Copper head gaskets

[Pittman]

What kind of sealers, dressing is everyone using on these I dont want to end up with a damn coolant drip.

My Block and Heads will be o-ringed. Also using a sce gasket

Do you have to re torque the heads with this gasket after a few heat cycles??

 

[ed hess]

permatex makes a product called hylomar. this is what sce says to use. on604 on the board here had me call the guy that did his motor this way and he told me to retorq after 2 - 3 heat cycles.

Wonder if this means i gotta undo the headers to retorq... not to crazy about that!

this is the same setup i have, oringed block.

 

[0-60N4]

That's the bad news, that you do have pull the headers to re-torque the heads.

 

[ed hess]

jim

Dont know what its like physically removing the headers while the motor is in.

But can you just undo all the bolts and let them fall back to the sides, perhaps giving you enough room to torq the bolts?

Guess this means initial startup is gonna be without a turbo, crossover or intercooler installed. This place is gonna get real LOUD!

If you get a chance ask scott and let me know please?


ed

 

[0-60N4]

I think you can just pull the headers back out of the way to re torque but that's still a pretty good job. I thnk you will want to go ahead and bolt the turbo on.

My wife started mine up one time with out the turbo connected while I was out of town. It pumped about 3 quarts of oil on the floor before she knew something was not right

 

[ed hess]

I still have the oil pressure gauge connected to the turbo oil feed line i used to test the oil pump on the stand priming the motor so other than the noise from open headers, Any other problem do it this way?

ed

 

[CLONE]

I still have the oil pressure gauge connected to the turbo oil feed line i used to test the oil pump on the stand priming the motor so other than the noise from open headers, Any other problem do it this way?
ed

It's going to be very loud, so much so that a valvetrain, bottom end, etc. problem you likely will not hear over the exhaust racket.

Just something to consider.

 

[ed hess]

yeah

i waas thinking about that..... shit... more stuff to do......

Then again if the bottom end makes some noise on startup its toast anyway isnt it?

Valve train being loose wont hurt anything permanent.
ed

 

[ghettosled]

are you trying to break in the motor on a stand or just prime it? If all you are doing is priming it, the motor should not be turning over. Just use the distributor shaft priming tool for about 10 minutes, and rotate the engine over by hand several times. This is when you check to make sure oil is getting to the top of the motor through the pushrods, etc. If you are trying to start your motor with the turbo headers on w/o turbo it will be so loud you wont be able to tell if something is wrong.

If you want to start the motor out of the truck the easiest thing to do is:
1) carburator and different manifold, borrow some regular v6 headers, hook up fuel cell and msd box.

 

[ed hess]

mike
just primed on the stand turn over by hand a few times only.

Ok will bolt everything when in truck for initial startup.

Im losing my hearing allready, seriously. WHAt? HELLO? WHAT"D YOU SAY?


Running it out of the truck!!!.... not quite that sophisticated here for that one.

 

[hamrhead]

If you're just gonna remove the headers after a few heat cycles, why can't you just leave some/MOST of the header bolts out initially? It's not like you're going to put any boost through the motor.

Just thinking out loud - not sure if this would hurt or not? But I do know header bolts are a PITA.

 

[Pittman]

thats a good idea

 

[ghettosled]

just make sure you dont use any rtv first time around

it will just make it more difficult to clean when you go to put em back on.

If you want a SCE copper exhaust gasket i have em in stock for $25..

 

[Pittman]

ok mike Im calling you right now.

 

[ed hess]

copper sce gaskets for the headers arrived today.


ed

 

[hamrhead]

One more thing that helped me last time I removed my headers with engine installed:

Towels or shop rags or something. Take a couple of them and place them under the headers, covering up the suspension and motor mounts etc. Stuff 'em in there so when you DO drop the bolts, they don't get lost in the frame somewhere and you spend half an hour F'n around trying to find them. :x

 

[Pittman]

You can also take that rag or towel and rap it around your knucles. It cut my "OUCH HOLY F's in half"