Head's done - milled .010 off for a bit of power. (1 Viewer)

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The shop called late today and it's repaired and they milled a bit off for me since they were machining the gasket surface anyhow. I had asked if they would when I dropped it off. Kinda nice, though I think it's just the same time/work as what they were planning.

The shop owner is setting up the valves and I'll get it back tomorrow. Wonder if I'll notice the slight bump in compression? Robbie mentioned this would be the practical amount to mill without getting into changing the valve timing, so I'm looking forward to it.

DougM
 
I'm really getting tired of this view - novel at first, now time to close it up:

 
Paint the block? ;)
 
Jeeeee...suuuuuzzzzzzzz.....Doug...man...that is a hell of a picture and a hell of a job.

I hope that once you close that puppy up you will not have to open it again for at least another 300K miles.

Good luck.
-onur
Akron, OH
 
yea, and clean these pistons too, while you're at it, eh! :D
 
Nope, that's plain tap water and the UV dye - no antifreeze whatsoever. Funny you mention painting the block as I actually thought about doing something crazy like that for fun. Unfortunately, I can't really get to the intake side very well, so it would have been hokey. OK, it would have been hokey no matter what.

Can you see how much work I saved by leaving the lower half of the intake manifold in the engine bay? See where the engine wiring harness goes down between runners #4 and #5? That's where you'd have to disconnect all the sensors, the transmission wiring harness, the oxy sensors, etc and then pull the harness up and through the intake manifold so the manifold can stay on the head to pull it. That's what the FSM says to do. With a simple gear wrench, I removed all the intake bolts and simply pulled it aside. Took me 15 minutes to do. Robbie has also pulled the wire loom out of the firewall instead with good results.

You'll also see the dipsticks both there - the FSM says to remove the tranny and engine dipstick tubes from underneath. No need. This is all in the DVD, but there were a lot of time and effort savers.

Tomorrow I'll be getting one spankin' shiny head back and bolting it on. Cannot wait to put Lucy back into service.

DougM
 
Should have painted it HEMI orange.
 
Let us know what your impressions are about the increase in power based on the milling.
 
Don't forget the video Doug. Hope all goes well. I'm off to hospital today and when I get back home I hope you will be back to hauling ass and that boat over that hill.
 
Rick,

Surprisingly easy to get a gear wrench on it, but not a torque wrench - no way. On reassembly, I used a torque wrench (after installing it to the head) on the front ones to get a feel for tightness, then tightened the rest by feel. These bolts are not subject to compression or other forces, so the most important factor is uniform tightness and tight enough they won't rattle loose.

Kneeling atop the engine, they are all easily accessible and a gear wrench makes short work of it. The rear two simply take time as you can only swing a few degrees, but these fasteners are high grade and once loose a couple turns you can get fingers on them and spin them right off. After the rear two are off, the rest are so fast you'll be feeling sorry for anyone who does the 'wire pull and disconect everything' method.

Frankly, the bolts holding the upper and lower halves of the manifold are much tougher to access, and you have to do them either way. I found a fast way to do these from below, also. First time it took me about 40 minutes and an assistant to get the halves separated. This time, 10 minutes and no help.

DougM
 
I'll get a shot of the repair - maybe today. I'll likely be working on the head install starting around noon PST today. Don't know if I'll get it done as I'm meeting a couple training buddies to swim, plus I'm installing a block heater as well. Just don't feel like getting dirty on the block heater until I'm in the groove for the whole project, ya know?

DougM
 
What octane are you going to run?
 
When I spoke with Robbie about head milling and gas octane, he indicated that .010-.015 off the head should not require anything more than regular gas.
 
We use only mid grade unless for some reason it's inconvenient. For towing, I use premium. I'd expect to see no difference in fuel needs - even given I've advanced the ignition timing 3 degrees from stock.

DougM
 
Are you using thread locker on those fasteners? I'm addicted now with my aluminum engine, and it might save you if the torque isn't quite what it shoulda been. It should also protect the threads a bit, sealing them. Medium strength should do for most of this: Permatex Loctite Blue is recommended for intake manifold bolts. Looking great, bro!
 

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