Breaking in valve springs
 

I just purchased a trickflow cam kit from summit. I figured I would upgrade these after I had a major mishap on the some the valves and the heads. After getting everything back from the machines shop I installed the new springs and I fired up the car for a couple of minutes and heard a lot of clattering. I was told that the springs have to break in and the hydraulic lifters have to recharge. How long does it take for the new valve springs to break in? It is the stage 1 trickflow cam kit.

The lash adjusters should pump up fairly quickly (2 to 3 mins), while this is happening make sure that the cam followers or rocker arms don't become unseated from thier positions and cause some type of damage.

Valve springs should be subjected to a couple of heat cycles before you drive the car on the road, meaning start the motor and let it idle until operating temp, shut the motor down and allow to cool for 30 mins and repeat one more time. Give this a shot and you should be good to go.

Cool deal. I will try this out. Thanks for your help.

I went ahead and heated the car up to operating temps. The car has an erratic idle and dies out. What could be the cause of this? There is no check engine light. I have to hold the rpms at about 1500 rpm.

You have a tune for the cams? MAF may have taken a shit, vacuum leaks, etc...lots of things to cause erratic idle.

I do not have a tune for the cams. The MAF is new. I will double check the vacuum hoses. Thanks for the info.

As much as I hate to say this, it sounds like you might have the cams "timed" wrong. Do you have any popping in the exhaust or does the motor seem like its down on power?

I have taken those things apart so much I am getting quick at it. The car does pop slightly, but no misfires. Very erratic idles and it will lose power and die out if I let off the gas. I have to keep my foot on the pedal so that its stays at 900 rpm. You are probably right and that is what I was thinking about as well.