I've had a few threads on here in the last two years since my engine build because I did not have near the power I expected. I received great help on timing and tuning the carburetor, however, nothing changed. Any time I parked on pavement, I noticed leaks everywhere below. Since I moved into a new house this past Fall with my own shop space, I decided to pull the motor; not only to fix leaks but to see what was going on inside. With not having help close by and spending a ton of time getting the hood aligned a while back, I pulled the front clip. This was definitely a great move. It was a piece of cake.

The heads popped off without the slightest of resistance. They were clearly not sealing. Look at the head mating surface in the first pic. In the last pic, you can see remnants of Fel-Pro head gaskets I had put on several years ago. The gaskets in the 2nd/3rd pics are garbage - definitely not the Fel-Pro you see left on the block.

I suspect I was burning coolant, hence the white valves. I never really noticed losing much of any or finding leaks but I could always smell it. The valves are sunken. The compression ratio was most likely less than projected. One side of the block had a zero deck height and the other was at least .008" below deck.

There are two shops nearby and I have been told to avoid both (one of them being who did the work you see here). Through another good recommendation, I found a great place a little over an hour away. They have the block now and are going through things as we speak.

A good buddy is sending oversize stainless valves. I'm ditching the HEI setup and going with a MSD 8477, coil, and wires. My Crane rocker conversion kit has been on backorder but I have roller rockers for this now as well. Hopefully this is the last time! Do your research and don't skimp anywhere; I should know by now.

 

To avoid sunken valves again, besides adding the stainless valves, you also need to have the machine shop install hardened valve seats on the exhaust valves.