A good way to see how things are running or a good way to make a mess?


Also, what is the torque specs for the rocker arm bolts?

Thanks,

 

Good way to make a mess.

 

I sawed the top off of my covers to try and find a ticking noise in the valvetrain. Can't run it very long though. It won't spray everywhere but it will run off the back.

 

FYI, I found the torque specs!

I figured it was a good way to make a mess. But, I thought I heard of folks running for a bit to check for noises and see if there was oil getting up into the valve covers.

 

I missed that part. It should be 45 ft lbs.

 

I think I went 50 lb/ft.

What about those head bolts? I tried to go 90lb/ft as reccomended in my Fel-pro gasket guide. I'm not sure if my wrench is working well. It feels like I'm putting a lot of muscle into it. I'm 5'10", 175lbs.

Should I be working that hard to tighten the head bolts?

It could just be that hey are harder to get to in the engine bay than when I installed them on the stand. I feel like I'm going to be wrenching and slip an knock the !@#$ out of my head or other appendage.

 

90 ft lbs takes a good bit of leverage. Its really scarry with aluminum heads. I remember loosening the factory bolts on my buddies 95 5.0L heads. With a 1 1/2" breaker bar it took everything I had. I am 6'2" and weigh 230 lbs. My buddy who was about 5'8" 180lbs couldn't break them loose. Edelbrock said to go 110 ft lbs on the long bolts for my engine but I got scared. I went 90 on the short and 100 on the long. Whatcha doin with the heads off anyway man? Something go wrong?

 

Nothing wrong. Just never really went back into to check the torque after doing all the work a year and a half ago. I was hoping that maybe they were leaking a little, making extra noise and hindering performance. But, that's a stretch.

I thought maybe I would go so far as to pull the heads and measure the stroke and take some pics of the pistons so you guys could help determine my compression ratio. Who knows, I may find out that I have a 7:1 compression 360 or 352 with way too much carb and cam :-) That wouild be about how the rest of this truck project has gone.

 

Yup, it's going to seem like a lot more effort in the engine compartment than on the engine stand. I still remember re-torquing the head bolts on my '71 Mach I way back when. Has it been 25 years? Wow! 160 ft/lbs with a beam type torque wrench. Not only was it a bear but I had to watch the scale too. Didn't take long to get a clicker after that one.
Just my $.02
Greg

 

That's cool. Pics would be cool. That would suck to find out it was a 360.

 

I used to check the rocker arm noise, oiling, lifter stickiness and cam condition by running with the covers off. We'd take a 2X4 and press on the cam side of each rocker to make it tap if it was not sticky, with cardboard as the 'oil catcher' stuffed down below the valves. The pushrods should be rotating if the cam/lifters are in good shape. Sitting still meant that the lifter was not turning, and thus the bottom was probably worn concave. Oil should be sliding out past the rockers on the shaft AND going down the valve end of the rocker a little thru the drilled hole.
You all probably know all this already so I'll shut up.
tom

 

Well, I got it back together. And it seems to run normally.

I really thought this was going to be one of those times when I regreted even tearing into it.

It's always those exploratory adventures that end up with major repairs :-)

I'll get back in there soon to check the stroke and get some pics of those pistons. I may take that opportunity to put in the much needed Edelbrock Heads.

I don't even know why I'm messing with the engine, the body work is really what's needed.

 

Did you measure the stroke when the heads were off?

 

No, I didn't have the heads off recently. The last time they were off was over a year ago. I was just checking the torque on the head bolts.

I might try the wire thru the spark plug hole, but that doesn't seem real accurate to me. I figure the angle of the wire and the changing angle of the wire render it somewhat inaccurate.

 

> remember loosening the factory bolts on my buddies 95
> 5.0L heads. With a 1 1/2" breaker bar it took everything I had.

Usually if you heat the bolts (since you are ditching them anyway) you can destroy the loc-tite and then they come out easy.