It’s one hell of a project. You’ll get grand champion with all the data you are releasing.

 

The detail, the data, is what I did for 32 years. I acutally do more detail when I've restored Mustangs.

If you go back to the first video I did, it was Forensics, so at that point, I had all the damage and poor work documented. Having worked in accident reconstruction and the fieldwork of brake issues, I was documenting in case of a lawsuit about this motor. The lawyer said he didn't have hope. No one should, or continue, to be dealing with paying this type of money for crap. So I had a fully torn down motor. With a lot of videos and pictures.

My grandson, who is hundreds of miles away, has shown interest in working on vehicles, but no one around him is mechanical. So at first, it was just going to be something I could provide. It morphed from there, me getting up my curiosity looking into the issues we all see. But I'm running off one motor, from one perspective, in a two-car garage, with opinions, fully aware I could get things wrong. In R&D, you have to be ready that 90% of your theories may be wrong.

I have walked away from this project soooo many times.

 

I know myself and many that appreciate your investigation and break downs. I’ll be smiling for you when you crank it up for the first time.

 

I'm gonna' have my fingers and toes crossed, and a bottle of bubbly in the fridge. There BETTER be a video of the start up!

 

I went back and forth studs or bolts. Honestly I don't think it matters with the head tenting issue.... I didn't want to pay for overpriced ARP... Built many motors over past 30+ years and some things just don't seem worth the expense never been a fan of ARP. I ended up with the cheaper $280 xotic (Made in Van Nuys, CA), but not the $1100 ARP nor chinese $100 junk ones either.

See if this was a good decision or bad one a year plus from now since motor not even built yet.

 

Couldn't agree more!

 

Last time I checked (early this year) ARP studs could be found at several places for $500.

 

The video that came out of this. Unlisted for now, until I fully check for errors and ommissions, and see how it plays on YT.

 

I don't have o-ringed heads or the equipment to test them as Fel-Pro does. For them, I can only take what we all can from reading the literature.

The last part of this series started with this thread.

 

Jack, absolutely stellar research. Thanks very much for sharing it. I also like your quote about the mechanic vs. tech definition. Being an RV Tech as a trade, this makes me think and strive to continue to learn and become better at my craft and go beyond "tech" status.

I did have a question. Does the deck flatness issue show itself with the block or is the block pretty reliable at keeping a flat surface?

 

Thanks.

I didn't get much sleep last night (feels like I should go to bed right now) so could you elaborate on "Does the deck flatness issue show itself with the block or the block pretty reliable at keeping a flat surface"?

 

yes sir....just meaning does the block need flattening to achieve the flat surface that the heads seem to need most of the time? If you were to do gaskets on a 6.0, and you had the heads decked for flatness, would you assume the block needs it also? I am asking as I constantly wonder about getting a 6.0 and this would help my knowledge base a little.

 

I think a normal OE deck should be OK in that irregularities would be within the tolerance of the gaskets. Keep in mind I've only had my block to make this statement from.

However, I'm not a person who is OK with the manufacturer's concept of a cleaned surface. While they state it's just stained, I'm prejudiced from having worked where we bonded carbon fiber to aluminum and epoxied aluminum together. While a gasket is not an adhesive seal, I really prefer to have it in contact with a very clean surface. I've used the lapping technique for cleaning just about every engine I've done where I did not have the deck or head milled. In my 6.0 case, I've had to correct for the tented heads, which are well within the Ford spec of leaving them along, and certainly had to correct the deck surfaces that were poorly milled and very much exceeded the surface roughness of even the wider Fel-Pro capability.