Old Race 340 Teardown

NITROTRIP said
Hi Super Sleeper,
A very easy way to check if the block decks are angle milled is you can get a 18"x24"
wood working square. The stock decks are 90deg from each other. Lay the square
from one deck the other. It will lay flat on each deck surface. A quick check that will
show if you need to measure farther. The 18deg valve angle is set in the head milling.
I think the chevy guy's got there angle milling idea from mopar as there small blocks
are 15deg, or as I like to tease them with. A question as I don't remember, are the
lifter banks in the X block 48deg or stock? I think others here are spot on with the
major deck milling, the square will tell you if any angle is there also.

Serious awsome post.
Thank You for it,
Rick

Thanks, that's an easy measurement to make although I don't have a square that is that large I can certainly get one! My question is from complete ignorance, but also because when I measured the distance between the banks at the top of the China wall I got a measurement that would seem to indicate that quite a bit of material had been removed. So angle milling is done to get the valve angle right?
On the lifter bank angle, I'm pretty sure mine is the stock 59 degrees because the pushrods come pretty close to the block at the deck. Some reliefs have been ground there. I can't speak for all X-blocks.