Help! What has happened here?

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by HO455

The whole needing to buy $500 dollars worth of extras to install a Vortex made it not worth doing. I discussed getting one from them but it was going to be $2700 by the time I was done.
The interweb is full of crate motor horror stories and the best way to avoid them is to buy local. E-Pay and wallmart do not get my money. I try to support local businesses and I know these guys have been around for years. I have never done business with them before now but, I have seen them at numerous swap meets over the years. (Archie Somers is my go to guy for engine machine work, but his wait list is months and I wanted to get the Burban back on the road after the old 305 lost a main bearing.)
If it blows up in my face so be it, but after talking to them today I don't believe that is going to be the outcome. Either way I will post it.

Originally Posted by HO455

I've got the heads home and everything is clean and ready to go. I have backed off from the 1:6 ratio rockers as it will spiral into new springs, then screw in studs, then might as well get some full roller rockers. I just need this to be a reliable driver for now. Too many other things need attention now.
I will have to look up the tool to modify the guides. I need the price to tell the better half how once again the milling machine saved me from having to buy another tool. One of the best $800 I ever spent.

The guys at Larry's Machine shop have been great through all this. They replaced the valve in question and provided the gaskets. No questions asked! Perfect!!

Thats awesome they are taking care of you! Thats the way its supposed to be. I am a huge fan of supporting local business.

I bet that motor runs at least 100k miles with no other issues.

[Chevyrestorerman]

Did the machine shop replace the stud as well ?

They did not charge you for any of the work ?

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Chevyrestorerman

Did the machine shop replace the stud as well ?

They did not charge you for any of the work ?

Yes, the stud was replaced, new valve (#6 exhaust), new gaskets, different rockers, all valves removed and qualified at no charge.

[Chevyrestorerman]

I would of thought they would of replaced the intake valve for #6 since that was the rocker/push rod damaged area not the exhaust.
What type of rockers did you say they installed ?

[HO455]

Whoops! My bad it was the intake valve, not the exhaust valve. The rockers are later model self aligning 1:5 ratio rockers.

The engine is back together and running nicely. Smooth and no misfires! I spent about two hours filing the header gasket flanges and it has made a difference in the noise level inside the Burban. It would have been much easier to clean the flanges up at work, (Nice big belt sander there) but I didn't want to wait another day to get back on the road.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed their time and knowledge to the thread!

[mattfranklin]

Originally Posted by HO455

Whoops! My bad it was the intake valve, not the exhaust valve. The rockers are later model self aligning 1:5 ratio rockers.

The engine is back together and running nicely. Smooth and no misfires! I spent about two hours filing the header gasket flanges and it has made a difference in the noise level inside the Burban. It would have been much easier to clean the flanges up at work, (Nice big belt sander there) but I didn't want to wait another day to get back on the road.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed their time and knowledge to the thread!

Congrats!!! Great news. Glad to hear you're back in business.

Another possible option on header gaskets... I was guided toward the Remflex thick ones. For my headers my machinist recommended part number 2006. The rest of my front end is not yet together, but I plan to get it going in the next month or so and begin testing them.

[sweetk30]

header gaskets at engine trick i have used and was shown years ago .

2 sets of basic felpro exhaust manifold gaskets . double them up and tighten down and good to go .

[HO455]

The biggest issue with getting headers to seal is the fact that the flange surfaces ( The raised bead around the port that contacts the gasket) are very rarely flat and in plane with each other. If they are not true then you have to rely on the bolts to bend the flange plate enough to get consistent pressure around the flange surface to clamp the gasket equally around the port. Not likely in most cases.
Using a large belt sander to grind all four ports at once will get you the flat and true surface that will allow most gaskets to work. ( It can be done with a file and a carpenter's level that is longer than the header flange plate. With careful filing and frequently checking to make sure you are staying in plane you can get the same result. It just takes longer.) In addition it is good to have the width of the raised surface to be between 1/8 and 3/16" wide and fairly close to the same width across on all of the flanges so the gasket crushes equally on all tubes.
This usually requires a couple of hours to get a pair of headers so they will be heartache free. The factory spent less that 1/4 of that time building them from scratch in whatever foreign land they like. I once put 10 hours into making a set of AMC dogleg headers work. They have about 19000 miles on the first set of gaskets installed.
Oh look! Now I've highjacked my own thread.