Let The Rebuilding Begin...AGAIN!

Today I ordered some more small parts which means that the heads will be done Monday. Tuesday or Wednesday of next week the engine will be on the dyno for sure. After I ordered small parts, I started working on a start up tune for when the engine goes into the car. Once I finished up with that I checked piston-to-valve clearance. Let's just say, I do not have to worry about a valve smacking a piston. :)


The rest of my wire showed up today, so I'm going to finish building new batt + and batt - cables tomorrow.
It felt good to get started writing the tune file for the car. That just says I'm getting closer to starting this damned thing up. :)
 
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So today I spent time measuring and making new cables for the charging system. I stopped by Harbor Freight and picked up a $7 pair of cable cutters and I must say I'm impressed so far. I need to swing by Fastenal and pick up a couple more lugs to finish off the cables. I'll pick up replacement battery terminals next week.

No work will be done tomorrow. Monday the heads should be finished up and then the fun of getting it on the engine dyno will begin.
 
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Today ended up being a really short day in the shop. I did get some measurements done and I have a POA for tomorrow. I'm still shooting for being done with the build by the end of the week.
 
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Today I got to spend a little more time in the shop. I got both intake and exhaust valve seats cut. So tomorrow I will have to do some blending of the bowls, deck the heads (to make sure they are flat), and then assemble them! I'm still on track for starting the engine this week.



The valve with a T on it is what I'm calling a "tool." I'm using it as a guide if you will.
 
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Today I did some more work with the cylinder heads. They are just about ready for assembly, but before that I checked the combustion chamber sizes. During the porting, I opened the chamber up ever so slightly. It looks like I gained about 1.5 cc. Tomorrow I have to decide how much I want to mill the heads. After milling is done the heads will be cleaned twice and then assembled.
 
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Today started off awesome. Decided to mill the heads just enough to clean them up and make sure they were straight. I ended up taking .020" off both heads. I'm good with that my compression ratio should be around 11.7:1.


After the heads were milled, I lapped the valves in and then cleaned the heads. Once all that was done it was time to assemble the heads.



This is where my afternoon went to hell in a hand basket. The freaking valve seals are too small. :banghead: So I called the vendor that I purchased the seals and the guides from and explained what was going on and luckily they have the size I need in stock. I'll pick them up Monday and hopefully finish assembling the heads and get even closer to starting this engine up.
 
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As you read through this post, play this video in the background
Yes, today was a good day. I picked up new valve seals on the way to the shop and got the cylinder heads assembled.



So after the heads were assembled, it was time to check pushrod length. I took feeler gauges and stacked them until they were the thickness of my head gasket and snugged the bolts down. Then I marked the valve steam to check the pattern. After a few turns of the crank, I checked the pattern and what do ya know, I don't need different length push rods. :pepper:
So it was full steam ahead with getting the head gaskets installed and torquing down the heads.



After the rocker arms were installed and torqued properly the intake that will be used for dyno purposes was set in place and it was time to call it a night.

Tomorrow I will install the water pump minus the thermostat, the coolant crossover tubes, install valve covers, install coil packs and brackets, install spark plugs, and torque down the intake. Then the engine will move to a dyno cart. Depending on how fast all of that is done and the weather, I may actually fire this thing up tomorrow. If I don't start it tomorrow, it will be started Wednesday.
 
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AutoRoc said:
make a "guees my hp" thread! :) I want to guess 550-650hp but I need carb and header size..
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I think I will. Carb is 1000 CFM. Headers are 1 3/4". It's a Victor Jr intake.

Well ladies and gents D-day is tomorrow as long as the roads are clear. I will have one heck of a sleepless night I can tell you that. I got some more stuff done today so that tomorrow will less stressful. All that's left to do is install valve covers, coil backs and brackets, install spark plugs, put the right size belt on the water pump, and get some oil pressure before firing it up. Holy buckets I can't believe that the end is so close. Yes, I'm excited and nervous. Does anyone have any Valium?
 
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I'm sick of winter! We got more snow last night, and that resulted in the shop being closed today. So tonight will be another sleepless night. Ughh!
 
SuperStang90 said:
Sounds pretty gnarly! What does a typical engine dyno session run?
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Thank you. I really can't say as I'm very fortunate to use this one. It's at the technical college I graduated from.

I've gotta fix an oil leak, which will probably happen Monday or Tuesday, and then it will go back on the engine dyno for a couple of full power pulls. With any luck it will be going into the car a week from today.
 
Today I got the engine off of the engine dyno and removed the flywheel. It turns out the oil pan gasket wasn't leaking after all, it was the freaking rear main seal. As luck would have it, there was a rear main at the shop as well as that nifty J 41479 Kent Moore rear main seal install tool.
Tomorrow I'm going to pick up a pilot bushing and a shim for the flywheel and get both of those installed. I've gotta wait until Wednesday or Thursday to get the engine back on the dyno. I'm looking forward to spinning it to 6500. :)
 
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