Block surface dots

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David Rodgers said:
Also, I put the spark plugs in while on the bench so I wouldn’t have to squat over it.
Click to expand...
I've just done a head gasket replacement too.
Spark plugs were right at the end of the list for things to put in.

After everything was buttoned up, I turned the engine over by hand to make sure it was all good, no interference (easy without plugs).
I also left plugs out and pulled the efi relay out and turned the engine over with the starter in 30 seconds bursts until oil pressure registered on the gauge.
Plugs and plug wires were the among the last handful of parts fitted before start up
 
mudgudgeon said:
I've just done a head gasket replacement too.
Spark plugs were right at the end of the list for things to put in.

After everything was buttoned up, I turned the engine over by hand to make sure it was all good, no interference (easy without plugs).
I also left plugs out and pulled the efi relay out and turned the engine over with the starter in 30 seconds bursts until oil pressure registered on the gauge.
Plugs and plug wires were the among the last handful of parts fitted before start up
Click to expand...
Great advise. I didn’t think about that. I’ll pull them out because I definitely want to turn over by hand. Thanks
 
I think that I was worried about something falling in. I may leave them in until the end. Watch, I’ll probably forget until I start rotating the engine :)
 
mudgudgeon said:
I've just done a head gasket replacement too.
Spark plugs were right at the end of the list for things to put in.

After everything was buttoned up, I turned the engine over by hand to make sure it was all good, no interference (easy without plugs).
I also left plugs out and pulled the efi relay out and turned the engine over with the starter in 30 seconds bursts until oil pressure registered on the gauge.
Plugs and plug wires were the among the last handful of parts fitted before start up
Click to expand...
Can you pull the lead on the distributor? Did you pull the efi relay to keep fuel out while it turned?
 
On cylinder 3 where the firing ring is you have pitting on the left side. Were you able to determine where the gasket failed?
 
Cruiser Vic said:
On cylinder 3 where the firing ring is you have pitting on the left side. Were you able to determine where the gasket failed?
Click to expand...
No, not exactly. There were no real bad areas that I could determine (don’t have a ton of experience though). I’m not exactly sure that it failed. I was getting sputtering while cold after it sat for a day or so. I did the usual spark plug, wires, gas treatment job initially. It came back slowly. I then thought that I had a vacuum leak so I started putting together hoses since mine were already toast. I had the oil checked at a shop just to make sure for coolant (head gasket leak) and it didn’t show anything). since the thing had 318000 miles on it and I had another vehicle, I decided to tear into it. It has oil leaks at the valve cover, front seal, oil pump, distributed o ring, and maybe other places.

I was seriously thinking about a completely new engine but if I get another 50000 miles out of this I’ll be happy (that would probably take me 5 -7 years since I only drive it around locally).

Even worst case scenario, the truck needed all of this junk done and I wouldn’t get rid of it anyway.

Once it was apart, it looked better that I thought internally.

So, we’ll see in the long run. I’ve probably only got maybe $700 bucks into it now. Probably another $400 left. I figure if the block fails in the next few years, at least I can use the head since it’s been completely done.

Also, since the truck has been so good to me (I bought it for 5 grand 14 years ago) and it’s really not had any problems, I felt like I owed it to the thing to help it out :)
 
Old valve cover gasket...hard as a rock and brittle

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When I pulled the valve cover off, the tube gaskets were so hard, they just stayed on the tubes like hard pucks.

I always had 1/4 inch of oil on a couple/few spark plug tubes. I changed the spark plugs and didn’t know what was going on.
 
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I never saw the old oil seals but I bet they were almost nonexistent. I was burning some oil and sort of suspected that oil was leaking into the cylinders which could have been my sputtering when cold problem.
 
Put on distributor, spark plug tube gaskets, pcv, new knock sensor, new thermostat, lift hook, took out spark plugs and turned over by hand a bunch of times.
 
Installing the exhaust on Wednesday.

Should I tap and clean all the bolt holes?

Also, do you torque down the studs and then torque the bolts?

thanks for any info.
 
I tapped the threads to clean them.
Use the two nut method to install the studs until they bottom.
Torque the nuts when you install them on the studs.
 
I just had a question about how I got the back bolts loose on the exhaust side of the block. I thought that I’d post it for everyone. I started to strip on of the back bolts and stopped to try and find a wrench that would work. Couldn’t get any socket back there.

I found a racheting, pivoting, thin wrench at Northern tool for $43 bucks that worked like a charm.

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