Gregski

In this sequal to the Mud In #4 Cylinder of the 302 V8 post I decide to do the leak test on the heads while I have them off. I flip the heads upside down and set them down so they are level on a dry piece of cardboad, then I used to poor water in the combustion chambers but that takes all night to find leaks, so I used gasoline this time [as my friend says please don't try this at work]. As it turns out the passenger head above the muddy cylinder is fine, however the head on the opposite side, ie the driver side leakes like a sift.

Now before you sworm me with why are you so masochistic, do it right, send the heads to a machine shop posts, or better yet toss these SMOG era junkers all together, I need to let you know that I am not going to end up using these heads in the long run, they are just to cut my teeth on and practice, I do have a set of E7TE heads off of a 5.0 Mustang but that's another post, and yes I know there are better heads than those also, lol.

So in order to put on the good head on the passenger side do I do anything fancy with the gasket, I know knowing the front and back is important, but do I put any type of gunk on it?

I got the flanged bolts so I am going to torque the top ones to 80 ft lbs and the bottom ones to 70 ft lbs that's what the gasket instructions say to do following the start in the middle and work your way out sequence.

As far as the leaky head the plan is to take the valves out one at a time and clean the crud out of there with brake cleaner and a steel brush, then put them back in, and re-test.

Gregski

This is for the silent majority following my progress, thank you.

After cleaning the heads and the valves with a wire brush and brake cleaner, I retested them and the cardboard is nice and dry, no more leaks.

I guess there is no right and left head gaskets, it's the same part number you just flip them over depending what side they go on. At least according to the Fel Pro brand from AutoZone.

And what's up with the "nipples" you put on the ends of the exhaust valves, what are those metal caps for and why don't the intake valves have them too?

Gregski

Well I got the heads back on but it wasn't easy. I sure picked a good heading for the post "Head Ache" as when I was bolting up the second head I snapped one of the long bolts. It was kinda wierd how it happened because I do not have gorilla hands, I am very gentle when I tighten stuff. So anyway I am using a Craftsman torque wrench set on 80 ft lbs for the top bolts and as I tighten following the sequence and adjusting the torgue to 70 ft lbs for the bottom bolts, the wrench clicks on the first few bolts, but then I get to one or two other bolts and I am turning and turning 1/8 of a turn than another 1/8 of a turn and no clicking and I swear it feels like it should have clicked by now. So anyway I decide to back off the bolt ie loosen it and start torquing all over and snap, the darn thing brakes off. Luckily I did not have to drill it out, I was able to unscrew it with some pliers, all that profanity had to be put on hold, lol.

So I go to AutoZone to get a bolt, and they tell me they have to order a kit for $60 bucks, I say never mind, I drive over to Napa and they don't have any, but this guy in line says he'll give me one, man what a nice guy, younger guy in his late 20's so I follow him to his place and check out his '64 Falcon he is putting a 302 into and offer a 12 pack but he doesn't drink, so I owe him and maybe will buy some 302 parts off of him in the future. Didn't know people like that were still around [in California for sure], very cool, thank you.

Here are some pictures of the gasket I used, with the FRONT stamped into it, and that broken bolt, thanks for lookin'.

JMD

Might want to replace that torque wrench....

The "beam and scale" wrenches are not as sexy as the clickers but they are cheap and work every time.

That said, I have 3 clickers....

But the beams are very handy to have when you have doubt about a clicker, just to check if nothing else.

Remember, it is advisable to back off the clicker wrenches when in storage so that the spring does not compress and make the wrench inaccurate.

Any of the bolts you may have over-torqued may be weakened and subject to failure.

Gregski

Thank you for all the advice, I was just telling my co worker about putting the heads back on and he asked if I put any anti seize compound on those head bolts, to which I replied no. However, I recall the bolts on the driver side having some gray slime on them when I took them off that I used WD40 and a paper towel to whipe off.

So the next time I'm putting the heads back on should I use anti seize on them?

Gregski

So as I'm walking with my head held high and my chest puffed out spraining my elbow while padding myself on the back cause I got the heads back on... I run into Mike. Mike is my other co worker who knows stuff about cars. So he asks how the "put together" is going as I told him it's not quite a rebuild. So I tell him, and he asks: what's the procedure like for assembling the valve train?

What the #@%$ !!! What you mean procedure I never took the valve train apart [old timers this is where you reach for another beer, or a shot of something] I put the same push rods back in, in the same order they came out as. So I come home and dust off the Haynes manual. Go to Chapter 13 and start reading:

No 1 piston at TDC (and valves are closed)

The lash adjuster must now be compressed until it bottoms by applying pressure slowly with the special tool 6513-A, or a suitable substitute lever which will engage in the groove in the lash adjuster plunger. [ok I am totally lost, but I keep reading]

Using a feeler gauge [of a specific width] check that the clearance is within the specified limits. (What limits? Ok turn to the Specifications section)

Rocker arm-to-valve stem clearance (lifter collapsed) = 0.090 to 0.206 inches (2.29 to 5.23 mm)

Clearance adjustment method = Alternative length pushrods

If the clearance is too small, change the pushrod for a shorter one. If the clearance is too great, change the rod for a longer one.

Then it goes on to say how I need to check the following banks: 6 IN, 1 EX, 8 IN, 1 IN, 2 EX, 8 EX, then rotate the crank 180 degrees (half a turn) and check 2 IN, 3 EX, 4 EX, 7 IN, then rotate the crank 270 degrees (3/4 turn) and check 5 EX, 4 IN, 7 EX, 3 IN, 5 IN, 6 EX.

Ok at this point I wanna go cry to mama, this is nothing like the tighten till you can barely spin the rod with your fingers procedures I read about on the forums.

So do I need to adjust anything if I put all the same parts back on never disassembling the valve train?