Another 400 build thread

I wanted to check the valve spring installed height one final time before installing the heads. Each retainer measured between 1.830" and 1.836", no shimming required. The Hughes valve springs that I am using should be installed at 1.880". I am already using the +0.050" valve locks and I have no desire to have the spring pads machined for another 0.050" of clearance. I must admit that this is one of the only areas where I am cutting a corner in this build, I think it will be alright though.

With the springs installed it was time to bolt on the heads. I'm sure pretty much everybody here has used ARP bolts before, but I have to say that I am in love with them. I try to replace as many bolts as I possibly can with ARP every time I work on the Barracuda. I have used many on this engine. Here's a shot of the head bolts all lubed up and ready to be torqued down.

Which brings me to today's project: shimming the rocker arms. I have already checked to see if I needed to shim the rocker shaft up or down and there was no need. Today I had to shim the rockers laterally to center the tips over the valve stems. This required somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 (!) shims to get right. I mentioned before that I suspect that I was given a set of small block hold-downs and I'm still not convinced that this isn't the case. I have called and personally spoken to Dave Hughes who assures me that these are big block hold-downs, so I'm just going to go with it. Anyhow, the tips are now perfectly centered and there is a perfect 0.010" of free-play on each pair of rockers.