Top End Rebuild

[firebane]

So now that I have pulled the heads off my truck I know its time to start putting things back together fresh.

Knowing that I have a 350 but the motor age is unknown by taking out the valves I can already tell the heads will need a good cleaning and the valves will need a good lapping.

Couple of things that came up while doing this that some are pretty straight forward but others aren't and would like some feed back.

1) Use a 0.015 or 0.018 steel shim for the headgaskest (will confirm flatness of heads)

2) New pushrods and lifters

3) New cam

4) New gaskets all across the top and bottom (oil pan & transmission)

5) Replace missing exhaust manifold gaskets

So that leaves me to one important part of this build the intake and exhaust valves.

The current valves are using oring style seals but I have been doing some reading on using umbrella seals and flex body seals.

So for those who have done valve seals before what did you use and how difficult was it?

Any problems with running that type of head gasket?

 

[lusktommy]

i run the .015 headgasket on my truck for more compression, but you need to make sure that your block and heads are milled and true. now push rods arent that big of a deal, unless the ends are worn and oblonged. if you dont know and cant really tell id recommend getting new ones, but id for sure do new lifters, but if im not mistaken your gonna have to break them in like you would if you stuck a new cam in. now if your wanting to stay factory size on the cam id go ahead while you got it tore down and stick a new one in. or personally id get like a good crane energizer cam they arent very expensive and they do awesome. i run a 278 Energizer in mine i love it and you can use stock stall and it idles fairly good. but you can get a 266 energizer thats will idle pretty smooth. id with out doubt replace all gaskets since you are already this far into it. and honestly i dont know why you wouldnt replace the missing exhaust gaskets that will eat up your heads if its leaking and if it dont have any gaskets i dont know how its not. and since your getting the heads worked on id go ahead and get the umbrella seals and do all new valve seats and guilds i mean thats just one less thing to worry about later. i have run the umbrella but i had my machine shop do them. i mean most machine shops dont charge that much to old school SBC heads. and i havent had a single problem running that style head gasket and my engine was build for abuse and it has seen quite a bit. but ive been told they arent good if your runnnig .030 over bore due to extra heat. ive been told they like standard bore. now i dont kow if thats true ive just been told that.. hope all this or some of it helps you make up your mind on what to do. post some pics of that build man

 

[firebane]

All gaskets on the top end will be replaced. Will be putting in new lifters, push rods and a comp cam 12-300-4 as I want to get this big ole girl up and going.

Regarding the heads well I'm trying to do this on the absolute cheap as possible and taking it to a machine shop to do any machine work will balloon the costs. With the cam, lifters, and push rods it'll be over $200-300 for that alone. I plan to just do a basic valve seat grind myself with some compound and the suction tool.

Taking pictures really isn't my thing. The sheer amount of grease and oil on this engine is mind boggling. Previous owners used silicone to seal the valve covers and pulling the valves out you could see chunks of silicone trapped everywhere.

Pulling the pan is going to be just as messy itself.

.. New headgaskets, exhaust manifold gaskets, valve cover gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, timing cover gaskets, new rad hoses upper and lower. Depending on timing chain may replace that as well.

I'm hoping to have this all done before the snow flies... Wish me luck.

 

[68post]

Buy a new oil pump also - they're cheap. I've done all of this to a high mileage 350 with great results , ( I used a set of rebuilt heads tho' ).