Thread: Decking questions for Pat

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Originally Posted by blwn31

Boy you got me thinking! My head hurts...
I can't get my head around why you would remove the stainless ring and install copper? Easier to machine/deal with?

Keith

copper will give and flatten out some. not try to cut threw head gasket like S steel if to hi it will dead head on the gasket head will leak . the copper is more of a helper for a head gasket with a fire ring were S steel is used as the fire ring with soft copper gasket hard wire .hard gasket soft wire copper.this is the way i see it

I understand, thanks.
I am gonna try to remove, clean and seal all the head bolts with RTV then retorque one at a time. The head studs washers and nuts are from Brodix and very spendy. I am torquing to 55lbft with ARP lube. I looked on ARP's website and they listed 50 and 55lbft. I realize that is for ARP fasteners. The latter will yield a preload of 10000 lbs. If it still leaks, I will tear it down and blow a bunch of money on machining and gaskets. My guess is, the two head studs in the valve cover outboard fwd and aft (below the oil drainback holes) that carry a lot of oil all the time are the oil leak culprits. At least I'm hoping they are. As far as coolant leak on the left bank, hopefully the retorque will solve that, but I'm not putting money on it.

I gotta tell ya, when I first put this car together many yrs. ago, my buddy and I slammed a POS all cast iron SBC together. Just de-glazed the cylinders with a Snap-On hone and got a valve job done and slapped the blower on it and, off we went. No geewizz parts, just stock SBC form around '80 or so. Used regular FelPro head gaskets! Never had a single problem with that engine. It was a loaner that a friend had. We split the cost, and I got to run it for a couple of years until I got enough money to buy all the parts for the leaking GEEWIZZ POS! Very frustrating! I will get it eventually. Just time and money.

Keith

no you do not TQ one bolt at a time you TQ them in steps just like any heads work from center out . i would not use RTV on head bolts . non drying sealer.. oil is not coming from end head bolts if any head bolts are leaking if going to be water

I realize that you don't torque one at time. I'm not taking the head off, just removing one at time and reinstalling it to the recommended torque value.

Keith

less your leaking water i do not think your going to get much value in this .you did say you were burning oil ?or had oil in the intake

We fixed the burning oil problem by sealing the intake rocker studs. Seems the oil was leaching through the stud threads into the intake. Now the engine is leaking oil between the head, gasket, deck surface. I also have a little coolant coming out in the same area. The #7 cylinder has a little water in it at cold start up then goes away. I see no noticeable loss of coolant. So I don't think it's burning anymore coolant than at start up.
I just hate to tear the engine apart as I just got the car together last week and only have 300 miles on it. But, I may have to.

Keith

Keith my heart goes out to you with all the issues your have been having.I am not a blower guy like Pat is,but from me following along with this thread deductive logic I do think calls out for a do over tear down.

1gary, I'm with ya there. A little history. I put this engine together the first time and put 500 miles on it. Tore it down for some of the same issues I'm having now. Solved the drainback problem by drilling the valley like a normal SBC is, and removing all the screens. This was a race motor in a sprint car. Anyway, seven (7) yrs later I get it back together. I took the car to a the GG West Coast Nationals, a total round trip of 300 miles. Can't get myself to yank the car apart so soon. Besides the wife will hang my a$$. Already complaining about being in the shop! I can't even believe my luck on this one. I'm more or less getting all the possibilities out of the way now. The hot rod season will be over in a couple months, then I will pull it down again. It's funny, the more people I chat with the more educated I become on this engine. I wish the original machine shop (engine shop) could of given me better advice. But, not his fault. I built it.

The one lesson I have learned over and over is, I will get it right, it's just gonna take me two or three tries. LOL!

Keith

The killer would be and ticking off the wife even more to lose it all because of these issues.