stang8689

I know ive heard use clay but I really have no idea what to do. Do I put some clay on the piston and just set the head gasket and head on and just hand tight the bolts then install the rockers and turn the engine over by hand? I imagine i wouldnt torque down on the new bolts and gasket and then remove them, any help would be appreciated.

67mustang302

I use an old gasket. You'll need a solid lifter to do it correctly though.

stang8689

ok i have old gasket so do you torque all the head bolts how much clay do you use what kind of clay sorry I just want to make sure im doing this right

my77stang

you can use regular clay or even play dough. getting a solid lifter is important too. if you have new hyd. lifters you can adjust the rocker arm until the pushrod bottoms out in the lifter and do it that way. if you are using old roller lifters, you'll need to pop the clip out of the top of the lifter and remove the guts (not hard at all) to get all the old oil out of there or the lifter won't go all the way down.

btw, if using old roller lifters i'd recommend opening them all and giving them a good cleaning with some carb cleaner. if you have a non-roller cam (flat tappet style) you'll need to just toss those old lifters out anyways.

67mustang302

You probably don't HAVE to torque it, but personally I would It's easy to lose .010 and not see it from something you THINK is tight. And model clay is good....don't use Play-Doh...it will expand back some after compressed. You just need enough to fit in the valve recesses so the valves can set down into it.

tinman

You don't really need to use a head gasket either. Just remember when you measure clearance to add the compressed thickness of the gasket into the clearance you just measured.
I've always used just 4 bolts that are for 1 cylinder and just sort of tighten them down to maybe 25 ft/lbs.

stang8689

ok im starting to get it now but what bout the lifters I dont think I have any old ones its a roller engine so should i try to get a couple old lifters and clean them out

67mustang302

Just buy 1 solid lifter from summit to use for checking.

JayBanion

What are some good numbers as far as clearance, like whats the closest wanna be?

67mustang302

http://www.fordmuscle.com/fundamenta...ve/index.shtml

http://www.peteandersonracing.com/PTV.html