got a decent fel pro 501sd and new ARP head bolts. not skimping after all this.

 

Your pictures are too close to know for sure what cylinder they are for, but it appears the lifters for cylinder #1 were both down which means cylinder #1 was TDC compression stoke,

On the compression and firing stroke, the valves have to be closed as the piston comes up to compress the mixture and they have to remain closed as the piston goes back down so the combustion can push the piston down. The valves should both be closed as the piston starts to move up and remain closed until the piston is most of the way back down again. If the lifters or valves on #1 are opening towards the top of the piston travel then #6 is going to fire, not #1.

 

While you are at it......
measure the thickness of the head gasket with a micrometer or dial calipers...
post the result.
You may want to buy a slightly thinner head gasket to increase the compression 10-15 psi ...
(Forum members: is there a noticeable advantage to a thinner head gasket?)

 

"While you are at it..." new thinner head gaskets?

Forum members...any slight advantage ?

 

I'll check. the term while i'm at it costs me too much money lol!

 

Yes, head gasket compressed thickness will affect total combustion chamber volume – to a significant degree. For example, a stock steel shim gasket with .020" compressed thickness has a chamber volume of just over 4cc (assuming exact 4" gasket bore); composition gaskets seem to be in the .040" to .050" compressed range, so a .050" gasket has a volume of just over 10cc. That difference effectively adds 6cc to your combustion chamber volume, so you can see that when the OP is looking to increase compression a bit going from a 67cc head to a 64cc head but uses a .050" head gasket in place of a stock steel one, he's lost 3cc in the process and actually lowered compression.

The downside to the thinner gaskets is that the block and head have to be very flat in order to seal well whereas composition gaskets can take up some of the surface variability.

 

Glad to see you are getting close. I think the video helped. Starting from the beginning got everyone on the same page. This is a good lesson and reminder for all of us that not everyone has the same level of experience and often it is something simple that is the issue. OP: this is not a dig at you, I have been working on cars most of my life and like others we are always learning.

One thing I noticed is at the 5:15 spot on the video It looks like the rocker arm nuts (Intake & Exhaust) are way different in terms of how far they are screwed down. All rockers on all cylinders should be close to the same. If not, that tells me the lash is not set properly or the rocker stud is starting to pull out of the head. BTW: I do not think in your case they are starting to pull out. This could also just be the angle of the camera making it look that way.

 

Old Cylinder Heads and Old Cylinder Block Deck surfaces like thick every day use Head Gaskets and Fresh out of the machine shop surfaces can handle Thin Head Gaskets that may or may not make an un noticeable gain in HP. on a nearly stock engine combination.

 

I used .015 steel shim gaskets sprayed with copper gasket sealer. the idea is the smaller Quench area is better at fighting detonation.

 

hi there thanks for the comments. the rocker arms have been backed out completely some more loose than others. I'm just now getting it ready to put the head back on then lash down. Waiting for the gasket. The question now is do I go for the metal gasket like it had or wait for the felpro i ordered? everyone online has some success and failure on both. I also ordered ARP bolts.

 

I'm torn between gaskets. Metal better than the felpro? remember mine is old and worn down. I want the most protection at this point since I'm not upgrading right now. Some say thinner is safer. composite vs metal. I'm positive with all the back and forth my head/block are not perfectly machined.


Not sure if this will give me the best protection or go with metal?

 

I got the holley in my buddy sold me at half what he paid. He lives out of state and was upgrading his c3 when he decided to sell it and had lots of new parts on the shelf. I also got in my tool to turn the oil pump so as to lubricate all parts again before re assembly. I will bathe the engine with new regular nothing special oil on the gallery then turn the pump with the drill till I get it coming out of the rockers. Pretty good idea I found online.

 

If you are changing the heads, a composite may be the better route because the heads and block may not mate exactly. If keeping the old heads, they likely warped along with the block so if you keep them on the original side they came off, then a steel gasket may seal just fine.

Be aware that the Fel-pro has a compressed thickness of ~.043" for a volume of almost 9cc (w/4" bore) while the steel gaskets at ~.020" compressed thickness have a volume of 4cc. So if you go with the composite Fel-Pro you're effectively adding 5cc to the combustion chamber over the steel gasket.

 

If it had a steel shim then put the same back in. Something like a Mr. Gasket 1130G or Fel-Pro 7733SH1 could work. Copper coat spray a metal gasket.

 

Unless you are building an all-out racing engine, the thicker gasket is a safer bet.
Don't worry about the 2 H.P. you may loose.

 

got the gasket and balancer tape in painted the head since it was out anyway, now waiting by the window for the thread chaser and high temp thread sealer by the window like a puppy. Why does everything have to come in agonizingly slow. I still can’t believe I did all this just to find what I pray is a timing issue

 

it is better to look inside an engine and find out you didn't need to than to not do so and find out you should have. these are not daily drivers. you did not lose your job cuz you couldn't get to work cuz the engine was apart.

 

Not sure if you pulled one head or both. it's not the end of the world but if you only pulled one head i would try to figure out what thickness head gasket you have under the installed head and get the same thickness for the head you removed jmo.

 

never thought of that.

 

So I'm done putting in the head. Torqued the new bolts to 22, then 55 then 70 ft lbs as described. Used the sealant they recommended. I chased the bolt holes with the arp tool. Way expensive for a I hope to be a one time use but omg well worth it. You should see the trash that came out and new bolts flew in.

A few things especially for those who are trying to break their vette like me:

I put moly lube all over the new lifters. Jebby had said don't do that type of thing in so many words. I did it. I also put it on both ends of the rocker arms and rocker/spring area. Well, I've waiting so long to get to this point it was completely gummed up.

THANK GOD I bought an oil pump spinner to get the oil pumping thru the new lifters like I saw in youtube. That's really more for new engines you're putting together but I did it anyway. Well, not a drop of oil thru the rods. Why? gummed up! When it finally did break thru it was a really really slow dribble. One was shooting it out fast and furious.
The oil was mixed with water that was sitting I guess in the pan. Now remember I removed the intake manifold and I think water went in the engine. I certainly don't think it was the head gasket that went causing that. Well off to parts store to buy 10quarts and 2 filters of oil. Cycled it by bathing top of engine with oil spinning the pump and draining. Twice. Third time I had some extra oil, it drained fine. OFF with the lifter that were clogged (new ones). I put the old ones back (don't say it) after making sure I blew compressed air thru the peep hole and blew the gook out of the rods. Spun the oil pump again (bought more oil up to 60 bucks now) and it started coming out just fine. Cleaned the mess.
lashed it up. Guess what? no compression. Checked you tube again, no compression. checked you tube AGAIN no compression. FINALLY I WROTE IT DOWN and I got compression when lashing correctly 1/2 turn past zero. Am I really getting so old I have to write things down??????

Cranked to make sure compression checker jumped, let go of the ignition at that point, checked tdc and I passed zero. Went another round and got compression this time I stopped it at 60 out advanced timing. Slowly cranked to 4 degrees before tdc.

Washed the car which I haven't done since all of this started. Water stained from sprinklers up front not too bad but now I have to buff.

I stopped at this point (it's 7pm) and all i've done is UNDO THE GARBAGE I caused. As you can see I'm exasperated. In the next few days will put on intake, chase the old sealant, torque, drop dizzy a few degrees between number 1 and 3 cylinder (from everything I've read or stop me now) and try again.

To all you new corvette forum members out there, READ before you mess things up or at least ASK questions, not after the fact.