Tired and frustrated with the glycol in oil leak..

[Barry_R]

Nice work. Welding the socket had to be a real treat...

The head gasket was still sealing compression or you would have seen black discoloration leaking across the surface. Good news all around even it it don't feel like it after a long day. Go grab a glass of your favorite "assembly lube" and rest up. You're on the home stretch.

Told ya the 2x4 would work well. It might seem a little "cave man" - but some sort of drill guide really is worth the effort.

[Jerry Clayton]

are those 10mm metric bolts in the 2 x 4?????????

or 12 mm??

[vector1]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

are those 10mm metric bolts in the 2 x 4?????????

or 12 mm??

oh shoot! uh oh

[undy]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

are those 10mm metric bolts in the 2 x 4?????????

or 12 mm??

Grade 3, 1/2 x 13s ... probably Chinese though. Why ??? You think they're Wong for the job? (parts drawer bolts, torqued to 1/16" board compression)...

Originally Posted by Barry_R

Nice work. Welding the socket had to be a real treat...

The head gasket was still sealing compression or you would have seen black discoloration leaking across the surface. Good news all around even it don't feel like it after a long day. Go grab a glass of your favorite "assembly lube" and rest up. You're on the home stretch.

Told ya the 2x4 would work well. It might seem a little "cave man" - but some sort of drill guide really is worth the effort.

Home stretch's hind parts, everyone knows it takes half again as much time to put it together as it did to rip it apart!

Yea, the 2x4 was the shiznit. A minute on the drill press and I had the right tool for the job. It was so easy a cave man DID do it...

The witness marks on the heads show good compression sealing on all cylinders. The head only lifted at the inner edge. The marks on the head gasket most likely are gasket erosion, caused by the constant pressurized minute flow of coolant.

Speaking of witness marks on the heads, what do you think about a 0.005" or less skim cut on the heads. That'll clean up the compression ring indentations around the cylinders and give me a good head gasket sealing surface. That shouldn't significantly change my manifold's ride height.




Let me know if anyone needs a "FE coolant passage pressure test kit"

[Jerry Clayton]

Bolt head marking looks like a metric bolt rating======and a 12mm will screw into a 1/2 13 hole

[undy]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

Bolt head marking looks like a metric bolt rating======and a 12mm will screw into a 1/2 13 hole

They do look like they have metric markings in the fuzzy picture. I'll take a look at them when I get home. Any port in the storm though...

They bit and held that 10 lbft, so the threads (pitch, per inch and diameter) must have been pretty darn close.

[acmjg]

How did you get the helicoil threads and the threads below it in the block to match up?

[undy]

Originally Posted by acmjg

How did you get the helicoil threads and the threads below it in the block to match up?

I measured the new stud's block thread insertion depth and replicated that depth with the helicoil insert. The helicoil is an inch and a half long so it worked out fine. Since it's a blind hole I simply bored for the helicoil to the same depth as the hole was originally bored.

[undy]

I got the heads back from the machine shop Friday. They cut 0.005" off both faces (intake and cylinder contact surface areas) to keep things aligned and the manifold at the correct ride height. I glued the intake and header gaskets to the head utilizing weatherstrip adhesive. There's where they stayed overnight, with a 100 lb bucket of pipe fittings on top of them to keep the gaskets compressed and glued tight.

I test fit the manifold and the intake surfaces matched up perfectly. The intake studs all went down fine.



Here's where I'm quitting today... The head studs went down fine, antisieze for the block threads and ARP moly for the top. I test fit the Ersons to ensure I didn't have any head stud interference issues, all were fine. The studs nuts clicked right down to 85 lb ft (3 incremental torques) with no sign of thread fatigue. The intake studs torqued fine to 35 lb ft also.

There's a ton more left to do. All's well thus far though...

[ERA Chas]

Have some beers-looks great!

[undy]

Forgive the fuzzy picture... She was running with a tad of shake and my Crackberry was going nuts trying to focus.

It's together and been running for about 20 minutes! I've got a good "FE"eling about everything.

No leaks, no drips, no errors... Everything seems to be in order. The oil's bright and clear (as it always was). I'm running 8 quarts of "dump oil" in her now (Advance auto 10W30 with a Purolator filter). I'll looking to get about a hour of run time and then I'll dump the Dino and filter. That will give me enough time to flush the engine well and get any residual Glycol contaminants out of the system too. I'll do a flush on the Accusump also. The oil cooler and lines will also be blown out before the fresh oil is put in. It will be replaced with a Mobil 1 oil filter and 10 quarts of 15W50 Mobil 1. The engine's still hot so I've not been able to check the coolant level. It came up to temp in a predictable amount of time. The thermostat opened around 180 deg and shortly after the fan cycled on. I'm not expecting any surprises.

I've a small amount of work left to do. I'll sure be glad when this one's over.

[zrayr]

Beautiful.


Z.

[Jerry Clayton]

Great progress

The shake you have might be because you got plug wires 7 and 8 running next to each other and getting crossfire-Ford used to put #7, #5,#6,#8 to stop the cross over---and then on a tune up a mech(or owner) would put them on the plugs like they were on the valve cover and then 3 of them would be wrong---7 on 5, 5 on 6, 6 on 7, 8 on 8!!!!!!

[undy]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

Great progress

The shake you have might be because you got plug wires 7 and 8 running next to each other and getting crossfire-Ford used to put #7, #5,#6,#8 to stop the cross over---and then on a tune up a mech(or owner) would put them on the plugs like they were on the valve cover and then 3 of them would be wrong---7 on 5, 5 on 6, 6 on 7, 8 on 8!!!!!!

Thank goodness the shake was a couple lifters that had run dry and had to pump up. When I was adjusting the vlaves there were 2 or 3 lifters that had bled down. As soon as they pumped up it all evened out. I've got the end of the plug wires all loomed together making them fool-proof. It was so easy a caveman did it...



It's done...

Everything checks out and no leaks or concerns thus far. I dumped the Dino and put in 10 quarts of Mobil 1. The steering colum is back in, everythings cleaned up and there's a fresh coat of wax on all affected areas. I'm ready for some asphalt action now. Too bad there's a bunch of rogue thunderstorms going through today...

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by undy

It's done...

You did a very nice job. Tackling an "unknown" like that and then putting it to bed is super-rewarding.

[Rick Parker]

Perseverance pays off. Well thought out, good job.

[undy]

Originally Posted by patrickt

You did a very nice job. Tackling an "unknown" like that and then putting it to bed is super-rewarding.

Originally Posted by Rick Parker

Perseverance pays off. Well thought out, good job.

Thanks Pat and Rick, I'm now ready for my next challenge. Being a Cobra fan there's for sure more "fun" ahead.

[undy]

After numerous jaunts I find the cooling system to be well sealed. There's no internal or external leaks, coolant, oil or otherwise. I'm happy that it's been taken care of in spite of the PITA it turned out to be.

All seems to be well in Cobraland...

[blykins]

WOOHOO!

Now on to that LS stroker build for your Corvette....

[undy]

Originally Posted by blykins

WOOHOO!

Now on to that LS stroker build for your Corvette....

Yes sir... Are we talkin' about a LSx Warhawk 454???

Some 5 head bolt per hole CNC'd heads and a stout hydro-rollers's good for around 700 rwhp... That could turn the daily driver into a high 9 second terror (instead of a high 10 second almost terror)