SM Head Install... forgetting anything?

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Well drivers side is on. Used some of my old 5/16×18 7/8in header bolts for the 2 shitty bolt holes and the new 5/16x18 1in bolts in the other holes with a washer. They are all snug on their. Ill get the rest installed tomorrow... to bad I dont know how to keep the a/c off the car, which would incrase hp (by not taking it due to having it on) and lighten the overall weight of the car by the billion pounds it weighs...

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DentalDart said:
Well drivers side is on. Used some of my old 5/16×18 7/8in header bolts for the 2 shitty bolt holes and the new 5/16x18 1in bolts in the other holes with a washer. They are all snug on their. Ill get the rest installed tomorrow... to bad I dont know how to keep the a/c off the car, which would incrase hp (by not taking it due to having it on) and lighten the overall weight of the car by the billion pounds it weighs...

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I haven’t had to deal with this issue for years but I still remember what a pain in a butt those couple bolts were. You may have me looking at the set of Speedmaster heads I’m doing for my sons 340. I’m going to see if there’s enough room to plug those holes with aluminum bolts, grind the heads off, and redrill new bolt holes that are moved out.
 
@pittsburghracer these heads will be great, hopefully, as I've never personally ran them. Tony, 70aarcuda on FABO, has many sets and has nothing but good things to say about them. For 1100 bucks fully dressed on black friday makes them even better. He gets them bare and add his own parts to them, I seem to recall that he doesnt like the springs. I bet you could plug and move out the bolt holes, but I can't guarantee it
 
DentalDart said:
Well drivers side is on. Used some of my old 5/16×18 7/8in header bolts for the 2 shitty bolt holes and the new 5/16x18 1in bolts in the other holes with a washer. They are all snug on their. Ill get the rest installed tomorrow... to bad I dont know how to keep the a/c off the car, which would incrase hp (by not taking it due to having it on) and lighten the overall weight of the car by the billion pounds it weighs...

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There really is no good way to get to header bolts like that. 1/64 of a turn is all you can get on them at a time. They slot the hole, but that doesn’t really help.

Sometimes it’s better to just take a ball peen hammer an dent the tube. It won’t hurt the power and it makes getting to the bolt a bit easier.
 
Use studs for the limited access locations, grind the stud to the exact length needed for the nuts thread engagement, round the end of the stud to aide slipping the nut on, but leave no excess threads exposed. Grind the nut thinner as needed but still be able to get a wrench “securely” in place to tighten. Grind the wrench as needed, thin it down. Radius the edges of the box end. Any one or combination of the above will work. Been there done that on many situations. 3/8”, 7/16” etc. Header bolts/ studs especially. You don’t need all that bolt head with washer length to fasten a couple header bolts.

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I was looking around on summit for something that would help him and the crazy thing was I found 3/8 header bolts with a 5/16 head and the 5/16 bolts had 3/8 heads.
 
I got them in, and the drivers side is all tightened up. I'm doing the passenger side now. It is 28 degrees outside today, and the garage is freezing... So I went and got a real garage heater... It's nice and toasty in here now... I'm to finish putting this thing back together.

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2 questions.. first the intake gasket has these cut out, the heads dont, the old gaskets that was filled as well. Will these gaskets still work, should I use the old ones or should I get different gaskets? Second, the cork on the gasket by the distributor hangs over the block a little, should I trim it?

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I am not a fan of the cork gaskets. Sometimes they lift the intake too high for best port alignment. A bead of gasket maker I find works best. If there is a dowel pin on the china wall rails I suggest taking them out so they do not prevent the intake from sitting properly or possibly cracking the intake when torqued down.
 
DentalDart said:
2 questions.. first the intake gasket has these cut out, the heads dont, the old gaskets that was filled as well. Will these gaskets still work, should I use the old ones or should I get different gaskets? Second, the cork on the gasket by the distributor hangs over the block a little, should I trim it?

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I don’t use the cork gaskets either but my son loves them. If you put the intake gaskets on and then the cork gasket you over hang will probably be even worse. The cork gasket sometimes need trimmed up a little to fit better and then run silicone sealer vertically where the cork gasket meets the intake gaskets at all four corners. Those cut-outs that you asked about mean nothing. Like I said I don’t use the cork gasket so I glue the intake gaskets on the heads with adhesive and then I set the intake on dry and measure how high I have to dam up my black silicone
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This is my favorite gasket on Edelbrock style heads. I always have about 20 sets of these sitting here. They don’t even come with end seals
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DentalDart said:
2 questions.. first the intake gasket has these cut out, the heads dont, the old gaskets that was filled as well. Will these gaskets still work, should I use the old ones or should I get different gaskets? Second, the cork on the gasket by the distributor hangs over the block a little, should I trim it?

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Everyone has their method, if it works, it works. There is no better or correct way than just being careful, paying attention regardless. Don’t cut the end off of the silicone tube or caulk gun and gob it up like you see sometimes, piled high, globbed on and sloppy, looks like they used their elbow to smooth out the spooge. But seriously:
I use the cork usually. They used to come block side adhesive lined which made keeping it in place easy. If without, You could: use a light coat of adhesive (make sure it’s good and dry before bolting down the intake) but first run a bead of ultra black only at each head to wall corner, insert the corks slots over those little head gasket tabs and press down those tabs just a little. Another bead of ultra black at each corner after the intake gaskets are in place, and so forth. I only worry that the cork doesn’t protrude to much on the front rail, and the the rear clears where the distributor rests. But after all cured you can go back with a knife and cut any excess.
 
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Looks like I'll have to find some spark plugs that take smaller sockets, these autolite 65s and champion RN12YC's both are 13/16 and take up the whole spark plug hole.

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DentalDart said:
Looks like I'll have to find some spark plugs that take smaller sockets, these autolite 65s and champion RN12YC's both are 13/16 and take up the whole spark plug hole.

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I’m an Autolite guy and have been for over 40 years. I had an issue when I was street racing and an old time Mopar guy told me to throw my Champion plugs away and put Autolite plugs in. It fixed my issue immediately. I run AR3911 racing plugs with alcohol and AR3922 with pump gas. 5/8 socket.
 
It’s been awhile since I ran pump gas. It might have just been 3922 but I’m sure you can double check crossover. My local Advance Auto would get them for me.
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Ok... One more question... This little thing just broke, the wire snapped off the back of it. What is it? It has a wire from the distributor and grounds to the dist mount...











































































good











































Sounds gooil on the plugs, I'll get some














































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Not sure what spark plugs you are going with but if you go with the Autolite I recommended please double check me. It’s probably been over 10 years since I ran pump gas and I’m an old man that needs double checked.
 
@pittsburghracer I got the 3922s, but I read that they are on the colder side. Searched SM website, and it says to use colder plugs when adding turbos, SC's, or nitrous and then to use warmer (3923/3924) when no power adders. So, I am going to get the 3924s tomorrow and the NGK equivalent as well. I was going to finish putting the ac on tonight but its cold, so I'll finish it tomorrow.
 
@DentalDart
DentalDart said:
@furrystump no one had head studs when I ordered these. As for gaskets, it's a felpro blue gasket 1008, compressed height is .53. This is the same part number gasket we put on the car 2 years ago. It worked the past 2 years, so KISS
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Are those heads closed chamber? Do you know if your pistons are out of the hole at all? I am putting Edelbrock closed chamber on my 340 and trying to figure head gasket thickness, etc.
 
@RustyRatRod sorry sometimes people are sarcastic with answers and comments, and I didnt know if the "file it under g" meant something else... This car is almost double my age... I didnt know there were little things called capacitor, only time Ive heard of a capacitor in a car was in the movie back to the future with the flux capacitor.
 
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