight savings on having the drilled buckets when the shim on top shims weigh way more than the shim under shims it would seem to me that the shim under shim would be the way to go if someone is so concerned about weight ??

You are correct regarding shim under opposed to shim under for lighter weight but as you quote from my second post -
is there any good reason why no one is producing the RC style followers today, even just a shim under lightened version.
The question is ( regardless of bucket and shim arrangement ) why aren't lightened buckets being produced.
These would be of benefit to shim under also but is there some reason ( possibly structural or cost effectiveness) why lightened buckets are not commercially available.

Perhaps this is one of those ......"things nobody thought about".......or "just slipped through the cracks"....situations
I expect if RC was making them then they work structurally or they would have said something as they don't seem to be too difficult to produce. I am not a machinist so I may well be way off base here.

ZED
My only hands on experience with the RC style buckets was tearing down a motor that had been running them.
( This is 30 plus year old memories.)
My buddy Ted and I were tearing apart a Kaw motor that had been used for street racing in Detroit.
When the cams were out and we pulled the buckets out of the head their was a brown discoloration in each bore. Looked like a burnt oil varnish from to much heat or friction. The buckets were not discolored , just the bores. In any case I decided to not include them in my turbo build as it just didn't sit well with me seeing the heat marks in the aluminum bores. Maybe that's normal for them . I never pursued them and don't regret keeping them out of my build. I waited till now to comment hoping someone else had a clearer answer on the subject who had personally used them
Dave

zed1015 wrote:

DFIGPZ wrote:

zed1015 wrote:

DFIGPZ wrote: as far as the followers are concerned I see no need today as we have much better valve springs than they used to have.

If that were the case then there would be no need for Ti retainers to be used either but they are also readily available for KZ motors.
Any reduction in valve train inertia is a good thing regardless of the valve spring quality.
That aside, the question was, is there any good reason why no one is producing the RC style followers today, even just a shim under lightened version,

ok i understand now the question would be why in the world would you be concerned so much about the weight savings on having the drilled buckets when the shim on top shims weigh way more than the shim under shims it would seem to me that the shim under shim would be the way to go if someone is so concerned about weight ??

You are correct regarding shim under opposed to shim under for lighter weight but as you quote from my second post -
is there any good reason why no one is producing the RC style followers today, even just a shim under lightened version.
The question is ( regardless of bucket and shim arrangement ) why aren't lightened buckets being produced.
These would be of benefit to shim under also but is there some reason ( possibly structural or cost effectiveness) why lightened buckets are not commercially available.[/quote



Lighter shim under buckets are still being produced by APE race parts along with titanium retainers according to their website. .... their tech line is very helpful and could probably tell you the actual weight savings over stock parts.

Finally found this image from an older Japanese speed magazine.........shows how Sanctuary does it. The holes they drill are pretty huge compared to the RC ones. These ones look like they are shim under buckets, wonder if it makes any difference. Can anyone translate the text please?





This image was also on the same page and I am wondering what is going on here with the extended bolts on the valve cover.......again if anyone can translate it might help

Wow! I have never seen a valve cover modified to be a cam girdle before......but I have never been to Japan. Must be an endurance racing mod?

I think the biggest weight savings for the shim under set up is getting rid of the weight of the shim over size shim.