Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thanks, I am happy

The first pair I bought last October. Turns out both heads are cracked. They only allow you to return them for 30 days. Well I didn't get around to inspecting them in time, so now I can only return them for a core charge of $5.00 bucks each, I'll take it, ha ha

Then I bought the single head which is good, but I no longer need it, so I may take it back or sell it on Craigslist, not sure yet.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I just wanted to check back on this thread and say I read it from start to finish, and it encouraged me to join the forum. (that and my own project)

It was this thread that I learned of POR 15, and I recently used it on my truck with great results, although its been two weeks and its still hasn't come off my arm yet...

Greg takes a lot of great pictures and his commentary is generally witty and hilarious.

If you want a great thread, be like Greg.

Also, nice truck.

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WOW Will Thank you so much for the kind words, I appreciate the nice feedback very much.

Ha ha, been there done that and a whole lot worse, lets just say Nature called.

TWO WORDS: Denatured Alcohol

get it at Home Depot for $5.00 bucks use it to wash your hands, it works!

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You trying to rain on my parade Stu? jk I don't see nothin' looks blurry to me, ha ha

seriously looks like maybe a casting imperfection that survived 134,000 miles, there is plenty of meat behind it, but its just black and not shinny, I took a flat file to it to grind down the sharp edges a bit, I think it will be ok

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another $20 in the trash

but oh well she's cleaned two heads (ok 5) lol

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got to cleaning the valves out of the new heads (C 16 9) today, don't worry I'll spare you the mug shots, but I am beginning to think that the exhaust valves just corode and pit much more than the intake cause they run hotter, duh

seems like it don't matter if they came out of an engine with 234,000 miles on it or 134,000 they look the same to me

Would you agree? Concur? Object?

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what in the world has happened to my face shield, you can almost see through it, looks like an Alpaca spat on my face

honey?! who let the Alpaca out again?

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now what was I talking about, ah yes, valves, lets take a look at one sample intake valve out of the new (C 16 9) heads

just look at that stunning beauty, that's hot (get it) explosive even!

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alright Greg, so there's no cracks, the heads are true, and the valves are cleaned what are we gonna do next?

I donno, wanna lap dance?

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well folks when the dinosaurs roamed the earth the Flintsones would have used one of em them plunger looking tools to lap the valves, the process would look like the caveman trying to start a fire by rubbing a stick between the palms of his hands atop of a piece of bark or something, the stuff we put on valves was called lapping compound

but then drills were invented and YouTube came along, and that changed everything, even the stuff is now called "grinding" compound [excuse me] lol

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honestly this is the first time in my life that six inches proved to be too long, (I am talking about the rubber hose people) so I cut it down to 3 or so, but even then I had to switch from clear to a 1/4" 50 PSI black hose (one I wanted to use all along but couldn't find it) someone put it where I keep all my hoses and it was hidden in plain site, had to use my beer goggles to find it

notice I also switched to my trusty De Walt cordless drill cause it has veriable speeds, the slower the better, slow and low baby slow and low, that is the ... tempo

Side Note: played around with masking the heads for paint, god I wish to do anything but head work right now, how I would love to paint me something

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WHO LET THE WIFE INTO THE WORKSHOP? - Honey put the camera down and slowly back away. not only do I do all the work myself, but I also do all my own stunts!

TOP TIP: don't just spin the drill while pulling on it, move the drill in and out so it raises the valve and falls back into the seat getting a good contact each time

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the tube of gunk you put on the valve says use liberal amount, so I did

whats the motor oil for Greg? I use the motor oil on the valve stem so it don't rub metal on metal in the valve guide, this is some oil I happen to have for my wifes plastic Honda Pilot, I would have prefered some with some Zinc in it, but shhhh don't tell

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OK, so since this has literally been my first Rodeo, I took it nice and easy, I decided to do the exhaust valves first as they needed it most, and I ground each a bit and stopped and took them out and examined them, so the first pic is of a valve about half way done, the second pic is aftet I put it back in and ground it some more, and the third pic when it was done, better safe than sorry

IMPORTANT, when you run the drill run it both ways, a little bit forward and than reverse direction

just wanted to show you the progression, and then the last shot is a stare and compare of how the valve starts out looking compared to one that has been lapped

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now the valves aint the only thing getting smoother and less shinny, that would be like clapping with one hand, the valve seats are getting some grindage love too

I am beginning to realize that as much as we like the bits on the outside of the motor to be shinny, they actually prefer to be a bit dull on the inside, (think honed cylinders) am I right Master Machinists?

here is a not lapped valve seat (shinny mirror like finish) compared to a lapped one (dull)

This is looking good, Man I tell you this truck is going to be the fastest "Drop Your Kid At Piano Lesson" Truck in town.

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so Driver Side exhaust valves and seats lapped

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now onto the intake valves, these in my opinion didn't need as much grindage so I took it easier

pic 1 - first intake valve done

pic 2 - a little before and after stare and compare

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and the intake valves and valve seats are done, lapped, good

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look more parts, I think all the big stuff is here now, I may be missing some gaskets, a belt, and a freeze plug or two, but I can get that stuff locally

SERIOUSLY Greg? We're going to get there one bolt at a time? No, ha ha, I had to buy one bolt because the other lot came with like 15 or something and I needed a total of 16 of course

the Timing Set is from an outfit called GM Parts Direct, seemed to have the parts that Summit and JEGS let me down on

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yeah I decided to buy brand new head bolts, my daddy if he was a car guy I'm sure would say "son you never wanna reuse old head bolts" needless to say I bought these bad boys from privateers no eBay

all together there be:

16 - short ones 7/16-14 x 1-3/4" GM part number 10168527

14 - long ones 7/16-14 x 3-13/16" GM part number 10168525

4 - medium ones 7/16-14 x 3-1/16" GM part number 10168526

I'm not sure many people know this, but when GM designed the Vortec cylinder heads they had two goals:

1. Design the best flowing iron heads they could.

2. Use up their surplus of head bolts, ie 17 per head

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... and the Greg is pooped!

tomorrow we lap the other head and GM gods willing maybe dab some Cast Iron paint on 'em

check out this guys thread, he seems to know what he's doing

Cast Iron Engine Spray Paint Shootout

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Good work Gregski! Glad to see you got a set of heads that re going to work out for you!

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that's better

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Glad your wearing eye protection. i got a piece of cast in my eye last sunday grinding flashing off my block and had to go to eye doctor on wednesday to have it removed.

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Oh no Jeramy I hope your eye is ok. I constantly hear the wire wheel whiskers richochete off my face shield as they come loose, so I know it's earning its keep and worth every penny of that $13.97, money well spent!

For anyone reading, I strongly recommend the full face shield, since when I try the ugly high school chemistry class goggles I get wire wheel bristles literally stuck in my cheeks, and that's not my idea of Acupuncture

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still a little foggy on the left side but better each day.

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Sounds legit, to me.

I did choke a little on my drink, though. So now there's two reasons for the tears. :lol:

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Yup, that's the way they're supposed to look after lapping. Nice job!

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Your right that is a casting in-perfection. That is also the fire ring of the gasket that it goes right up to. You should be good. Nice job on lapping the valves.

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My dad would steal (repurpose) my wooden arrows with the suction cups, cut 'em down and push 'em on the valve head side. He was a low budget master.

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Been there done that. I have a face shield right next to the grinder and polisher as well as one more hanging next to the welder under the shelf with the angle grinder.

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show me a pic of yours hatzie I bet you got a cool one, I want to upgrade from my cheapie and wonder whatz out there

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and now, an open letter to GM

3/20/2016 Anno Domini

Dear GM Knuckleheads

Please add basic arithmetic to the skill set required by your Accountant and Warehouse operator positions. You see you present common folk like me with a basic dilemma. A Small Block Chebby cylinder head you make requires 8 short bolts, yet you sell said bolts in packets of 5 (See peoples Exhibit 1A and 1B attached) This forces us to buy two baggies of bolts for a grand total of 10, that is two extra.

What is a married man with children like me supposed to do with the two extra bolts, where do you expect me to store them in my stroller and bicycle and roller blade filled garage? My wife already expects to park her air conditioned, seat warmer, rear view camera vehicle in said WORKSPACE.

Add to that the fact that in most cases you will be a replacing both heads, now the problem DOUBLES. Now you need 16 bolts but three baggies will only yield you 15 (again 5 per bag) man you are one bolt short, do you reuse one old bolt, can you discriminate one bolt hole like that and risk public humiliation when your car buddies realize what you have done.

Oh no GM, you have to now purchase 4 bags of bolts, and have a total of 20, where you only need 16. Still with me GM? Now did you realize that manufacturing these 4 extra not needed bolts contributes directly to Global Warming [ahem] Climate Change! And every time you force us to buy them another tree hugger has to go out and buy yet another Prius. And does the fast lane on any highway need another _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Prius in it?

So please get it right, and I know it will be a major paradigm shift, but sell them in fours in each bag, the entire SBC community will thank you and you will be making this world a better place you greedy _ _ stards.

All My Love,
The Greg
P.S. Ah snap I just broke a head bolt while tightening it to spec, good thing I had some extras!!!

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At least those headbolts come with pre-applied thread sealant... Not sure how much you want to trust it though.

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Talk to me Goose, as I have been trying to understand that white stuff. Here's what I know, or what I think I know, there is Loctite which comes in both the Blue (medium strength) and Red (highest strength) variety. Then there is anti seize which I think is Gray.

So what is this White stuff? Honestly when I see it on bolt threads I can't help but think of what I call plumbers tape or teflon tape, technically called thread seal tape I guess. So please, learn me something.

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The head bolts thread into the water jacket, so they need a sealant to keep the coolant from wicking its way up the threads.

I use Permatex thread sealer on bolts, but yours come with the sealer already applied - saves a step!

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Bingo! Also note when installing intake manifolds you should apply sealant to those bolts to avoid wicking of oil up the threads.

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Good info Skinny G, but I need more, I have a fever and I need more cow bell, which specific Permatex thread sealer do you recommend, the word on the street is use #2?

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Inexpensive 3M Face Shields from Lowes with the regulatory compliance numbers embossed in the upper corner. $14. Really nothing special. They keep wire and small chunks of grinding stones and cutoff wheels out of my face.

While I'm on the subject of grinding stones. I've had the Asian cheapies that came with one of my newer bench grinders explode. It tore the sheet metal guard right off the motor. I'm real careful of them now. Even US made stones can do that if they are damaged.