Finally found root cause of this thing coming apart... After disassembly of the heads I found 2 valves with rotators so FML... Waiting on single groove valves and 10* retainers, locks, and new Springs to come in. Rod on#4 is definitely toast so shopping rods or gonna recon another of my multiple sets and slap in some ARP rods bolts again... Shoulda checked the guys work when I got heads back first time but hey 4 years and lots of spray? Surprised heads held up this long ����

 

Not sure if I understand your quench area. You're not saying you only had .002" clearance are you?

 

.002 below deck as the assembled height is 10.290 with my cleaned up deck height at 10.292.

 

.041 compressed head gasket thickness. Found some MLS gaskets but IDK. .030 or .035 may be pushing it I think

 

I found pistons locally!!!!! Flat tops all day for a 400 Ford!!! Negotiating price, shop wants to expand their services sooo we'll see

 

Still waiting on valves to ship. Thinking of cancelling after over a week. Rest is already enroute

 

Looks like the stock Ford 2 piece valve ? If so they will break apart just like that one once they hit a piston.

 

One piece with rotator on 2 valves. Should have checked before putting heads on my engine but I got in a hurry and just wanted to run. My BIG mistake. **** happens though right?

 

Get some good one piece stainless valves and get rid of the rotators. Check retainer to guide clearance. Have the heads milled for spring seat cups, p.c. seals, studs and guide plates if you going to run it hard or better yet, look for a set of Australian heads so you can get some real compression out of it.

 

It'll end up with Aussie heads eventually. Complete valvetrain enroute from TMI. Just got confirmation on invoice payment so that's good. I'm working with a guy on some billet goodies for my ride and hopefully if it goes good well have some to put out to everyone. Working out material costs and tooling costs this week

 

Check piston to valve, spring bind, spring installed height, retainer to guide clearance, valve seal clearance, rocker clearance all the way through the cycle. Check all the valve tip heights, make sure they are all within .005. Degree the cam in too, don't just take the hand that is dealt to you, you make your own luck in engine building. If you are going to really lean on it I'd get the heads cut for spring seat cups, those springs will need a lot more stability with high revs. Check push rod length, aftermarket cams could be ground on a different base circle than a stock one and with milling the block, heads, seat and valve grinding you probably have way too many things changed for it to use the stock length and don't forget to add the lifter preload figure (I use .030) to the length you come up with.

 

All very good info, this setup is getting a better top end treatment than last time. Retainer to seal and retainer to guide will be first check. As I don't expect to roll past 6500 ever I don't think spring seat cups are really "needed" yet... Yet being the precursor to engine #7... If this holds up I'm taking this exact setup and changing 4 things for #7 adding boost, 4032 billet pistons, and Aussie or AFD heads as well as either billet rods or maybe aluminum rods for Alky setup. Dunno yet on 7 just concentrating on#6 though

 

What is the canter on these heads and the valve angle? Somewhere I read exhaust was 3 degrees and intake was 4.25 with 9.5 valve angle. Does this sound right?