Just finished getting everything together.... I'm cleaning up the garage and found that valley pan that sits on top of the block under the intake. Is that essential? I really don't want to tear that thing apart again, especially since I left the original 70 lb intake on it.

 

 

 

I haven't started her up yet, once I saw that I had missed the valley pan I figured I better ask some pros. First time I'm rebuilding an engine, just been going by the shop manual to figure things out. Watched tons of youtube too, but there's a lot of variance person to person as to what to do. What temp is within an ok range for the intake manifold? If I use a infrared temp gun to check it out...

 

If you didn't block off the exhaust crossover, the oil slinging up will tend to cook on the exhaust passage bottom without the baffle. Nevermind the oil making the intake hotter, the exhaust crossover accomplishes that itself, far more than the hot oil ever will.

 

So basically best bet is to buy a couple new gaskets and spend a couple hours taking care of it now?

 

If you didn't block the exhaust crossover ? Yea.

 

I forgot about the crossover since I've kept it blocked for years.

If the engine is still on the floor and not yet dressed to run then consider installing the shield. If it's in the truck, filled on antifreeze, and fully dressed to run then I'd run it and check for leaks, break in the cam (if you installed a new flat tappet cam), etc just to see if there's anything else that needs attention before putting in the effort to install the shield.

 

I'm not sure how to block the crossover, so I'm sure I didn't. It's got the water pump, fan, and thermostat on it already. It is a new cam... I'll probably just run it because more problems might come up from that. It wouldn't hurt to do that right?

 

Performance intake gaskets either come with some thin metal plates to block the passages or the gasket itself doesn't have the passages cut out. I'm like 65 Ford, I block all mine. The only negative effect to this is winter driveability before the engine warms up. I don't drive these vehicles enough in winter to need to keep them open. The gasses will corrode an aluminum intake over time.

 

Won't hurt to run it for a little just to iron out any bugs. You can install the shield anytime after that. Also, 2X on what baddad457 said on blocking it off.

Since you sound relatively new to this, I'll mention to be careful breaking in the cam. Most guys use a special break in oil like from Brad Penn, Joe Gibbs, Valvoline VR1, etc. And then run the high zinc oil from then on. For cam break in have gas in the carb, prime the oil by removing the distributor and running the oil pump with a drill. With the valve covers off watch to make sure oil is coming through all rockers. I like a pressure gauge on the oil filter adaptor at least during the initial startup. Then when you're ready to start up, you want the engine to fire quickly after you hit the key. Do a quick timing check to make sure it's reasonable. Then get it up to 2000 rpm or so varying the rpm up and down for 20 minutes. Have someone check for leaks but keep it running unless something is really peeing on the floor or bad sounds are heard.

 

yes mine were blocking it off... I remember it being labeled as to what end goes forward because the gasket blocked the passageways. I am using royal purple for the oil. I already primed the pump when I installed it but will be sure to do so again. I just finished putting the distributer in and made sure my timing was top dead center on one and started the rotor out on the number one cylinder. Any other major things to be aware of before I break her in?

 

I can't think of anything major. You might pressure test the cooling system for leaks before firing it up.

 

Make sure the #1 is on the compression stroke as well . Crank rotates two turns in the firing order. Also watch the pushrods to make sure they're all rotating. If none are the lifter isn't either and it's already well on it's way to wiping the cam lobe. I would have inspected all the lifter bottoms before dropping them in place to be sure they're machined correctly and the bottom is convex (slightly domed) and made sure they all rotate freely in their bores. I've had two cam failures on break in and both were because the lifters didn't get rotated by the cam lobe at startup. Too much lube is as bad as not enough here. The cam lobe has to get enough traction to spin the lifter and the lifter face has to be convex for this to happen.

 

Yeah I forgot that it has to be on the compression stroke... figured I'd just put my thumb over the spark hole to make sure. Lifters were in good shape, the machine shop checked them out to make sure so that's good. So when I do go to run it should I run it off of a gas tank on the side to make sure it's getting good gas? I replaced the valve seats so they're hardened but should I still run 90 octane?