Engine Assembly: Intake Manifold

With the valve train adjusted, I was ready to drop the intake manifold on the engine. I consulted Monroe again and he suggested that you should add some sealant around the water passages in the heads so I spread a little Hylomar there and around the exhaust crossover ports to keep the gasket in place.

I also had to cut a little corner away from the water passage holes but otherwise the gaskets fit well.

The top side of the gaskets already had sealer around the passages so I did not add any. Next were the front and rear gaskets that are the most common places for leaks. I spread some Hylomar again to seal them properly.

Then I carefully placed the cork gaskets on the sealant and added some more Hylomar on top. After letting it dry for a few minutes, I placed the intake manifold on the engine. I had a few studs in the heads to guide it in the correct place. The bolt holes were a bit tight but they still fit even thought the heads had been lowered a lot. I followed the correct sequence and torqued the bolts in.

Engine Assembly: Valve Train

It would be easier to adjust the valves without the intake manifold so I decided to tackle it next. First I had to find out the correct length for my push rods though. I installed the solid lifters again and placed the 6.800 inch standard length rods on them. To test the rocker contact, I used black marker to color the tops of the valves.

Then I set the valve lash to zero and rotated the engine a few turns.

After loosening the rockers again I could see that the intake valve contact was pretty good but the exhaust valves were a bit off center towards the outboard side. This meant that the rods were too long. I used an adjustable rod to find the correct length which was about 6.73 inches. Rod closest to that length that I could find was Trick Flow 6.750 inches long so I bought eight of them. I did the marker test once more and the results were pretty good

Now I had everything to finalize the valve train installation. After cleaning and spreading some Schneider Cam Lube to the bottom of the lifters, I dropped them in their bores. As all parts were new, their order did not matter. The instructions that came with them also mentioned that they should be installed without filling them with oil so I left them empty.

I dipped the heads of the push rods in assembly lube and dropped them in place. Then all I had to do was adjust the valves and I was done. Monroes book has a good picture how you can adjust all valves in three steps. No need to find TDC for each cylinder so I went with that. I tightened the nut until all slack was taken from the rods and then turned 180 degrees more. This should set the lifter preload correctly.

Engine Assembly: Oil Pan

Time to close up the bottom end. To make sure the oil pan would not leak, I cleaned the surfaces and used Hylomar to glue the cork gaskets in place.

Then I placed the gaskets on the block and lightly screwed the bolts in to make sure everything was positioned correctly.

Then came a long pause in the oil pan installation. I noticed that the drain plug threads were pretty much gone and probably would not hold oil. I searched around for a new pan but only some chromed parts were available quickly. I wanted to retain the original look so I decided to fix the threads. I took the pan to a friend who welded a nut inside it. With that I could screw in a different bolt to use as a plug.

Finally I pushed the rubber end seals in the block, spread some more Hylomar on the gasgets and I was ready to install the pan.

After dropping the pan on the block, I torqued the bolts in many steps. First until they just pulled the pan in and then half a turn at a time so the flange would not bend. After a few rounds the pan was installed.

Engine Assembly: Cylinder Heads

It was time to assemble and install my cylinder heads. I gave them a final clean and got to work. I spread some assembly lube on the valve stems and pushed them in the guides. Then I dug out my spring compressor and installed the retainer and spring. Unfortunately I also found another problem later. The new springs were larger than the old so the original retainers could not be used. I had to take the springs out again and buy larger retainers. After assembling the heads a few times already, it was getting to be a routine...

I also installed new valve seals but used the original rocker arms and nuts. I thought about getting new roller rockers but those are usually so large that the original valve covers can't be used. As I was trying to keep the stock look, I settled for the standard parts.

Before installing the rocker arms, I cleaned them and lightly sanded the tips. Mostly just to get the crud off. Otherwise they seemed to be in good condition.

Then it was time to coat all contact areas with assembly lube and drop the rockers on their studs. Repeat that 16 times and I had two heads ready for installation.

My gasket set included Fel-Pro 1011-2 head gaskets. Their instructions mention that they should be installed as is without painting or doing any other modifications so I just dropped them on my block.

Both gaskets have "FRONT" stamped on one edge so I made sure to position them the correct way.

And then it was time to install the heads. I carefully positioned them on the block until the two dowel pins contacted and steered them down. I gave a light coating of oil for the bolts and screwed them in. To correctly torque them, I followed Monroes book. They must be tightened in correct order and in three steps. Steps are 50 ft-lbs, 60 ft-lbs and finally 70 ft-lbs for the 289 engine. And with that my heads were installed.

Head Aches

After lapping the valves I was ready to assemble the heads. Unfortunately I realised that the intake valves would need 0.1 inches of shims. That's a lot and I wasn't sure if they would stay put. I took the heads and their parts to TuumaCID and found a solution. We measured a bunch of other valve springs and found a set that had the same pressures as my original Comp 942-16 but with 1.800 inch install height. With them I would not need to add any shims.

While we were checking the springs, I also decided to get new rocker arm studs. One was missing and the rest were quite worn anyway so I got a full set. Problems started when I installed them. I removed the old and screwed in the new. At that point I noticed that at least two flanges in the head had cracks in them. The new studs were wider at the top of the threads and opened them up. Great...

Luckily I found help from the same place where the valves and seats had been machined. I removed everything from the heads and drove over to see if they could be fixed. After waiting some hours one of them had been welded. Next we tested the studs again and realized, that the new ones were a lot longer that the old. This actually proved to be a good thing because we could machine the flanges 8 mm lower. By doing that, their walls at least doubled in thickness.

I left the heads to be finalized and after a couple of days they were done. There had been three cracks in both heads and all were welded. Luckily the cracks were in the flanges and not in the combustion chamber. The threads had also been pretty bad and heli-coils had been installed in two holes. The rest had just needed some re-threading. Finally all flanges had been lowered. The results looked really good.

Welded and machined head

Repaired threads

After investigating the new studs, we realized that they were meant to be used with guide plates. The flare in the threads situated the plate correctly. As I did not use them, I needed to place a thick washers on the heads. To make sure no water would leak from the studs, I added some thread sealer and thread locker on them. Hopefully they were finally ready to be used.

Lapping The Valves

Lapping the valves should not be absolutely necessary after a valve job but I did it anyway to see where the valves contacted the seats. The heads had been modified quite extensively so I did not want leave any doubts about the valves fitting them.

Lapping itself is really simple. I bought some lapping compound and a lapping tool that is just a stick with suction cups in each end. The grinding compound had coarse and fine paste and you start with the rough stuff. I spread it on the valve face, pushed the stem in the guide and attached the tool.

I rotated the lapping tool back and forth between my hands while pressing it lightly towards the head. After a few rotations I tapped the valve with its seat a few times to get more paste between them. After doing this I got a nice grey ring on both surfaces. Then I needed to clean the valve and seat and do the same thing with the fine paste. It took a few hours to lap all 16 valves.

All seats were fine but the contact area on the intake valves was quite near the edge. Should be fine but there is no room for any more machining.