Help me tear down and inspect my 440..

[Canadian1968]

I know I have been slow on the updates.

I got out today and did a compression check before I put the plugs and wires back on.

I cranked the engine a few times , just to make sure everything seemed in proper working order and nothing obvious was missed. Moved on to compression checks.

I started at passenger side rear, which is were my two low readings were previously. Reading between both cylinders were identical @ just over 160. Previous measurements were 150 and 140 with the engine warm.

The 160 readings on the dead cold motor I feel right where they should be. The rest of cylinders all read between 160 ,170 as well.

I bought a set of new plugs , got those installed and plug wires back on, now the last thing I belive is just to fill up the coolant and it should be ready to fire up !

 

[Canadian1968]

Well it RUNS ! I started up the car today. It fired right away, I ran it for a few seconds, shut it off and went to check for any fluid leaks. Everything is great, except an unrelated problem. My power steering hose is leaking from the crimped connection on top of the power steering box. Not a big deal ( unless I can't find one hahahah)

The car idles great, the vacuum gauge I have mounted inside the car is rock solid at idle, where as before it wonder slightly. I am attributing that to the leaky valves, and the intake manifold that showed signs of sucking oil. I let the car run for approx 15 mins , letting the rad, burp itself.

THere is one thing I will have to fix, I do have an exhaust leak at the front passenger cylinder ( #2). And I have absolutely no one to blame but myself. I know exactly why its leaking. At least its the passenger side, which is super easy to work on. Still need to get another set of gaskets , will have to drain the coolant again and swap in a new gasket. If that's all thats wrong I am pretty happy!

 

[Orig69]

What torque setting did you use on the ARP cylinder head bolts?

 

[Canadian1968]

What torque setting did you use on the ARP cylinder head bolts?

35, 50, 70 ft/lbs. Using the torque sequence in the FSM. I also used the supplied ARP bolt lubricant and followed the directions for application to the washers and threads

 

[69conv]

Get yourself some Remflex exhaust gasket. They seal better than ANY other.

 

[71Beeper]

Great job Adam!
You'll be out and about cruzing in no time....

 

[Phoenix440]

Back at it for a bit tonight . I decided to go ahead and drop the driver side cylinder head on tonight. Lubed up all the arp bolts and dropped then in. It quickly became clear that I'm not going to be able to torque down the bolts correctly with the header I place. Unlike the passenger side i cant pull it back out of the way. I haven't decided which way I'm going to try to attack the problem. I think I may just try unbolting the motor mount and tilting the motor slightly. This alone may give me the clearance I need to get at the bolts correctly . Or if not enough room to drop the header out past the starter. Or I may have to unbolt the starter as we'll drop the header right out.

Not interested in that battle tonight I went over to the passenger side and measured the lifter pre load. The process I used is outlined in this video


My measurements show .110" of preload. That seems quite high from what I have read? I should be some where in thr .040- .060 range. I mean the motor was running fine before the tear down. What's everyone opinion ?

View attachment 1785016

View attachment 1785017 Wondering what happened with your checking of pre load on the lifter? You did say you measured pre load at .110". Did you end up checking this or any others and do you recall what readings you ended up with. I am having trouble setting mine up as the valves are different heights in the heads and the pushrods being different lengths. I have tried to match the tallest valves with shortest pushrods but am still getting a lot of variation from pushrod to pushrod.