How likely to have new heads cracked?

[WilliamWallaceGS]

Well, I got my block today. It's all painted and drying now, so I'll wait a few days then start bolting stuff back on. I told them I'd put the oil pump on myself, but I don't see an oil pump to block gasket in my kit, and even my Haynes book doesn't show one. There's a gasket for the pickup to pump, but not pump to block. That seems weird, but nothing is telling me otherwise, is that right?

EDIT: I ended up using permatex anaerobic gasket maker between the oil pump and block and have no oil pressure issues thus far.

They had to order a smaller cutting tool for machining the heads to get the springs to fit right. That should be here today, so I probably won't get my heads till next week.

This process has taken quite a bit of time, but the shop has treated me right. They actually knocked off a couple hundred bucks from my bill because they unintentionally yanked me around some earlier this week: saying the block would be done, only for me to arrive and it not be done...two days in a row. But they're good people, and made sure stuff was right, so it's no big deal.

 

[jd4242]

Well, I got my block today. It's all painted and drying now, so I'll wait a few days then start bolting stuff back on. I told them I'd put the oil pump on myself, but I don't see an oil pump to block gasket in my kit, and even my Haynes book doesn't show one. There's a gasket for the pickup to pump, but not pump to block. That seems weird, but nothing is telling me otherwise, is that right?

They had to order a smaller cutting tool for machining the heads to get the springs to fit right. That should be here today, so I probably won't get my heads till next week.

This process has taken quite a bit of time, but the shop has treated me right. They actually knocked off a couple hundred bucks from my bill because they unintentionally yanked me around some earlier this week: saying the block would be done, only for me to arrive and it not be done...two days in a row. But they're good people, and made sure stuff was right, so it's no big deal.

For some reason I think I remember the last ohv we built didn't have that gasket either, think we just used rtv.ill look thro my pics.

Its to hear that they ordered the seat cutter, surprised they didn't have it but shows they did measure. Some guy on here once tried to tell me he's built all kinds of motors and didnt need to machine the heads, tried to tell him

 

[WilliamWallaceGS]

Well everyone, it's been way too long, and I wanted to close the loop...kind of.

i got everything back from the machine shop and installed it. The truck runs great, but I'm still slowly losing coolant (very slow, like an inch drop in reservoir over a month). There are NO external leaks, and my compression test shows everything in the 200+ psi range and relatively even. I get the slightest bit of oil still in the radiator. I flushed the radiator and heater core before the install, and figured it was just residual. But now it's been several months, and almost 3k miles later, and a little bit will show up after about a week. I do get a little water in the oil pan if I crack the drain plug after sitting for a day or two, so something still isn't right. It's nothing like before, not even close, but as we all know I should get NO oil in the radiator.

My original intake manifold was pretty pitted, but I used it since it was all I had at the time, so I have a new one from a later model that I've cleaned up and is pretty pit free, so I plan on changing that out here soon. So while I'm in there I'll do some checking.

I do have head studs, but I've gotten different torque values from the vendor and the manufacturer. I bought them from Morana, and he told me to torque them to 90 ft*lbs (which I did). After I found out I was still having issues I asked ARP and they told me to torque them to 80 ft*lbs (both specs with the ARP lube). I would think 10 ft*lbs over spec wouldn't be too bad, but I suppose it's possible I over torqued the gaskets. On the other hand, Morana should have experience with this, so I would imagine if he says 90 ft*lbs, it's good. I shot Morana an email but haven't heard back, haven't thought much to call him. I did double check my torque after a few heat up cycles last year on the head studs and the nuts moved a little bit, but not much. The head gaskets are Victor Reinz that came with the rebuild kit.

Has anyone else used the ARP head studs on the OHV with success? If so, what did you torque them to? I know they aren't too popular. Since I know my block and heads are good now, it has to be something in that joint between the head and block. I'm tossing the idea around of just going back to head bolts since those are proven to work using OEM specs, which would eliminate any guesswork with different torque values on the head studs, but then I would have a set of head studs I probably would never use.

One of these days, I will close this thread with "everything is good, thank God it's over". I want to do some more drive train mods soon, but I want to get the engine right before I touch anything else.

 

[jd4242]

Odd.sucks to hear its still not perfect hey if you do get ride of the bolts let me know, looking to get some soon.member dono has used them or is using them now.