[Chingon]

Well I got the heads and valve covers painted, with the heads torqued down. Now I need to reinstall the pushrods/rockers. Is this still the correct procedure:

Dip each pushrod end in oil conditioner or heavy engine oil. Install the pushrods in their original position.

Before installation, coat the valve tips, rocker arm and fulcrum contact areas with Lubriplate® or equivalent.

Rotate the crankshaft one full turn (360 degrees) until the lifter is on the base circle of the cam as shown in the accompanying illustration (camshaft position A).

Install the rocker arm assemblies and tighten the rocker arm fulcrum bolts to 6-11 ft. lbs. (7-17 Nm) to position the rocker arm seats.

Rotate the crankshaft clockwise 120 degrees to camshaft position B as shown in the accompanying illustration. Tighten the rocker arm fulcrum bolts to 6-11 ft. lbs. (7-17 Nm) to position the rocker arm seats.

The fulcrums must be fully seated in the cylinder head and the pushrodsmust be seated in the rocker arm sockets prior to the final tightening.

Final tighten the rocker arm fulcrum bolts to 20-28 ft. lbs. (26-38 Nm).

If the same valve train components are used a valve train check is not required.If new components were installed, measure the clearance with the valve tappetfully collapsed on the base circle of the camshaft lobe. The measurement should be 0.085-0.185 inch (2.15-4.69mm). Refer to the accompanying illustration if necessary for the valve clearance measurement.

 

[Chingon]

Slowly but surely - I'm liking the painted heads/valve covers! If I wasn't starting to get impatient I would have painted the new water pump, lower intake and misc. brackets...

 

[prismatic]

Looking good

Your pistons are different than mine. Interesting.

Photo Album - Imgur

When I did my heads.

 

[flapjackcharlie]

Ive had a couple of blocks come in warped. anytime I take on a head gasket job I will not take the job on unless the customer allows me to pull the engine and have both the block and heads pressure checked and machined.saves on any issues after install

 

[KCTaurusBull]

Chingon, those painted valve covers are tight!

What is the year and model of your vehicle?

I just bought an 02' Sable w/ 155K miles, and am gonna have to pull the heads, replace the radiator, coolant overflow tank, change out the ATF filter and flush out all the crap. Reasons being, the coolant overflow tank is black-lined, I'm getting a little slip in the transmission shifting, and those fluids reak like a MF. Oil appearance isn't too bad, though the seller probably Jiffy-Lubed the oil before listing it.

I'm thinking that the radiator has an internal leak from the coolant-to-ATF low pressure line-- I didn't find that milk shake appearance of ATF and coolant, but the ATF level was rising as the coolant level was increasing. NOT GOOD!

Great job with your updates. Thanks!

 

[Chingon]

It's a 2002 SES Vulcan. I've got it mostly back together, but ran into a problem when I broke the EGR tube and had to do an EGR delete. I hope to have some time to work on it Sunday - hopefully finish it!

 

[KCTaurusBull]

I've got it mostly back together, but ran into a problem when I broke the EGR tube and had to do an EGR delete.

Those are ALWAYS a party! PB, heater, and cheater! I wouldn't delete the EGR, as you're going to throw a P code. Maybe your state won't give you Hell for throwing the code, if it makes you do an annual inspection. These engines don't like to work without the EGR-- it will F with your O2 sensors, by the air-to-fuel ratio mapping in your PCM.

 

[Chingon]

The EGR delete debate has raged, but so far the only people with proof who have posted up are the ones that have done the delete and have not thrown any codes, nor suffered any engine/sensor failures.

My state just looks for CEL's basically, they don't even crawl under to check for cats...

 

[KCTaurusBull]

The EGR delete debate has raged, but so far the only people with proof who have posted up are the ones that have done the delete and have not thrown any codes, nor suffered any engine/sensor failures.

My state just looks for CEL's basically, they don't even crawl under to check for cats...

Alright, then. I just hope you don't wind up with your cat boxes full.

 

[Chingon]

:angry:

Well I finally buttoned everything up and once I figured out the EGR Delete issue I've been on the road ~100 miles. Careful miles, just testing everything out. I got home after a decent commute (engine was warm, never showed signs of overheating) and came back out to a puddle of coolant under the vehicle. I smelled coolant slightly through the vents, but I attributed this to having been opened up and burning stuff off the headers, etc.

Took a video and the coolant expansion tank was a little low. Rev'd the engine and coolant was circulating - see video:

Maybe this is a minor "burp" from fresh coolant? Maybe it's the slight weirdness I had with the Dorman cap? (Seem to spin without tightening until I snugged up the internal cap and then it tightened until "click".)

I just hope all this damn surgery wasn't in vain.