Head gaskets for 360

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ratty dart 340

ratty dart 340

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Hello, this past weekend I assembled the top end of my La 360 for my 73 dart.

Took a while to get running but it finally did. Then it started sounding like crap. I took off the valve cover and drained the brand new oil. And it was very milky.

When I was putting on the head gaskets, I realized there were no dowel pins that hold the head and gasket to block without having to bolt it. Any reason those were missing?

Another thing to note. I torqued the head bolts to spec, but the intake seemed to be off and things didn’t seem to line up. So I then tried to loosen all the bolts and tried to push the heads further up the block to minimize the gap.

This actually helped a little bit.

Another question. I’m assuming torquing then retorquing would be bad practice being that the gaskets crush when clamped. Correct?

Would it be wise to get the heads machined just to make sure they are flat? Should I buy new ARP head bolts ?


Anything I’m missing?
Thank you
 
ratty dart 340 said:
Hello, this past weekend I assembled the top end of my La 360 for my 73 dart.

Took a while to get running but it finally did. Then it started sounding like crap. I took off the valve cover and drained the brand new oil. And it was very milky.

When I was putting on the head gaskets, I realized there were no dowel pins that hold the head and gasket to block without having to bolt it. Any reason those were missing?

Another thing to note. I torqued the head bolts to spec, but the intake seemed to be off and things didn’t seem to line up. So I then tried to loosen all the bolts and tried to push the heads further up the block to minimize the gap.

This actually helped a little bit.

Another question. I’m assuming torquing then retorquing would be bad practice being that the gaskets crush when clamped. Correct?

Would it be wise to get the heads machined just to make sure they are flat? Should I buy new ARP head bolts ?


Anything I’m missing?
Thank you
Click to expand...
Forgot to mention this is a mild 360 build with stock pistons. Any recommendations for a certain head gasket?
 
Those dowel "locating" pins are there for a reason. Without them, the head gaskets are all over the place. Pull the heads, install the pins and start over.
 
You need the pins back. They hold the gasket and locate the heads. Felpro 1008 care pretty good. Is the intake stock or aftermarket? If aftermarket they all do not have holes for the stock pin on the china wall, this combo can cause install issues. Was the block and/or heads milled?

New head bolts are a good call. If you go ARP follow their directions for a torque spec and lube.
 
ratty dart 340 said:
Forgot to mention this is a mild 360 build with stock pistons. Any recommendations for a certain head gasket?
Click to expand...
Did you find and insert alignment dowel pins? If not I'd start there and then get new head gaskets, fel pro are fine so you don't waste another expensive set in case that's not the problem and ARP says you can re use their bolts as long as they weren't over stretched
 
dano said:
You need the pins back. They hold the gasket and locate the heads. Felpro 1008 care pretty good. Is the intake stock or aftermarket? If aftermarket they all do not have holes for the stock pin on the china wall, this combo can cause install issues. Was the block and/or heads milled?

New head bolts are a good call. If you go ARP follow their directions for a torque spec and lube.
Click to expand...
The intake is aftermarket. It’s an rpm airgap.

I do not believe the head or block has been milled. And I have no idea why the pins were missing. The previous owner of the car was a wacko.
 
Samsquanch said:
Did you find and insert alignment dowel pins? If not I'd start there and then get new head gaskets, fel pro are fine so you don't waste another expensive set in case that's not the problem and ARP says you can re use their bolts as long as they weren't over stretched
Click to expand...
I just placed an order for said dowel pins. And good call with the fel pro just in case something is still wrong.
 
Here is the underside of the Air Gap, it has no holes. This could be part of your problem with water leaks in the oil. Note no holes in the China wall, so verify if your block still has those pins installed.
1679329823554.png
 
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A machine shop should be willing to put a straight edge
on you heads and block if you do not have access to one.

I would advise doing that.
 
dano said:
You need the pins back. They hold the gasket and locate the heads. Felpro 1008 care pretty good. Is the intake stock or aftermarket? If aftermarket they all do not have holes for the stock pin on the china wall, this combo can cause install issues. Was the block and/or heads milled?

New head bolts are a good call. If you go ARP follow their directions for a torque spec and lube.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info on the ARP head bolts.
 
I don't mean to high Jack this thread. But I've read that for every 0.010" milled from the block or cylinder heads that the intake side of the cylinder head should be milled as well. Also I read the same thing about the China walls, the articles said that this was needed to keep the intake port and intake manifold bolt holes aligned. Is this true?
 
As for the china walls;
If you mill the decks or the heads, the front/rear of the intake will drop down some. Almost right away the cork gasket will not compress far enough and the pins will interfere. They are only there to locate the cork gasket so pull them.
Throw the gasket away and prefit the intake to see how much gap is on the china walls. If more than zero, yur good to go, just build up the area with RTV. I put the RTV on the wall and skim-coat the intake. This is just in case the intake doesn't want to stick to the RTV on the walls, it's better to find out now, while it's easy to fix.
BTW; it's almost guaranteed that the cork will eventually seep oil. So most of us just eliminate it.
BTW2; fresh RTV will not stick to cured RTV; so if you ever have to take the intake off, yur gonna have a fun time getting all that RTV off. And it's ALL of it, gotta come off; and I never discovered any chemical cleaner that would touch it
I used to freshen my engine every winter, and that RTV pissed me off about six times. lol.

As for the headbolts.
My 11/1 Scr 360 has the factory 1971 headbolts in it and they have been reused at least SIX times with no issues.

As for the FellPro 1008s:
Mine have been reused a few times. You never know until you try it. they are .039 thick, compressed.
I used some .028 sandwhich gaskets the first time I assembled it. They barely made it thru the first summer, with one fire-ring well on it's way to the valley. I do not know the brand. They were black I think. They came off in pieces, no way to reuse those! They were in the rebuild kit. 1053 sorta rings a bell, sorta.
 
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1008 gasket is what I would recommend as well for the head.

Good bead of Rightstuff black at the front and rear china rail & around the water jackets.

20220725_113653.jpg
 
I bet the cam is wiped already. Bearings most likely are tore up as well. If it didn't start up right away then you added water to the oil it's going to be ugly inside.
 
If using ARP head bolts, check FIRST to make sure they do not bottom out.....
 
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