Its Started!

[r6z4o6]

Well it depends on the history of the vehicle that you are sure of as to whether you should take the heads off and "tear it down" being that it is a budget rebuild, in my opinion. ChevyLee got burned by buying from someone across the country where the engine could have been sitting in a garage on a pallet for 6 months prior, it's hard to tell. My roomate blew up a 4.8 and got a 6.0 local, we bolted it in without cleaning it at all and it would melt tires like nobody's business. You just have to check the engine out before you buy it. I pulled from a local junkyard and popped the valve cover off when it was still in the suburban and saw no gunk on the valvetrain whatsoever, and full of clean oil on the dipstick. I cleaned off the top of the heads below the intake, and got new waterpump and intake manifold gaskets(they were both shot past reinstallation when i took it off) All in all, invested $55.00 in gaskets and simplegreen and carb cleaner. If you wait till later to cam it, you will save some fluids but most if not all gaskets are reusable. Get it running already!!! Haven't taken heads to a shop lately, but it ran like $150 for a valve job on some gen II sbc stuff. Id say around $200 to "clean up" heads, probably less. Did you purchase the engine under the guise of it needed some internal engine cleaning to run? If you bought it ready to run then bolt it up and go.

All that you can possibly afford to do to the motor while it is out is the best way to do it.

+1 If you can only afford to get it running then don't delay, time is running out!

Where did you source your motor if you don't mind me asking?

[aarolar]

Pulled the heads and took some more pics, Ill post them as soon as photobucket gets done loading. Where is the best place to buy new headgaskets and headbolts?






And heres the kicker pic, the crank bolt looks as though it has been removed before... Maby its already cammed?

[zeake]

Doesn't look too bad. Crank bolts are a one time use only. You need a new one no matter. Shouldn't be more tha 6 bucks at the stealership.

[aarolar]

I have been meaning to ask why are crank bolts and headbolts one time use? Not arguing with you but just wondering?

[zeake]

I think they are trq to yield bolts.

If you can budget get arp bolts for both.

[RedHeartbeat]

Torque to yeild means that they are designed to stretch a specific amount to hold the proper torque value. When you first torque them to their specified value in the manual you then add say another 135 degrees of rotation to acheive the designed amount of bolt stretch/torque to the fastener. Once they have been stretched and then loosened you cannot use them again accurately. They have even been know to break if you attempt to tighten them a second time to the specified values. The part of the bolt that stretches is the smallest area around the root of the threads. When the bolt breaks its usually right flush to the block and they're bitch to remove afterwards.

[aarolar]

Gotcha it makes sense just always heard not to but never why.

On the topic of this thread, anyone got any ideas on what would have made my heads so dirty? The intake and throttle body was just as nasty up to the butterfly.

[RedHeartbeat]

That is the oil vapors from engine blowby being sucked into the intake manifold. A nasty mess always. Another reason I like to vent the blowby to the atmosphere rather than the engine. I prefer doing that even though sucking a vacuum on the engine block helps to seat the rings better. Drag cars will often put a large fitting on the valve covers and run a hose from there to the exhaust collector to scavenge more vacuum inside the block for more power. Too bad catalytic converters don't like oil.

[aarolar]

So when I get it all cleaned and ported and shiney and I put it all put back together and run the engine your telling me its just going to go back to the same way it is now?

[zeake]

Torque to yeild means that they are designed to stretch a specific amount to hold the proper torque value. When you first torque them to their specified value in the manual you then add say another 135 degrees of rotation to acheive the designed amount of bolt stretch/torque to the fastener. Once they have been stretched and then loosened you cannot use them again accurately. They have even been know to break if you attempt to tighten them a second time to the specified values. The part of the bolt that stretches is the smallest area around the root of the threads. When the bolt breaks its usually right flush to the block and they're bitch to remove afterwards.

Red is a genious. I remembered reading all that before but could not put it into words.