X64v

Ditto on what Clifton said. Match the gasket to the head, not the block.

I'm not sure how it comes out of the can, I used it from a caulk gun. It has the consistency of the cheese packets in an MRE, if anyone knows what I'm talking about. It comes out like caulk or tooth paste but much thicker. When it starts to dry it gets very rubbery, it actually feels like a real gasket. One of the techs at the repair shop I work at has used it on hundreds of cars, and he says not one has ever come back with a leak.

http://www.permatex.com/products/Automotive/automotive_gasketing/gasket_makers/auto_Permatex_the_Right_Stuff_Gasket_Maker.htm I was shown that stuff recently. Far better than any gasket. I've been having problems with my oil pan leaking all over the place ever since I put in my l28et. I ditched the gasket all together, ran a big thick bead of that stuff on the pan, let it cure up for about 20 minutes, then bolted it up (about 10 ft. lbs. guessing by the calibrated wrist). Drove off soon after with no leaks since. A few of my friends have used this method as well (speedgato showed me the stuff in the first place) and have had no leaks either.

You aren't seriously going to try to use it with those rubber hoses and hose clamps, are you?

ctrl + h? Would that be a Photoshop command? If so, my roommate did the post-processing, not me. I'll pass the word along, though. Next time I'm out, I'll take a low one just for you Since you liked the last one, here's another: The colors came out the way they did because this was after sunset, but it was a 10 second exposure with a 3.6 F-Stop and ISO-80 film speed.

Yeah, I was trying to mess around with those. I didn't want them straight ahead, but you're right, at this side angle it didn't look quite right. In this one I thought it looked better, which is what I was going for in the rest: The difference is this picture was from a greater angle than the others.

Pretty obvious post-processing on the first one, the other two were just edited to bring back the blue color of my car, which turns purple under the yellow street lights.

A day late, but here they are. All pics were taken on the University of Arizona campus. Disclamer: My roommate post-edited these just a touch. If you see it in person, it has a big scratch down the driver's side door. All other body work defects are as pictured. This wheel and tire combo weighs in at 40 pounds even, 5 pounds lighter than my old combo. I really, really like these Victoracers; going from a street radial to a D.O.T. slick is like going from a golf cart to a shifter cart. The sidewalls are super stiff, and I have all the traction I can use and more on the street. They do follow every little rut in the road (and go wherever they want if there are no ruts), but it's not too bothersome. The quality on these wheels so far has been just fine, definitely more than you'd expect for $350 shipped off eBay. There are no flaws in the spoke finish or lip polish. For anyone who wants to know exactly what wheels they are, they're XXR 513 wheels, 15x8, 0 offset, 3.5" front space, 4.5" back space, wrapped in Kumho Victoracer V700 225/50ZR15 tires. There's about 3/8" clearance between the tire and the lower spring perch on all four corners (stock perches with drop springs), and they do not rub on the fender (though I had already rolled the rear fender lip).

Well, I'm glad to see some support for the push-on hose. John, that's why I've assembled all my hoses with the included crimp collar. They're not crimped right now, but if I have a problem (or if I just feel like it) I'm going to get the right size crimper and lock them all down. I tapped mine because I don't have a tig, but ktm makes a good point about room. There is room, but it'll be a tighter fit for sure. Other than that, I don't see a reason not to weld on a -6 fitting if you feel like it. Edit: You may have a problem if you ever want to get your manifold mating surface machined flat.

It's Aeroquip Push-Lok hose. Earl's also has it under the name Super Stock hose. The only difference between the Earl's stuff and the Aeroquip is the outer texture; Earl's is smooth and a tad soft, the Aeroquip stuff is knurled and hard (which I prefer). I used the Earl's Super Stock hose ends with the Aeroquip hose. Many people talk down about it, but I really like the push-on hose. It's very flexible, super quick and easy to work with, and the hose ends are less expensive. I did it that way 'cause it's the first plumbing set up that popped into my head, and seems to work just fine. A 90 degree fitting and straight hose end is cheaper than a straight fitting and 90 or 180 degree hose end. And yes, it does have it's cool factor, which is why I had no problem routing that hose above the intake runners and having all the AN fittings exposed. Nope, just a plain old P-79. The machine shop did have to take a tad over .100" off the manifold mating surface to remove some imperfections due to corrosion, so perhaps that's why it looks different than normal.

Here are some pictures of my setup (finally got it all installed this week). I haven't had a chance to evaluate the effectiveness of this yet (i.e. hard repeated runs), but so far it certainly hasn't hurt anything. The hose running from the T connects to the metal Y pipe where the original carb heater line used to join in with the cabin heater return. I'll post a picture of that when I post a testing update.

My new cylinder head is now on the car. I stayed up all night (literally, 8pm to 6am) Monday night/Tuesday morning to get it done in between days at work. Swapping over the valve train took quite a bit longer than I thought it would (I re-used my previous cam, rockers, lash caps, and adjusters). Good news, I haven't heard any ping yet. I'm at 25 degrees at 7psi at the moment, so I'll get out and get the tune dialed in this weekend. Anyways, on to the pictures. It's like a pile of aluminum treasure. -6 AN fittings installed. I used pipe dope on all the pipe threads to seal them up. Where/how broke college students get to do their work. A forest of ARP head studs ($150 shipped on eBay). They're wonderful to work with. The bare aluminum is a bit over-exposed, but otherwise I really like this picture. (Yes, I checked my wipe pattern, those lobes are not running off the ends of the lash pads). The coolant bypass lines. The hose running from the T connects to the metal Y pipe where the original carb heater line used to join in with the cabin heater return. I'll get a better picture of that tomorrow. The engine is running great so far. I had to enrich my entire fuel map by 8% to return my AFRs to normal; I would assume that means this head flows 8% more air, which would mean 8% more power. I haven't gotten a chance to really beat on it yet, so I don't know how well the coolant bypass lines are working yet, I'll get a better feel for it this weekend. I also got my wheels in, tires mounted, and them all on the car. I'll take some decent pictures tomorrow after work (weather permitting), but here's a teaser:

That is incorrect. I have removed my oil pan a hand-full of times without unbolting the engine, or anything else for that matter. Just the pan and pickup tube.

Dude, I'm all over that futon. How much for shipping to 99723?

Side fitting = In from rail Bottom, curved fitting = Out to tank

Having my stereo in the stock radio location was really a pain to install/remove. Since I had to take it out anyways (and didn't want to put it back), I moved it to the tranny tunnel. I used one of these, and it worked out really well. To secure the stereo, one just bends the tabs on the little metal bracket that comes with your stereo. It's very secure, there was no reason to use every single screw hole. The tunnel curves in such a way that one can't use the holes in the lower right corner anyways, but it doesn't rattle at all set up this way. The wiring is just barely visible here. I ran it all under the driver's seat, and through the center console. It clears my leg just fine, I don't even brush up against it while on the gas. (Please excuse all the dust, hehe) This stereo is going out, though, so I'll be buying a new one in the near future here. I'm going to get another Blaupunkt, but this time it won't have a CD player, just an SD card slot (I just loaded my CDs up with mp3s anyways, this will save me CDs). My new meats. They're Kumho v700 Victoracers, 225/50/ZR15. They have about 40% life left on them, not bad for free tires. They're going on the Sportmax XXR 15x8s I'm ordering next week. I've got all the gaskets I need to get my new cylinder head on, and Friday night I ordered an ARP Head Stud Kit ($150 shipped on eBay), a manifold stud kit, and all the -6 AN lines I need for my fuel lines and coolant re-routing. The new head will go on next weekend.

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=104828 I'm pretty sure that's the thread he's talking about.

275's last I talked to Clifton. No flares.

Cylinder head is done. I didn't take tons of pictures, we all know what a finished cylinder head looks like. The guides and valves were all perfect, all the seats were cut (looked to me like 4 and 5 angle cuts), .009" was taken off the block mating surface to make it perfectly flat (the very front around the timing cover was all that wouldn't cut, the rest was much straighter than that). The manifold mating surface around the #1 exhaust port and the water outlet was really badly corroded and pitted. They took .100" off the surface, but it was still bad enough to not seal, so they welded up the pitted area and then surfaced it again. There's still a pit here and there, but it'll seal just fine now. The new valve springs came up at 110lbs seat pressure, seemingly about half-way in between stock springs and springs strong enough to require new retainers (these use the stock retainers). Dave Rebello says these are good to .500" lift, which is more cam than I'll ever run on this motor. A few pictures (The marks above 1 and 2 are finger print smudges) I have some other things that will require my financial attention these next couple of weeks, but after that I'll get this head on, get the coolant lines routed, and get a few other things done I've been planning. By the way, if anyone needs machine work done for any motor in the Tucson area, take your business to Machine Works on Stone and Elm. They're a great shop, very competent and knowledgeable, and have great prices to boot. All the work done to this head ran me $255 out the door.

Thanks for the heads up, I was just about to order some gauges anyways.

So did the 2-wire shielded cable help at all, or was the fuel map the sole cause of your misfire? I'm having a misfire similar to what you describe, except mine's misfiring at high rpms in 4th and 5th only (i.e. high speeds, 100+ mph). I have a vr dizzy wired up like you had your vr sensor wired with the single core shielded cable.

I got my exhaust finished yesterday. Took about 10 hours of work to get everything tucked up and fitted the way I wanted. All bends are 6" radius mandrel. Home-made 2.5" to 3" adapter Downpipe section Downpipe snaking around the tranny and floor pan I kept it tucked up and against the floor pan so it wouldn't scrape on any but the largest speedbumps, and I can get the driveshaft and tranny out without removing it (I think) Not using a muffler allowed me to use two ~45 degree bends instead of 90 degree bends (nevermind that fuel line, it's out of the way now) I couldn't have done nearly as good a job without total access to a lift (the owner of the shop I work at is a great guy). This is by far my favorite exhaust I've ever run. It's much quieter than a dump pipe, but flows pretty much just as well. If you lean over the engine with the hood open while it's running, all you can hear is the fan, valves, and faint sound of the clicking injectors, otherwise it's dead silent. Of course, out back it "sounds like a speedboat" as speedgato put it. Driving on the street it's totally mild, not obnoxious at all; I could easily listen to my stereo (once I get it back in) or have a conversation with a passenger, no problem. On the freeway with the windows down (240 style a/c), the engine is just barely audible at a 70mph cruise, and not audible at all at an 85mph cruise. If you give it some gas but don't get the wastegate open, you get a nice medium growl. Get on boost to pass someone (enough to open the wastegate), and the exhaust just screams like open headers; it's the perfect exhaust in my opinion. In other news, the machine shop is 95% done with my head, they're just waiting on valve springs (medium stiffness ordered from Rebello). I'll have lots of pictures when it comes home Monday or Tuesday.

It depends on the year. They will not pop the hood on my '73. I've run through with my l28et and they were none the wiser, the only thing they check for on mine is the gas cap. Find out if you will need to pass a visual, I don't know what the year cut-off is. If all you need is to pass the tailpipe test (like it should be) then you shouldn't have any problems, even with just SU's and no air pump, as long as it's tuned correctly.

Because it's fun. My car has enough sentimental value it'll never be sold, so resale value is a non-issue. Wrenching on my car is as much fun as driving it for me, as long as I do an equal amount of wrenching and driving, it's worth the extra money to do it myself. I think when people get bummed out is when they spend 95% of their time working on it and only 5% driving it, or even worse, it being under total construction for five years. Daily driving mine and getting to the track as often as possible really keeps me into the car. The longest it's been down in the three years I've been driving it is about one month.

I dropped the head off at the machine shop today to be hot tanked, have its valve seats recut, valves and guides and springs checked, made flat, etc etc, so that should be done in a few weeks and ready to go. In the meantime, I picked up the materials for my new exhaust today. 10 feet of 3" aluminized steel pipe, and two 6" radius 3" mandrel U-bends. It's going to be 3" starting at the turbo (I'll make a 2.25" to 3" expander cone), with no muffler, and no bend greater than about a 45-50 degree angle. I'll get some pictures as I cut and weld it all up, it really is pretty massive. In Arizona the cops won't bother you if you're running a turbo without a muffler, the turbo keeps it quiet enough. I've heard a turbo is a legal muffler here, but I'll have to look into that some more.