Chuck’s engine build thread!

[Craig Nedrow]

Thanks ChuckN, I am getting antsy to see this run. Had mine done for a year, yet to start it, bugger. to many other projects, read Jans van.....

 

[ChuckN]

Thanks ChuckN, I am getting antsy to see this run. Had mine done for a year, yet to start it, bugger. to many other projects, read Jans van.....

I just ordered pushrods this morning 2nd day air so I *should* have everything bolted together this weekend.

 

[ChuckN]

Waiting for the parts to arrive today.

Even after acid washing the intake, it looked like a$$, stained, etc. So I hit it with some acetone to clean it and then fogged it with some silver rally wheel paint I had lying around. Probably clear coat it later today.

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[ChuckN]

Good news! Pushrod length checked out perfectly! The Howards pieces are beautiful and well made.

Bad news! The rocker arm stud is wrong yet again. The previous ones didn’t have enough shank on them, and the trunnions were sitting on the threads- no bueno. So the ones I got today are perfect, except now the threads themselves are too long for the set screw in the adjuster to be functional, it’s hanging way out of the nut. Too bad, because the trunnion is fully on the shank and the nut runs out of threads just as 1 turn past zero lash is achieved (Howards specifications, not mine).

After paring through the Summit catalog and the terrible descriptions of the dimensions, I finally got sick of it and waited on hold with ARP for 45 minutes to talk to a representative. We think we have it worked out. So those are on order, and I also ordered a set of ARP’s own polylocks since they are a bit taller and allegedly the set screws are shorter per the rep. But we’ll see. The polylocks will arrive tomorrow, but if they’re not the fix then I’ll be dead in the water until the studs show up next week.

 

[82SquareBurb]

Dang! gotta be frustrating. I know there tends to be a few steps forward, with a step backwards thrown in now and then on these big jobs! Always something right? XD

 

[ChuckN]

Dang! gotta be frustrating. I know there tends to be a few steps forward, with a step backwards thrown in now and then on these big jobs! Always something right? XD

Always something! Haha.

 

[ChuckN]

Got the rocker arm stud length right, and the poly locks right. Was smooth sailing until I found that the roller tips aren’t lining up well on the valve stems, and the guide plates have little to no adjustment to them. So back to Summit for some AFR adjustable guide plates. And we wait again. The price of doing it right I suppose!

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[ChuckN]

Dang! gotta be frustrating. I know there tends to be a few steps forward, with a step backwards thrown in now and then on these big jobs! Always something right? XD

On that topic, I’ll take a positive for today though- I was concerned that the poly locks wouldn’t clear the baffles in the M/T valve covers, but they do with about 2/10 inch to spare. As cool as they are, for whatever reason they thought to put the PCV/oil fills directly over the rockers instead of between pairs like most do. So I’ll go with that for now- M/T valve covers for the win! I get to keep my M/Ts!!!!

 

[ChuckN]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have an engine. Let’s see if I get find some help to get it bolted in this week.

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