Thread: More Downs than Ups

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Downs:
Well I hate when things don't work out the way they you want them to. I spent the entire evening trying to repair the studs on one exhaust manifold. Only one stud was broken and had a nub left so I got the torch out and heat it up cherry red, put the vise grips on it and it came right out. So I'm pretty happy at this point and notice one of the other studs is thin at the bottom and thought I might as well replace it to I heat it up, give it a turn with the vise grips and it snaps right off So heat it back up and try to turn the nub and the metal just twists and rounds off. I thought this aint gonna work and drill a hole and proceed to break off an easy-out This stud is I guess more or less fused to the manifold so the only thing left to do is drill it out and retap it Start to drill a pilot hole and break the drill bit. Dam that sucker was fighting me tooth and nail. I finally get it drilled and tapped but some of that stud was a tad thicker to one side of the hole and of course threw the angle off a bit. Well I didnt have the replacement studs to put back in so the battle may not be over? I still have the other side to do...

Downs:
My Head with the broken rocker arm has more issues than I thought. Started cleaning it up and took a good look at the valves and noticed that the one with the busted rocker arm on the number one cylinder is bent. It was mentioned in a previous post that more than likely the cylinder hydrolicked from the leaking head gasket and caused the damage. The valve in the number five cylinder is also cracked. The other head looks fine. I have got another set of 350 heads that I was planning on using for parts as in pulling two replacement valves and a rocker arm. I need to obtain a valve spring compressor which I have never used any info you guy's have about this would be greatly appreciated?

Downs:
Pulled some of the lifters out of the block and the ones to the rear are pretty well dished. If I only replace the lifters how concerned should I be with the cam being worn?

Ups:
Spent about 2 evenings cleaning up the intake manifold, scrubbing, wire brushing, scrapping, more scrubbing and finally painting. Now the manifold looks better than new with a nice shiny coat of Chevy orange paint. Got to love it when you can stand back and admire something ya made look new again.

That's how my project is progressing Before you guy's start bashing about not replacing everything with new parts my budget at this point simply wont allow. I need to get the car running before winter sets in as the car sits in the back corner of the driveway in a rather precarious spot when the weather turns bad. I know you may be thinking it's early to be thinking about winter but with more downs than ups I'm trying to do as much as I can while the weather is good.

So if you can help one of your less experienced brothers out with a little info I would sure appreciate it. Thanks.