Fresh 'NOS' 289 Motor

[Duke Mk1a]

Not much room to add spacers. Thats why there are no raised fins at the rear of the valve covers. The metal core gaskets are about it.

 

[P. Scofield]

Duke, sure, you can say that when you're popping 456 HP!! Waaassssssuup!

Seriously, you have a good point. Although of you saw my garages in the past, you would realize there is no such thing as a dusty corner. My new garage in Vegas needs to be Pimped, and this will take me a couple months to get it straight before starting next fall. The restoration of my Series III GT was done body last. Everything was restored and boxed as it was removed from the car. My theory was, once I had the body complete, I wanted to be able to start bolting fresh things right up. This I thought would avoid walking around a freshly painted body for what ended up being a couple years, and posibly puting dings in it. It worked for me.

I actually was leaning the other direction this time. I think a freshly painted body will be some real motivation starting at me every day. To tell you the truth, i dont even know what condition my engine(s) are in. The car came with two, the original and what is suppose to be an old school hi performance rebuild. I will most likely take a look at these last.

I am going to look at that magazine. Thanks!

Get the May Classic Motorsports magazine. Read the article Restoration Mistakes.

#3 - Rebuilding the engine too soon.

Our rule is simple: Don't rebuild the engine till it's time to put it back in. We've seen too many engines rebuilt early in the restoration only to sit and degrade in a dusty corner of the shop. Not only that, but and engine rebuild sucks a lot of money out of the budget. If that money gets spent early, it sometimes means cost-cutting in important areas, like paint and body. You can always paint a used engine, put it back in, and pull it for a rebuild later. Try redoing the budget bodywork because you spent too much too early on your engine.

very true words....BTDT.

 

[DD (CA)]

Gasket and intake less than fun

So...

As discussed, the rockers were hitting the baffles. So, the FelPro double cork with metal insert gaskets were test installed and this appears (will be putty checked) to provide clearance. Beefs I have with it; A: dern thick, B: Off-set from valve covers a bit. In fact , the VC themselves seem a bit offset, the overlap on the side is greater than that in the valley... Makes me pondering a swap to baffleless.

Duke, I do recall your PCV fix and you were so kind as to provide one, which I had planned on using, baffle or not.

Some of the gaskets overhang into valley from heads or IM, can you just razor cut those? Or paint to match is better?

And a new find, which frankly, I feel the shop should have caught...wth. Take a look at the intake to distributor opening. Overhang will have to be 'clearanced'. Certainly this would have been easier with the IM off, pre-sealing, no. Come on guys...

Fancy bolts, yay. And will have rear VC as allen key, thanks for that tip.

Anyway, moving closer to having a motor with no place to go. yet.

Derek

 

[Warren]

Rube

Goldberg had a stainless steel pot scrubber mashed up in the breather/oil fill area of my beauty. Simple yet effective I guess, but on the shelf with those non numbers matching valve covers. Hope the v/c doesn't bang your firewall up Mon

 

[cadreamn67]

So...
Fancy bolts, yay. And will have rear VC as allen key, thanks for that tip.

Derek

A cautionary note. I put allen head bolts at the back of my LAT style cast VC which also sit on the double thick VC gaskets like you have. I then installed the motor with the valve covers only snugged down, but not firmly. Big mistake.

I had a really hard time tightening down the back bolts after the engine was in. As you know, there is a plugged access hole in the firewall for the back driver's side bolt. There is not enough room to get a 90 degree allen key into the allen head bolt and then turn it any meaningful amount. And I could not access it from the engine bay side because everything now sits up so high. I eventually used a short piece of straight allen key stock and stuck it in the allen head bolt. I then wrenched the bolt down tight. It would have been a lot simpler if I had just had a regular hex head bolt and used my gear wrench on it.

On the passenger side the only way I could get that back bolt tight was a Rube Goldberg string of hex stock and flex head socket and extension.

Maybe others have better luck than me with all this. I think I have a rare nack of finding the hardest solution to any problem and trying it first.

Gene

 

[Erich]

My solution was to use a long hex bolt (2 inches or so). To that I welded a spacer tube about 1 1/2 inches long. This raised the hex up high enough that you could get on it with a short socket and ratchet. You can see the bolt sticking up back there but it is not noticeable unless I point it out to someone.

The lengths I am quoting are from memory and do not come with any guarantee of accuracy. I recall that I made mine a little taller that necessary. If you hit it just right you can have the hex head a bit below the valve cover but still get on it with just a regular socket and ratchet.

 

[DD (CA)]

Orig aftermarket bolts v. Erich v. Allen V. ARP

Erich, enjoy your design...

I think that's kind of what had been on there previously, so I do have the elongation option. The issue is that I assume the new VC with thick gaskets to have less clearance than the older ones still. So, having a longer post sticking out may create more access issues.

I dunno and am probably over thinking this. I like the look of the ARPs.

Enjoy the hacked off cooling fins on the drivers side...tight in there.

Thanks for the excuse to search these pictures. Car coming along... ;-)

 

[cobrakidz]

These cars are definitely an exercise in patience......

 

[Tiger tamer]

My solution was to use a long hex bolt (2 inches or so). To that I welded a spacer tube about 1 1/2 inches long. This raised the hex up high enough that you could get on it with a short socket and ratchet. You can see the bolt sticking up back there but it is not noticeable unless I point it out to someone.

The lengths I am quoting are from memory and do not come with any guarantee of accuracy. I recall that I made mine a little taller that necessary. If you hit it just right you can have the hex head a bit below the valve cover but still get on it with just a regular socket and ratchet.

I did the same sort of technique as Erich. Makes it easy to get at.