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I think about an hour later I had the intake manifold off, and nothing bad jumped out at me, the old gasket actually looked pretty good, though I had to tear it into three pieces to get it off cause I used some adhesive to set it in place especially around the water ports
then the unfun part of the project began, hint: gasket scraper this is where we leave off for the night, the new gasket goes on in the AM naturally we had some gorgeous weather in the high 70*s already except for today and tomorrow, it is raining like cats and dogs and so its kinda cold and windy |
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so I pride myself on keeping a clean engine bay, so I can't believe how dirty my brand new (one year old to be exact) intake manifold got on a newly rebuilt engine in just one year of driving
this proves to me that there are two kinds of cars, trailer queens and daily drivers, and it's just darn hard to keep our dailies spic n span clean oh there may be some weekend warriors in the middle of those two extremes those are the guys who spend more time washing their cars than driving them though - they also most likely own BMW motorcycles, ha ha For The Record - we took this intake and the valve covers to the car wash where we power washed them proper |
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... yes I do all of my own stunts
(Thanks Pontiac Mike for taking this action shot for me) |
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so after a test drive and toppin' off the coolant and allowing the rig to sit over night, this mornin' I decided to do a pressure test on the cooling system
as always I started to pump it up to 15 PSI when I saw this... it ain't easy folks, it ain't easy |
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fortunately it turned out to be just a loose hose clamp, so lets see if she can hold the pressure now
(Did I mention how highly I recommend gettin' one of these radiator pressure tester pump thingies, I got this Mityvac one on Amazon and I love it) I belive they used to be metal now they is plastic, but times are a changin' so it will have to do |
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I always say, if you can't beat 'em - FKM. Whhaaat?
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Anyway, this is good, practical information and much appreciated. I hope this new gasket set works well for you. I'll be watching with interest.
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So One Week and 200 miles later Bad News - Same Problem, milk shake, coolant in the oil, and radiator low on coolant, sucks!
Where do we go from here? Well I have replaced the head gaskets already a few months back and that didn't fix it so I have another set of Vortec heads which I am going to take to a machine shop to have the Basic Head Service done on them (wash, magnaflux ie check for cracks, new guides, valve job, etc.) then I will swap the heads and see if that fixes the problem, if not then I know it's a cracked block, well maybe. I may also take the take off heads to the machine shop to have them check them, but since this is my daily driver I need the truck daily. the overlow reservoir was full last weekend, now completely dry, but that may have been do to the system not being perfectly topped off, cause in the past this thing was low but never dry |
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I really hope you get ole rusty fixed up.
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If you have leaks into the cylinders you'll get a jumpy needle on the cooling system pressure gauge with the engine running.
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so just dropped off my spare set of 1999 Chevy Suburban Vortec cylinder heads at Nichols & Sons Machine Shop in Sacramento, California for a basic head job (clean, magnaflux, valve job, resurface, paint, and assemble) I provide the valve stem oil seals
Anyone care to guess how much this will cost me in 2018 in California? Keep in mind these are 18 year old junkyard heads that we pulled for a cheap build! |
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$468
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Nah....I don't know.....but guessing might be cheaper to buy a new set alloys!
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could someone explain to me how replacing the intake manifold gasket caused my 1 year old starter solenoid to fail, ha ha
right after I replaced that intake gasket I battled hard starts when the engine was warm/hot it sounded like the engine was fighting itself when I tried to start it when it was already hot of course I blame the long tube headers, hee hee I share this with you, because I thought what's the deal do I have too much timing, well that couldn't have been it cause I am running less initial advance now by 2* than I was before ok, what is it vapor lock in the carb, must be the carb - - - nope below is a pic of my old starter (or partial pic) my buddy Pontiac Mike taught me my old starter was not a high torque starter (not that that's what the problem was, it's just that there's two kinds) when the solenoid is bolted directly down to the starter like in this pic its a low torque, if it has a long copper looking spacer behind it it's high torque (second pic) sorry I don't have better pics, I literally replaced the starter in an ally behind McDonald across the street from my work yesterday (Friday morning) Roadkill Style - LOL |
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you guys heard of the Occam's razor principle?
I believe it's the idea that sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution. Let me give you an example: The other day I was at an open mike event when we could not hear the performer, well after toying with the karate-okie machine it turned out that the microphone was OFF, and after the singer turned it ON, the guitar player in the background was overheard blurring out "Occam's razor" so my point is, if your truck was starting fine and now you have a starting issue, look at the starter before jumping to messing with timing and carb etc Motor De Arranque Nuevo (for our Spanish speaking affiliates) Duralast Gold - you get what you pay for and this is so much nicer than the prior Value craft I had in there! truck starts so smoothly now on first kick, ha ha but I'll be honest with you I only bought this one cause it had a smaller (shorter) solenoid and I wanted a starter with the smallest form factor possible to keep it as far away from the heat from the long tube headers as possible, and this is the best I could score at AutoZone sorry no pics of the actual starter as this was a rush job, roadside repair I kid you not, I was so proud of myself for just knocking it out rather than calling triple aye! |
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You know everybody told me long tube headers and starters don’t mix well. I didn’t have any issues. And when the old starter gave up the ghost I didn’t have to remove the headers to get the starter on and off like I was told. Good luck in your endeavors.
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are you sure the head to intake surface is the correct angle to seal? i don't know gassers as well as diesels but heard tale of certain heads and intakes not mating properly.
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Man, sorry to hear about all the setbacks. I hope the new set of heads checks out good and that the starter holds up.
By the way, I heard a rumor that Heisenberg used Occam's razor to kill Schrodinger's cat. As yet unconfirmed. |
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quick update, just heard back from the Machine Shop, one of the spare heads I brought in to them is cracked, good thing I have 2 more spare ones so they want me to bring both of those in
again the crack is in the spare head not one on the truck (we have not autopsied those yet) |
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sorry double post from my cell phone
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We heard you the first time. there is really no need to repeat yourself.
Ill these troubles with vortec heads. Maybe you would be better off just getting a new set from summit. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-12558060 |
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We heard you the first time. there is really no need to repeat yourself. :uhmk::uhmk:
All these troubles with vortec heads. Maybe you would be better off just getting a new set from summit. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-12558060 |
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so took the '99 Suburban L31 Vortec cylinder heads off my truck and took them in to the machine shop on this lovely Sunday morning
Here are some action shots for you so you can see how they iron powder coat them and use a huge electric magnet to test them, pretty cool Nichols is the best machine shop ever! |
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now for the bad news, both of my cylinder heads had cracks at the center bolt holes into the water jackets, now this is something I did not look for when I inspected them myself cause I was too focused on the chambers, live and learn
not sure how well you can see the small cracks in the pics but I was trying my best to point them out |
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and here is the other side, now that crack right in the middle of the hole in the lower part of the hole in the pick also runs down the head so as the head heats up I assume it opens up and is just enough to slow leak that coolant, my thoughts anyway
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so I scored some brand new Edelbrock E-Street aluminum cylinder heads, a new Edelbrock Torker II Series single plane intake manifold, and a set of new ARP bolts. All for $850, not bad
not sure how the single plane intake is going to respond in a street application, but I've always wanted to try a single plane intake, so here we go |
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That manifold will move your powerband up and you'll lose a bit of torque, but the symptom is easily cured...https://www.summitracing.com/experta...ive/answer/485
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For a minute there I though I was watching "wheeler dealers"....Great stuff really cool that you are taking the effort to walk us through all the good and bad.
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Good score on the heads and stuff.
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Make sure the head bolts are long enough to go AT LEAST 6 threads into the block, and preferably 8. Worst case, you may have to ditch the hardened washers.
I don't know if that's a problem with the Edelbrock heads, but I have experienced it with Dart Iron Eagle and Brodix IK heads, even with ARP bolts which, as I recall, are a shade longer than stock bolts. Ditto on the idea to use a plenum divider, assuming there's one available for your manifold. I suspect a Performer, Performer EPS, and Performer RPM would have a much more street-friendly power band. But, hey, have fun experimenting! Next up, tunnel ram. :) |
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I was reading through your posts and saw where you had radiator problems, so wanted to tell you about the aluminum rad with plastic tanks that I bought about 3 years ago. It's a Murray brand (same as Spectra and probably a half dozen other brands). It cost $120-something at my local O'Reilly Auto Parts store. And get this: It has a lifetime warranty!
But heck, even though it's the basic radiator for 250 and 305, it keeps the 350's coolant temp in the 180-190 range, even down here in the Texas summer heat. However, I'm sure the OE-type fan shroud, clutch fan, and brand new GM water pump have something to do with that. |
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so the one thing I just had to do before starting the re assembly with the new shiny bits was to pull the oil pan and take a looksie, I mean with the heads as milk shaky as they are how in the world can the oil I drain out of the pan be nice and black(ish)
strange I tell ya, strange! |
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alright we commence with the re assembly
Step 1. Move the shinny bits from the living room to the garage, place them on the work bench and allow them to acclimate to their new habitat (think goldfish in a plastic bag) |
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I swear a Top End Swap (heads, intake, etc.) will run you $150 in gaskets and materials alone... good times (I paused my mental calculator...)
Head gaskets - $52 I didn't have the time to order and wait on the proper Edelbrock gaskets to so went with these Fel Pro 7733 PT-2 instead, (then I spoke to Edelbrock Tech Support and they recommended Fel Pro part # 1003, oh well) the important spec was to match to how tight they smash down to once torqued... |
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