ok, i feel like a dumb a@@, but thats nothing new. So my Dad came over and looked at what I had going on. He said the valve did not hit the piston. The pistons are stock or stock style 72-73 340 those are alignment marks so the piston goes in the correct orientation. So I searched the web and found pictures of a 72-73 style piston and it looks just like mine. Ok cool, but i still feel like an idiot.
so it appears the problem may be head gasket related. At least I hope.
The edelbrock gasket they recommend is .50, but edelbrock also recommends the felpro 1008 . possibly its the same head gasket except the 1008 is .39. Edelbrock has felpro make the gaskets.
So i will try it again this time with the edelbrock gasket and see what happens
i looked at the head gasket i had on there and compared to the head and the block. There is only one way to put them on. i did not see any anomolies.
what .50 head gasket do you all recommend ? I have heard the felpros will fail
