I have used vaseline to prevent gaskets from moving when I'll re-install a part. Other than that, I can't say much else. A light coat of rtv on problematic spots has always worked for me, but I've never done that gasket.

 

Hmm Vaseline may have been a good idea. I ended up using permatex ultra black on both sides of my timing cover gasket, water pump gasket, and waterpump backing plate gasket. I then shoved a small dab permatex in the corners of the new oil pan gasket before the dips on both sides. I hope it all holds up... I waited about an hour to torque everything to spec, and It will be at least mid afternoon tomorrow before I can fill her up with oil and distilled water.

The oil pan gasket seemed to have a small amount of oil oil drip onto it before I bolted it up. I tried wiping it off, hopefully that doesn't affect the seal. I don't think it will because its a rubber with steel core gasket, not RTV, but I could be wrong.

I hope bolting the exhaust back up will go quickly. After that, the next biggest thing will be replacing the fuel injector o rings and RTVing the lower intake gasket. I think everything else will go quickly... well maybe timing it will be hard. I never have had to time the truck after the distributor has been pulled. (I marked the distributor, but I had to turn the crank a little to get the harmonic balancer off...)

 

Well bad news......

I put everything back together. I can't get the timing quite right yet but I know I would be able to fix it. It idles and I can pull the distributor and line up the timing marks better if needed...

The bad news is that I have a MAJOR exhaust leak somewhere and I don't know from where. It almost sounds as if I don't have any exhaust on.

I don't know if the head gaskets didn't seat right, the lower intake isn't seated right, or if the headers/pipe aren't connect well. I'm unsure what to test to proceed.

Does anyone have any ideas on what to check for where the leak is coming from? This is extremely depressing....

Edit: I may have figured something out. The one of the three bolts that holds the power steering/AC bracket in place would not bolt into the new heads. The top right bolt wouldn't bolt in the cylinder head, as if the bolt was either not long enough, or the bolt hole was too large. This would probably cause an exhaust lkea wouldn't it?

 

Hmmmmm I kinda doubt that the hole for that bolt would be through drilled but I could be wrong, to check for exhaust leaks around the headers and y pipe I always just put hand by the area to see if you can feel air pushing out, you usually can on exhaust leaks, then if nothing, investigate further with head gaskets and intake

 

Well last night I tried checking around the headers/y-pipe and couldn't feel any exhaust. I looked at my old heads (E7TE) and noticed that the hole where to AC/Power steering bracket goes to has some insert threaded into it to have the bolt fit. On the other cylinder head, the hole goes all the way through, and I can see small ports through it. I know that on the back of the heads, smog pump ports are bolted up to those holes.

I tried shoving the bolt in place to see if it did anything and the exhaust noise got quieter (still way too loud) so hopefully that is the ONLY leak I have.

The problem is, I don't know if I can get the insert out of the old heads, and a bigger bolt won't fit through my bracket....... I have to figure out what to do!

 

Man thats tough, good thing it is not at your headers or y pipe, you will have to do some research on that insert, i am not very familiar with the heads

 

Well I bought a "thermactor plug" from Ford with the part number F4ZZ-6E086-A. It was 22 dollars for a small bolt type thing that screwed into the hole and allowed the original 7/16th bracket to screw into that.

That took care of THAT problem, however, upon further investigating I noticed my Y-pipe IS leaking right were it bolts to the cat. I saw some smoke coming out of the cat/Y-pipe connection. Hopefully I can just bolt that down some more and it will be good. I read that smoke leaking BEFORE the cat is normal, but if there is smoke AFTER, then that's bad. Hopefully the smoke isn't coolant getting into the exhaust! The oil looked fine from the dipstick so I think I may be okay.

I'm thinking maybe because it's not timed right, there is a bunch of excess fuel and that is the smoke coming up. Hopefully that's it because if it was water.... I'd be super depressed!

I need to get it timed too... the timing light I have has a terrible light so it's hard to tell where it's at during this time of day.... I hope I can get this fixed by today!!!!

 

What kind of smoke is it? Also did you let the engine warm up? And if you did, did the smoke go away? I ask because there might be a chance it's steam from the condensation in your pipes. You let a vehicle sit long enough and water builds up in the pipes and steams out. Just a thought.

Also, go to an auto parts store and look for Seafoam, run a little in your engine through a vacuum hose like the brake booster and that will create a white smoke as it's burnt. Sometimes that can help find an exhaust leak. Seafoam (if you don't know) helps clean some of the gunky carbon out of your engine. As it runs through the intake and into the engine it gets burnt and pushed out through the exhaust. It's worth a shot.

 

I was going to mention Seafoam, but Dylan beat me to it.

 

Thanks guys, well I got the truck timed and the exhaust tightened up.

The exhaust is no longer loud, but I'm getting excessive backfire and stumbling upon acceleration. I might get seafoam to see if there is a vacuum leak or something. My truck runs now but not very well.

The engine sounds slightly different too, as if the valve train or something is a little nosier. I can't quite tell where its coming from or if it is something I should worry about. Hopefully not because I don't have much time to tear my truck apart again..

 

Well I drove it around a little bit and there are still some issues.

I checked the timing, and it was at 10, then forgot to plug the spout back in. With the spout OUT, it ran great. There were no issues. Then my CEL came on and I realized I forgot to put in the spout connecter. As soon as I put the spout back IN, the stumbling/backfiring continued. The bronco runs well enough to drive around and get to highway speeds, but it will backfire/stumble tremendously when giving a lot of throttle with the spout plugged in.

I don't know what to look at for this... since I reset the codes, none have come up. Also I noticed a squeaking from the engine that is proportional the the RPMS. I don't know if maybe it could be an exhaust leak, or valve-train noise.

I didn't have a tool to check the pushrod length when putting them back in, but the AFR instructions said the stock length pushrods are required, so i reused mine.

 

Alright another update! The squeaking is coming from the belt so it should be a relatively easy fix. My truck was intermittently running alright with the spout plugged in but still backfires a lot. The stumbling occurs in low rpm or around 3500-4000.

This was the problem I was trying to correct with new heads. Apparently the work I have done seemed to slightly magnify the original problem I had.

I have no CEL or stored codes so it's confusing what could cause this. I'm thinking it's either the remanufactured distributors pip going out AGAIN or maybe my MAF sensor.. otherwise I'm at loss at what it is.

 

Have you cleaned the MAF sensor recently?

For a vacuum leak get some MAF cleaner (clean the sensor too ) or brake parts cleaner and spray around the intake. I'd the rpms kick up then you've got a vacuum leak. Seafoam won't really help with a vacuum leak like it would with an exhaust leak. I use brake parts cleaner but my 78 will burn almost anything but with the different sensors you might need something a bit less harsh like MAF cleaner.

Anyways point is, when you spray it, the vacuum leak will suck it in and the rpms will jump a bit.

 

have you tried checking your valve adjustment, this could be part of the issue

 

I cleaned the MAF sensor about two months ago but I'll try to do it again. I'll also check for vacuum leaks with the MAF cleaner or carb cleaner. I did hook up a vacuum gauge to the throttle body and there didn't seem to be anything weird with the vacuum.