Heads.

by 74MonteCarlo Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:29 pm

Currently in the process of pulling the heads off my car - blown head gasket. Leaking slightly down the side of the block, and REALLY smoking out the tailpipe. Probably going to take the heads in and have them redone. Probably put in new lifters too, while it's apart.

by pila Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:41 pm

A leaky head gasket in a small block Chevy is rare. Likely it (they) were not torqued correctly when assembled the last time. Having a clean-up cut on the heads is in order I believe, to be sure they are not warped a bit. It takes only a cut of .010 to .015 " to clean them up. And that's not enough to disrupt the fit of the manifold etc.
Why new lifters ?? Noisy ? If they are cupped etc, you need a cam also. If just noisy, and not showing sever wear, try new ones
New lifters should be treated like a cam change, with break-in lube, and running the engine at 1800 to 2200 for like half an hour, for the lifters to mate to the cam. And change oil & filter after that run.

by 74MonteCarlo Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:46 pm

The heads have never been off.

by pila Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:49 pm

A quick check by the machine shop, with a straight-edge, will tell if they are flat enough.
Hope you make out OK with it.
Where are you at in Michigan ? I'm east of Saginaw....

Bill

by 74MonteCarlo Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:54 pm

I'm between Detroit & Monroe.

by 74MonteCarlo Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:00 pm

pila wrote:Why new lifters ?

Remember a few months ago, when I was having the intermittent engine tick, that later became constant, but I solved with Marvel Mystery Oil? That's why. Just wanna change 'em while it's apart.

by 74MonteCarlo Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:37 pm

Got the heads off today. Neither of us know a lot about engines, so he's going to have his buddy come over and look at them. He's more experienced at engine building.

by pila Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:12 am

This is your chance to get some experience too. Very Happy

by 77mali Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:52 am

Man, I wish you were closer...I went through this same BS with my old heads.

It's critical that your block/cylinder head surfaces are super clean for the new head gaskets. If you have an engine shop nearby, you may want to have them look at the heads & at least clean them up in their hydro-jet washer.

by ant7377 Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:48 pm

Keep everything away from the car with the heads off. Dont drop any thing down there. Keep clumsy friends away from your garage too.

by 74MonteCarlo Wed Sep 05, 2012 11:49 pm

pila wrote:This is your chance to get some experience too.

Yes! I never pulled off a set of heads before, so this was a first. Dove in head first, by myself!

77mali wrote:If you have an engine shop nearby, you may want to have them look at the heads & at least clean them up in their hydro-jet washer.

Plan on it! We know a great engine builder. He built my dad's BB 396/402 in his Chevelle in 1985, and this past winter. He also built a motor for a friend of mine, a MoPar 413 Super Stock Max Wedge with over 600HP. One mean SOB!!

ant7377 wrote:Keep everything away from the car with the heads off. Dont drop any thing down there. Keep clumsy friends away from your garage too.

Hehe, no worries!

by 74MonteCarlo Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:21 pm

A tiny little update...

My dad's buddy, a pretty well seasoned engine builder, came to look at the heads and engine. Said it was one of the cleanest motors he has ever seen. Told us to just put the new gaskets on, and call it a day. Yesterday, started sanding the flat surfaces on one of the heads. But job number one, is getting out the dipstick tube, which is broken off at the block. So, next is to drop the oil pan and get the tube out.

by Joe73 Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:44 am

I wouldnt be SANDING anything on the engine. You'll never get the crumbs out of there. Use a scotch brite pad or better yet some Roloc discs on a die grinder. Cleans everything up nicely.
Just an tip on the pan removal. The timing mark on your harmonic. Put the mark at 6 o'clock. Then remove the distributor cap, but you have that off already. Pull the (2) motor mount through bolts and jack up the engine under the harmonic. Slide a brick or a block of wood the same thickness between the motor mount and engine mount on both sides. Drop the pan. The counterweights will be up in the engine and allow the pan to slide out. Pretty easy job actually. Great for changing 2 piece rear seals.

by 77mali Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:06 am

X2...Don't sand/grind the surfaces. The gasket might not seat/seal properly.

by 74MonteCarlo Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:15 am

By "sanding" I meant "Scotch pads on a die grinder"...

Sorry for the incorrect terminology... Neutral

...

by 77mali Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:16 am

Thank goodness! lol!

by 74MonteCarlo Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:39 am

Got the dipstick tube out. Next I'll clean and prep to put the pan back up.

Also, I have the exhaust manifolds repainted and ready to go back on.

by 74MonteCarlo Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:03 pm

Still pluggin along...

Got the oil pan back up, and everything underneath buttoned up. Car is back on all 4 wheels. I got the left side of the block cleaned and ready for the head.

Slowly but surely...

by DiscoMalibu Thu Oct 11, 2012 6:08 am

I just changed the heads on a '71 Suburban two weeks ago. Coolant was running down the block from between the 2nd and 3rd cylinders. I pulled the head to check it out. One valve on the second cylinder worked its way into the seat real far. The third one, the combustion chamber was cracked between the valves and the plug hole. I've never seen anything like it! I called my friend and he found someone in Poughkeepsie at 11pm that had a pair of heads. The new heads were 441 instead of the original 882 castings. I heard they're more durable and flow a bit better.

I checked em out, cleaned em up and put on in. Of course some dirty SOB took the dowel pins off of the block Mad

which made it a nightmare to install the heads and gaskets. I worked around the clock to get the thing back together. I put coolant in it and fired it up. Much to my dismay, coolant was running out of the valve cover!! Another dirty SOB mustve drilled out a broken bolt for the valve cover and drilled straight into the water jacket! I filled the hole with high temp RTV and threaded a longer 1/4" bolt in. No leaks, phew! The next day the 'Burban was on its way to Carlisle, PA and then Jersey. No leaks and more power than ever!

Not really pertinent, but I thought i'd share my weekend cylinder head nightmare with everyone.

by ant7377 Thu Oct 11, 2012 6:30 pm

Jeez!. You did all that the night before ?! ^^ Good for you!

by 74MonteCarlo Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:25 pm

Heads. 554272_499202350104075_363177700_n

Making more progress!

by 77mali Sat Oct 13, 2012 6:56 am

Kyle the heads look very clean, are you going to change the rockers? I got these for mine- a simple change that will get you at least 15 extra ponies & the heads will operate more quietly with less stress.

http://www.compcams.com/information/Products/RockerArms/MagnumRoller.asp

by 74MonteCarlo Sun Oct 14, 2012 1:50 pm

No - I'm reusing the originals.

by 74MonteCarlo Mon Oct 15, 2012 12:02 pm

Well, on Sunday I was sick as a dog in bed all day. But my dad went ahead for me, and put on the other head, and got all of the push rods and rockers on for me - how nice.

My 1997 Monte Carlo needed a water pump, too and he also did that while I was sick.

Smile

by DiscoMalibu Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:55 am

ant7377 wrote:Jeez!. You did all that the night before ?! ^^ Good for you!

Yeah it was a long process, I slept like a baby the next day. That was on my vacation from work too, go figure. Rolling Eyes

No rest for the weary I guess.

That motor is coming together, looks healthy!

Roller rockers are really nice with less friction. The original stamped steelies are a time tested tough design though. Unless of course you have a '77 Malibu with a 305 and a push rod mysteriously decides to bend one day. So I let it go and one day decided to fix it and well, too late. From the rocker being at an angle for so long it rounded the stem of the valve to a point! It had 150kmi so I just continued to run the crap out of it. Still ran the day I scrapped the 305, time keeper rocker and all!

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