question about shims

[Travass]

I bought a swap project from someone and I'm trying to finish soon. I just finished building the motor and went to put the cams and rocker arms in and realized the dude just put all the rocker guides and shims in a box. I don't know which ones go where. He had the head already done at the machine shop and they put in new Brian Crower springs and retainers. I am using stage two brian crower cams. Is it going to be a big deal. I don't have the tool to put in the lifter gulley to measure. Any advice? All the shims are within a few thousands of each other. I'm hoping the hydraulic lifters will take up more slack than that. Anyone have any experience with this problem?

[garagelu]

its definately not recommended to put the shims in the wrong order. You will have a lot of valvetrain noise if the shims arnt at the right clearance. Here is a link to where you can rent the tool.

http://www.importintelligence.com/service.htm

I dont think it will really hurt the engine but if you want to be confident in your engine, just go ahead and do it right the first time. Or you might regret it.

[doridori23]

As garage stated you need to to the job right. If you are still using the factory Hydraulic Lifters at low RPMs you would be fine however at medium to high RPMs you would have some valve noise. The noise is due to chattering or vibration and it will lead to a catastrophic engine failure. Do your self a favor and review this post http://www.nicoclub.com/articles.php?id=238409 The solid lifter setup along with Rocker Arm Stoppers (RAS) is the way to go for reliable valve control. Even if the head wasn't taken off with the stock setup at 7200RPM there a decent amount of valve float and at 7500+ it is a time bomb waiting to blow. Sorry if thats not what you wanted to hear but do it right the first time and you'll save money, time, and have one kick *** machine.