Yes sir i did spot the post on lifters not bleeding down and the think out of one. As well as loss of vac from the turkey pan. I'm actually off tomorrow and Thursday but I'll be closing 1-10 on Friday and 8-5 on Saturday. That wee scuff mark may not be too bad and lifter break in isn't too hard on a new set of non Pumps. I like my lunati lifters but the comps have worked well for me as well. Just check the wear pattern on the cam.

 

I don't know about high heat, I meant like around the intake ports. Any silicone will shrivel up around gas, even the Ultra Black or Grey is silicone based. Honda Bond is thin so you cant build it up like silicone will build for end walls. Honda Bond will even seal up hydraulic oils. It's good stuff that was originally designed to seal 2 stroke cases, dirt bikes, chain saws, etc. stuff that silicone won't handle.

 

You're using way too much sealant on the heads. A thin line suffices.

This stuff works a charm :

https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/edl-9300

When you get the fel-pro intake gaskets, you'll see how small the bead of sealant is.

They have it 'built in' on one side of the gasket.

I would never have guessed the problem to be so many sh$tty lifters.

 

Well you guys were right about my gasket material. Went to start up the truck, and it sounded very odd. A nice hissing sound coming from the motor (obvious gasket leak at the intake LOL).

The truck had a SUPER hard time running, so I just turned it off and left it there for the moment... until those FEL-1240 gaskets come in and I can buy some gasket maker sealer material.

I've heard great things about Gasgacinch, but I don't think we can get it in Canada.... something about dangerous hydrocarbons + shipping??? Not sure, I'll look into it.

For Hondabond, what's the part number that you guys use?

EDIT:
Looks like I can't get Edelbrock's product locally, but I can get Permatex High Tack which seems to be an equivalent (or almost equivalent) product. Comes in the same style can as the Gasgacinch and has the brush in the cap.
If I lay down a thin thin thin layer of the high tack, put on the Felpro 1240, let them set up, then put a thin thin thin layer of the high tack on intake port mating surfaces, I think I should be okay.

What do you guys think?

 

The Right Stuff gasket maker was highly recommended to me buy local racers.

 

Aaron
Did you have the block decked and the heads surfaced? If so did they cut the manifold to match the heads if not it may never seal.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-OEM...v8mm:rk:1:pf:0
Hondabond 4

 

Block was decked (0.005" or less). Heads were shaved 0.008" exactly. 0.013" shouldn't make that big of a difference, but it will make some.

We're talking on the order of magnitude of 0.3302 mm or roughly 3 human hairs wide.

EDIT: Thanks for the extremely fast response guys. Everyone must be drinking their coffee and eating their wheaties this morning

 

Aaron
You don't need a bunch of goop to seal an intake if it fits correctly. I just re-used a valley pan gasket on a Cleveland with a very minimal amount of Permatex black and it's sealed perfectly. But it was a cast iron 4V manifold. Have you sat that manifold on without gaskets and looked closely to see if it is down on the heads nice and even? You know it's possible that the heads could have been cut before you got them. I have a set of D3ZE heads that were supposed to have came from an unmolested original engine but when I checked them they had already had .025 cut off of them. No big deal but you never know.

 

The intake does sit nice and even on the heads when I dry fit it before reinstalling again. I used the 2 plastic nipples and some other key features of the heads to ensure that everything was even.

I would doubt that my heads have ever been shaved before - the motor had the nylon timing chain, and stock sized pistons with zero overbore. If the motor ever was rebuilt, it was done with stock replacement parts and there's a very very low chance they shaved the heads before reassembling.

In other news, I talked to shop on Friday and we've got a plan of attack to get me some new lifters. Big caveat is that the shop wants to see the lifters so they can try to break them free - I said "what's the point? New lifters are cheap and I'm still covered under warranty". After that, the conversation went smoothly but the shop is still extremely curious to see the lifters for themselves so that they can inspect them and see what the problem is... which is understandable if nobody has ever had an issue before me.

My response was "there's a first time for everything.... and 6 of 16 lifters are not moving the full 0.100" as they're supposed to...". So in the end, the plan is to get a full new set of lifters, and we're currently negotiating on whether or not to go a different lifter route (Comp lifters versus replacing with Melling lifters again).

I presonally would prefer Comp lifters, 840-35 seem to be the best bang for my buck - slightly better than stock replacement lifters, but nothing too fancy cause hey it's just a lifter lol.

My intake gaskets arrived in the city today, so once I get the lifters sorted out, I will be posting up some "final" results of everything I did, hopefully with some numbers + comments on how "steady" my vacuum needle is Fingers crossed!

 

The basic Comp lifters and the Melling lifters may be made in the same factory... unless one is Chinese, which should be on the box...

 

Excellent point. From the short chat I had on the phone with the shop, I found out that there are only a handful of lifter manufacturer's out there nowadays. One box claims to come from Comp Cams, the other claims to come from Melling. Both have the same country of origin lol. It's pretty easy to draw the conclusion that most lifters (stock replacements like I'm working with) come from the same place, but are sold under different names.

Potatoe Potato

 

Good news.

Spoke with the shop again and we're going to investigate my lifters on Friday. I'm going to yank the intake back off in order to yank the lifters and bring them down to the shop for the shop to inspect, and throw in a arbor press to see if they can get them to move.

They're not convinced that the lifters have failed or that they're permanently pumped up, and they just need to be run in a lot more and they'll eventually break free and have their full length of travel (0.100") - I think that's fair given the number of hours the motor has run, but I guess throwing them in a press will be the real test. I was mentioning to the shop too that maybe they were assembled wrong? It's not an uncommon thing to hear that a lifter is bound up inside because of poor assembly.

The shop is rush ordering a new set of 16 lifters to replace the ones I was given and they'll be here on Friday. We'll compare the old ones and new ones, and go from there.

Now just to make myself a decent little box that can hold the lifters and keep them matched in case I want to reuse any of them... I'll have more info on Friday evening I guess? We'll see! I'm hopeful.

 

Don't let the shop BS you.

Lifters don't ''eventually break free''.

They were sufficiently 'run in' with the cam break in.

Good luck on Friday.

 

Those were my thoughts too, but I'll let him do his thing and I'll do my thing. My thing is going to include - disassembling a lifter to see the score marks on the inside of the piston bore after it gets thrown in an arbour press

If I could compress all but 6 of them (by hand) after blowing the oil out of them with compressed air, there's certainly something wrong with the remaining 6 (blockage, remaining oil, or assembled wrong).