cams

like to know what (coil bind) meands when installing cams. thay say you must check coil bind when installing cams in to a TC-88 motor. thanks

Help me I'm in a bind!

Coil bind is a term that means that all of the travel a spring has is used. Let's say you have a spring that is 2" tall when no load is applied and is 1" when bound or fully collapsed. If you have an overhead cam engine then the lift of the cam has to be less than 1" or the valve spring will bind and break or fracture the head etc. You also need to account for float and flutter and factor that into your total lift value. With an OHV or Over Head Valve engine with cam in the block like in the TC88 you also have a rocker ratio to factor in. Rocker ratios inacrease the net valve lift by having the rocker arm at some point above 1-1. The usual is about 1.60 to 1 so, you end up with a higher net lift than the gross lift of the cam. When building or spec'ing out a cam you always want to keep in mind both coil bind and valve to piston clearance. The general rule of thumb is that for a stock engine a .500 lift cam is a safe bet. After that, you need to do some set up and measuring. Bear in mind that the free height of a spring and the installed height or going to be different and has to be considered also.
This barely scratched the surface of engine setup but I hope it helps.

Coil Bind

Thanks for the info on coil bine. This is just one more thin I need to know about egn. buil. up.THANG AGIN.