67/68/69 cuda dilemma

[moparmat2000]

Yeah I'm a bit of a slow poke. One head installed today. I'm really liking the ARP head bolt kit I picked up off Fabo for this engine project a few years ago. Really schweet fasteners. Gonna port match head #2 tomorrow morning and go ahead and install it. Then install the valvetrain and put the intake manifold on.

 

[moparmat2000]

Second head is done. One of the things I did on these heads was remove the casting flash where the oil return is from the heads. I also removed the bump outs between the intake ports where the valve cover bolts fit, and opened up the pinch in each runner where the pushrod tubes are. I'm sure that small raised lip at the oil return is ok on a stock engine, but I dont want any impedance at all to the flow of oil returning to the oil pan. It's small things like this that add up. Heres some other pix of the return holes in the lifter valley. This all helps for an efficient oil return to the pan.

 

[moparmat2000]

I removed the china wall gaskets front and back, and set the intake on with the fel pro gaskets, and threaded in 4 intake bolts by hand "no wrench". One at each corner. Then checked with a portable borescope I have that plugs into my phone. Everything lines up really good. I was just looking at it all wrong yesterday. I will do a trim to fit on the port holes on the gaskets. I also dont like the idea of filling the intake manifold gap with a glob of silicone. I have thinner cork sheet and will make a thinner set of these. Heres a couple pix I took. I checked all 8 holes.

 

[mygasser]

i wouldn't be put of using a bead of silicon on the china walls, even most 'rebuild' books suggest using it instead of the cork gaskets and they're written by smarter folks than most of us . if the cork sheet you have isn't thick enough to compress properly it will leak. even the stock thick cork seals compress a surprising amount, have you tried a dry build to see if they compress enough for the intake to seat correctly at the heads?
neil.

 

[nutz]

Yes a lot of newer engines are built with only silicon
I like ultra gray
But some of the best is mopar....if you want to stay true to the brand

 

[moparmat2000]

This part is done. Only thing left is the 200 inch lbs for the rocker shaft bolts. I converted this to to foot lbs' however, my ft lb torque wrench doesnt go down low enough. Gonna just borrow one.

 

[moparmat2000]

i wouldn't be put of using a bead of silicon on the china walls, even most 'rebuild' books suggest using it instead of the cork gaskets and they're written by smarter folks than most of us . if the cork sheet you have isn't thick enough to compress properly it will leak. even the stock thick cork seals compress a surprising amount, have you tried a dry build to see if they compress enough for the intake to seat correctly at the heads?
neil.

Just gonna go with the thick bead of RTV and roll with it.

 

[moparmat2000]

Just a quick mockup to see how it's going to look. I decided to buy new Elgin rocker arms and rocker shafts, instead of using the old parts. Want to start out with zero wear. I have a set of stock 69 valve covers I may use instead of the chrome proform ones. Trying to keep it looking stock. I was looking into the mopar turquoise engine paint sold through Eastwood. I think it comes as a pint. Need to figure out what primer is needed under it. And what to thin it with to spray it on. Rocker arms and shafts due to arrive on Monday. I go back on shift on Tuesday. If they arrive early enough, I will clean and install them.