top end swap ?'s

[Money pit Beretta]

A Styluss CAI is on the way! The weather should be good this weekend and the swap will be done.

[IsaacHayes]

Get the grinding done?

Also you want to use your OLD pushrods. As those are hardened. Newer ones that came with the roller rockers are not hardened since pushrod guides are not used. So you want to keep your old pushrods. But the lengths are the same.

I went by pics when I ground my 3400 LIM beforehand. Then when I put it on, I used the old gasket, tightened it down, pulled the plugs and turned the engine by hand with a ratchet. I looked using a small mirror, and a feeler gauge to see if they would clear. I ended up taking it off and grinding more, as I ground in the wrong direction the most. Didn't take a whole lot.

[Money pit Beretta]

Thank you Isaac, I'll test fit with the old gasket. That is the smart thing to do. My mind is not to clear on all this because I keep thinking about the easy days back when I had SBC's. It was like 100 bucks for the intake and it took about an hour to do. That and your help always had the time.
Did you grind the rockers much?

[IsaacHayes]

I took the rockers to a grinder and ground them a little. Taking the "points" off the back edge. I didn't grind a whole lot as I wasn't sure where it would hit and didn't want to weaken the oil splash tab thing. So yeah a little, but probably not much to do anything. You have to grind for 4 rockers, two on each side.

[Money pit Beretta]

Thanks again. Is it the two outside ones? This will be done starting Saturday, rain or no rain(40% chance). I will not wait any longer. Did you reuse your old injector O-rings? I have a few pits around the coolant passages. I can't remember if I need to sand them out or just clean them out. All the intakes that I've put on were new(all V8's).

[IsaacHayes]

I don't remember, when you look at the intake you will see where to grind.

http://60degreev6.com/forum/gallery/fil ... ground.jpg
That's the only pic I can find right now

New injector o-rings of course. They are cheap. Get 12 of them. I couldn't separate the injectors from the manifold, so I had to take the clips off the rails, pry up on the rails and the injectors stayed in the intake, then I pulled those out. I ohm'ed them while out to make sure they were good electrically. Put a little motor oil around the new o-rings to help them seal.

I had pitting too, just clean it up, leave it alone, no sanding. You will make a low spot that will leak more than the pits. The metal FELPRO gaskets are oversized so they usually go outside of any pitting there. You could try putting some silicone over the pits, then taking a razor blade and scraping it off so it just fills the pits, but I'm not sure what good that will do. I did that once, not sure if I did it last time or not.

[Money pit Beretta]

I had to take a look at the intake to see what was in the pic. New O-rings, more money to spend on this. I did think about getting them though. Now it's down to working inside or out side. The weather is not good, as I bet you know Isaac. It's going to be a PITA to work inside because there is not much room to walk. I'll grind the intake after it's tested on the car. I have new plugs and wires anyway. The pic was helpful, but I only want to take off what's needed and not just hope that it's right. I guess I'd better check the Ohms. If I remember right it's around 15. I have some T-stat RTV that could be used to fill the pits. I'm not sure if I like the idea of using it, but there are a few deep pits.

[IsaacHayes]

Only like $9 for all the o-rings. If you don't put new o-rings on you're going to have mad vacuum leaks and possibly leaking fuel everywhere and have to take it all apart again. Not worth it.

I used the RTV trick on the 2nd time I did the LIMG and had no issues. Just let it dry before putting the gasket down over it. And make sure you use a flat razor blade to wipe it smooth and level so no residue is above the pits.

Yes the pic I showed you was just "guestimating" from other pics online. I had to take the grinding up a little more in the area I didn't grind. Just be mindful not to grind through into the runner. I ground pretty deep on mine, but I kept checking, but different years might have different thickness of cast there.

I know how you feel about no space inside. My car has about 4" on the sides next to a washer and dryer and water softener. Other side not much more got a water heater there. NO space in the front or rear of car either. PITA. Working on my exhaust right now and my floor jack only gets the tires about .75" off the ground... So yeah no room under the car either.

And yeah it's flooding here.. sucky weather.

[Money pit Beretta]

I'll get the O-rings,oil/filter and the coolant today. Also I'll put the RTV on and clean it off on Friday so it will be ready for Saturday. I'll call my help and see if he is able to work this weekend. If not I'll be doing this alone and it may take a long time. My 45 degree die grinder will be called in to do the work, I also have a 90 degree. I have many stones, but they seem to get clogged up if their not used on steel. They are gray, brown and I have one white(all in 1/4 shank). Dang, wish I would have had all this set up a few weeks ago when it was 80 and sunny. Good thing these cars are not any bigger, I'd have to hang from the roof to work(lol). I feel your pain Isaac.

[IsaacHayes]

The white stone will likely not do a damn thing but fall apart. Grey and brown might do ok. I used stones but it takes FOREVER (read 10+hrs). Unless you have an air die grinder and a huge compressor or a STRONG electric one. Getting a metal carbide bit would be worth the investment. You could gasket match the upper to the lower then too like I did fast with that. Also when grinding, the dust goes everywhere. Use eye protection and a respirator. A dust mask does not cut it as I learned the hard way. I breathed in a lot of aluminium dust which is very bad.

Knowing where to grind though will be helpful. I didn't need to take off as much as I had. Remember to take the plugs out so you can turn the engine over by hand slowly.

[Money pit Beretta]

Yea, I have a large home style compressor and can run two die grinders for good amount of time.
I got what they called an injector kit, so as long as they are ok I should be set. I did put the RTV on and used a razor blade to clean it off.
Once while working on my 67 Camaro I got a chunk of metal in my eye and had to go to the eye doctor to get it out. I had on a respirator and some goggles. I guess that the chunk hit the respirator then the goggles and then my eye. After that I went and bought some chemical goggles that cover more(the point is I'm covered, thanks though). I was working overhead and off to one side(just to make things more clear).

[3X00-Modified]

Sorry I'm way late on photos, but here...

This is what I did, I ground the intake a little, and then hit the rockers, its only 4 points that need it done.

[Money pit Beretta]

Yea man, that is a little late. Very nice pics! I see that we did it right and that your work looks better. It has been two days and it's almost done. It's the little suff that was holding us up. My friend and my girlfriend were very helpful on this. Without them I don't think I could have done it. Time was a big problem, that and I had to remember what tools I had and where they all were. Plus keeping track of everything that I needed to do and what they were doing. My bad mount gave us alot of trouble.
Thanks also goes to all that have posted on this topic. I'll post here when I get it running again. I have some more to ask, but will have to post it Monday.

[3X00-Modified]

I didn't have those photos at work and every time I checked I was at work and I kept forgetting when I got home... Yesterday was the first time I was on this PC and found those pics on here and uploaded them....

Hopefully they will help someone else some day

[Money pit Beretta]

Why not post a new topic with them in there and pin it?