74' f engine rebuild

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Ultra Copper fest

With Jims' (you know, Downey) advice echoing thru me noggin (Not hard to do, plenty of room in there) I set about to do er right. Plenty of Ultra Copper on the head and both sides of the gasket. I install the gasket.
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Ultra Coppper and your headers

Give the ol headers the same treatment. I clean up any excess Ultra Copeer around the intake ports (when removed, I noticed some UC built up there).Install as described before. Same treatment on the intake manifold, install.
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Torquing it down

All the hardware installed, washers flush :bang: THIS time. Ready to torque. Sweating stripped thread (that theres a double inuindo Joe) I go to town with the torque wrench, 65 ft-lb on the 12mms' and 55 ft-lbs on the 10mms'. No yield but just gotta be close. Those 2 bolts behind the carb, well a picture is worth a pile o words, what can I say (plenty tight) I'm old and arthritic, their Craftmen so What the hay. Wish they would break, any excuse, but they do not.
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With a moderate extension I have always been able to reach all of the nuts with a torque wrench.

And fancy washers are a must for headers. I had a whole selection of special split washers that had to go in the intake side of the depression, and then a solid washer on top of that to get even torque. I have since gotten rid of my headers, not due to manifold leaks, but cold running issues in winter, and the collector gasket would always blow out. But mine were MAF and used a three bolt connection to the exhaust with a gasket.
 
MoCoNative said:
With a moderate extension I have always been able to reach all of the nuts with a torque wrench.

And fancy washers are a must for headers. I had a whole selection of special split washers that had to go in the intake side of the depression, and then a solid washer on top of that to get even torque. I have since gotten rid of my headers, not due to manifold leaks, but cold running issues in winter, and the collector gasket would always blow out. But mine were MAF and used a three bolt connection to the exhaust with a gasket.
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Split washers, thought about it because I machined that area on the intake manifolds to match my prior (RIP) cheapo headers (similiar to the cheap MAF headers. Collector gasket: did you have the type of joint that uses a flared exhaust pipe and a loose flange? I had that onthe oldies, got rid of it and replaced it with the type that looks like a collector. Fixed the leak there but could no longer stop the leak betweeen the header and heads. As far as Winter motor behavior goes...I went with the MAF intake heater. Juries still out on wether it did any good, grumpy when cold for sure. But there are other issues to resolve first. The HQ MAF headers look purty sweet, were you using those?
 
lifter Burrs

rsbcruiser said:
Soaked the lifters in solvent. The grit visible is from the scotchbrite wheel I used to deburr the lifters. Used compessed air to blow them dry, a safe distance from the motor.
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I just installed some new OEM lifters in my 2F rebuild but after seeing your post I'm considering going back and taking another look at them. After I cleaned them, they all seemed to slid right in with some engine assembly lube. I don't have the rocker assembly torqued down yet so it wouldn't be too much trouble to get them out and deburr. How obvious were the burrs and please tell me more about your deburr process. Is this a common problem with new lifters?
 
kvanoort said:
I just installed some new OEM lifters in my 2F rebuild but after seeing your post I'm considering going back and taking another look at them. After I cleaned them, they all seemed to slid right in with some engine assembly lube. I don't have the rocker assembly torqued down yet so it wouldn't be too much trouble to get them out and deburr. How obvious were the burrs and please tell me more about your deburr process. Is this a common problem with new lifters?
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I went after my lifters with a small scotchbrite wheel mounted on a grinder, small file was a no-go, dremel, sheer danger. Used the corner of the wheel to dress the lifter oil holes. Whatever you do, take care with the OD, no need to make it worse. They were plenty obvious around the oil holes. The lifters are ground after casting so no burrs stick up above the surface. Rub your finger into the holes, feel sharp? The only reason I did it was I wanted to be sure no litttle chunks broke off during use. If they slide easy then it is probably one of those things....as in I bet they work fine as is, I'd say, don't worry about it, take a look if you want, deburr if your judgement tell you too. Bet most of the pro rebuilders ignore this issue. If you are not in a hurry to finish your rebuild, stay tuned, I'm going back in, problems :bang: I'm fairly sure the lifters are not the issue but will know for sure soon enough.
 
I put my headers on in 98, ran them a few years, but they were just the standard chrome header from MAF. They had just come out with some tuned headers at that time. I was pretty disapointed in the way they discolored so quickly. Blued right away, and where all the downpipes come together is a trap for mud and crap, they had a permanent mud baked finish down there. I actually like the way it runs with the stock manifold better. I also have a PTO winch now, so no headers again.
 
rsbcruiser said:
I went after my lifters with a small scotchbrite wheel mounted on a grinder, small file was a no-go, dremel, sheer danger. Used the corner of the wheel to dress the lifter oil holes. Whatever you do, take care with the OD, no need to make it worse. They were plenty obvious around the oil holes. The lifters are ground after casting so no burrs stick up above the surface. Rub your finger into the holes, feel sharp? The only reason I did it was I wanted to be sure no litttle chunks broke off during use. If they slide easy then it is probably one of those things....as in I bet they work fine as is, I'd say, don't worry about it, take a look if you want, deburr if your judgement tell you too. Bet most of the pro rebuilders ignore this issue. If you are not in a hurry to finish your rebuild, stay tuned, I'm going back in, problems :bang: I'm fairly sure the lifters are not the issue but will know for sure soon enough.
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Thanks for providing a response and answers to my questions. I'll pull a couple lifters and inspect them just for peace of mind.
 
Problems....

Sooo...lots happened, time to catch up. Motor runs...idles rough, not missing but rough, corresponding valve tick. Valve gaps on several holes need 3 or 4 resets and maybe .005" total before settling. Obvious issues with the carb, but close enough for now. Power but detonation at the full power using reasonable timing (12 deg btdc). What to do? Time to grab hold o reality and yard the liars out. The compression gauge and the leak down tester.
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What the liars said......

Knock my socks off, not the result I feared at all, expected more grim dark numbers indicating doom and gloom but this...... what the heck,,, ever see these before from a 2f? I'm thinking some carbon build up on 2 but why? weird weird weird. .......................1 2 3 4 5 6 comp(psi) 190 195 185 180 190 190......................... leakdown(%) 5 5 3 3 4 5 Like I said strange, leakdown has a direct relation to comp. otta be inverse ya know, comp goes down leak goes up. So I'm thinking carbon build up. What to do, know one thing for sure, did not like that reground cam I tossed in there so start there.
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andrewfarmer said:
Good compressions (these are dry?)

What octane petrol are you using - maybe you should go up a grade or two and see what happens?
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yessiry Mr Farmer, did um dry, engine warm. I've been running Premium. Ours is 92 octane with some alcohol in it (up to 10%). Right now I am playing catch up on the threads but jumping ahead.....new cam fixed the knock issue.
 
New Stuff

Like I said, hated the reground camshaft even before I tossed it in. My revenge. A new Downey torque camshaft. New camshaft, new timing gears, reground the near new Toyota lifters I just installed. Talk about the hard way, but before you totally give up on this thread, read on, I learned something here.
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Reground lifters

Took the lifters to Oregon Camshaft, a local well respected cam grinder. They reground my Toy lifters and schooled me some things on toy cams and lifters. Turns out, The guys down at OC have no respect for stock Toy cams and lifters. The lifters are said to be ground incorrectly, flat or coned, not even square. The cams are known to be ground poorly and not even case hardened! One thing I do know for sure, OCs' regrind surface is significantly smoother than the stock Toy surface. Wish I had saved a pic of the Toyota ground surfaces to compare but as the picture shows, OC ground to babies butt smooth. Originally the surfaces had easily visible grind marks. These guys, I have to use a magnifying glass to see the grind marks.
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Timing gear removal

Ya know, I have all the hardware to do this right but I needed longer bolts, do ya think I woulda stopped at the hardware store before trying this, but Nooooo, made it work with the shoties shown. Worked might nice actually. Pulled the gear out far enough to get the pulley puller fingers behind the gear. Finished pulling conventional like. BFSD shown was used to counter torque. Yuck, yuck.
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Pressing the cam gear on

Turns out I learned more than I ever bargained for from Oregon Camshaft. Pressing on a Landcruiser cam gear is actually more specialized than I thought. Heating the gear is a no, no, for one (the rubber ring in the gear) Doing it wrong can result in a bent camshaft..... When I installed the last cam it was difficult to drive it into the last bearing. Requiring light tapping with a medium brassy hammer to seat. Makes me awful suspicious my last cam was bent during installation of the cam gear. Used all new stuff for the install, new key, thrust plate and lock ring. Took it to Portland Engine rebuilders this time, they seemed quite familiar with it.
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Timing gear and cam install

New key, gear preheated to 500 deg f, new crankshaft timing gear went on without resistance. There I was, hammer in hand no reason to use it, sad. So I gave the gear a tap after it cooled enough just to make sure it seated. As with removal, I just grabbed ahold of the camshaft timing gear and eased the cam in. Twernt hard as I thought. This time, the cam slid right in, snug. Doused both the cam and the lifters in assembly lube prior to assembly/instal. Picture shows new cam, right before final seating.
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