First zip by,took about 5 minutes

Much better

Before I sanded them

Before picture

Good and smooth

 

take a pair of vise grips. grab sideways on those 4 dowel pins lower corner by 1-2-7-8. pull em out. new at chebby dealers a buck or 2 each. or reinstall those. deck will clean up better. get it a little better. composite gaskets. you can find an .029 pretty cheap. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/n...waAoInEALw_wcB no steel shims. next question: what heads and why? since thread title is heads...

 

Edelbrock street E series I think,also Edelbrock aluminum intake,headers,and Edelbrock AVS2 carb,and HEI distributor.

 

Are you aware you need special head gaskets, longer pushrods and special head-bolts?

AKA additional costs.

 

To play devils advocate here, You need washers for the head bolts, thats it. Many people use the same head gaskets as they would for iron heads but if they are metal other than copper they can mark up the head surface of the aluminum heads over time. You can use a gasket spray such as copper kote or a rubber coated steel shim gasket to help prevent this and the prices are comparable to what you have to buy for any head your going to bolt on at this point. You may also need different pushrods with any different performance head including iron heads as I have with my old iron eagle heads.

That said edelbrock heads are nothing special for the cost.. And I thought you were no longer considering the avs2 carb as well?
Pictures can be deceiving but it doesnt look like you block sanded the top of that block.

 

I like refurbished vintage.

 

No,I wasn’t aware of that.

 

If you havent done a top end swap before you need to pay attention to the crush thickness of your new gasket if you are not aware of it. It needs to be a thickness that gives you a total quench area below .040 inches. Getting too thick of a gasket will lower your compression and effect your combustion burn quality. You need to know your deck height and how far in the hole your piston top is

 

I sure will,and someone said I would need longer pushrods,I will check with Summit,and checking the deck height is something I can do,or get one of my friends that drag race to do it?

 

On most aftermarket aluminum heads, the pad that the rocker stud & guide plate mount to are higher than stock. You will no longer be able to use stock length pushrods due to the new geometry of the rocker arm.
You will need a Pushrod Length Checker ($20) and you will need one head installed. It does not need to have the head gasket or be torqued down at this time of testing. Just snug it down.
You will need a blue dye on two valve-stem tips. A Sharpie can be used also. Use the checking tool on Exhaust valve set at zero lash, rotate crank two full revolutions. Loosen rocker arm and check the wear mark on the stem. The rub mark needs to be dead-center. You can shorten or lengthen the checker rod until the rub mark is satisfactory. Then remove the tool, measure the checking tools total length. Then do the same thing with the Intake valve.
Usually, but not always, the new pushrods will need to be 0.100 longer. And Moly because of the guide plates and one piece units. Figure $80-$100 a set.

Next: Gaskets.
Because of the different expanding and contracting rates of the two metals, iron block / aluminum head, you will need a head gasket that is compatible. Don't skimp out on this or you will have a blown gasket. Figure around $40 EACH! Find out what bore you need and which thickness of gasket, then aluminum head compatible.

Next: Head bolts.
If you are going to sink hundreds into this top end project, again, don't skimp-out on hardware. ARP has the complete bolt set for SBC at Summit Racing. The bolts are designed with a built in washer. That washer prevents gouging of the bolt into the soft aluminum head. These are best of the best bolts. You will never snap one. Torque them in five stages.
Figure another $100. You will also need a head bolt thread sealant.

So, as you can see, there is no such thing as slapping on a Top-End kit, Additional cost, additional labor.

 

That’s some great information,and I have probably 4K of parts sitting in the floor,so definitely don’t want to skimp out,and most of the parts came from Summit,heads,Carburetor,intake,bolts are ARP kit,and engine gasket kit from felpro.but will definitely check the deck and see about the pushrods,but I am a gambling man,lol...so,this is out of my wheel house,but from what I can tell,and back ground on history of car,doubt I need longer pushrods,especially since,a gasket thickness or thinnest can make a big difference.Before,I tore the engine apart,it does have 82k miles,and in 2009 at about 75k-77k miles,the cam went on the motor according to his records,and he did rebuild engine,now he does say he replaced cam,lifters,chain,pulley,and even replaced radiator.and hoses and water pump.Also,stock cam.so,don’t think he replace crank,pistons,I’m hoping they did put new rings in,but not positive. I would be shocked if I did need new pushrods though.

 

you will need the pushrods because the length is different than iron heads. the rockers are mounted higher. pushrod has to be longer to reach them. and 20 buck ebay pushrods are an absolute no-no. the one issue i have with Headsup's method is checking with no head gasket. a .029 to .041 gasket is a big chunk of the .100 longer the pushrods will end up. i would use the old gasket or even the new one to be on the correct height... as to piston to deck clearance, a straight edge and feeler gauges will tell you how deep in the hole the pistons are. then get a buddy to double check you. stock cam? consider upgrading. same with exhaust. otherwise you may as well put the iron heads back on. ok. headers. full length, not shorties?

 

Yes, you could use an old head gasket while testing the pushrod length. Then when you are ready install new & torque.
I don't worry about a few thousandths head gasket. I worry about 0.200 more. Stock pushrod is 7.8. You may need 8.0 or longer.

And that 0.041 gasket does not come out on the final rod length anyway. Your cam base maybe only 0.325 X 1.5 rocker ratio gives you around 480 lift.
You are not adding the entire gasket thickness to the overall pushrod length. Geometry basic math.

 

I called Summit which sold me all theses parts,heads,intake,carburetor,distributo r to see what’s the difference,but from looking at both heads side by side,the heads are the same height,but does look as if my old heads are a bit higher springs,so if anything might need shorter,but did order a adjustable pushrod length checker.my pushrods are 7.75 in length but did see with these new heads where they have compatibility parts the pushrods were 7.89.so they would be a little longer.

 

Does your pushrod length checker come with the soft springs so you dont destroy the tool?

 

Those pushrod checkers are strong if you buy quality. No need to remove a valve spring, just more unnecessary work for the O.P.

Golfer Dad, what ever springs came with your new heads are designed for a certain amount of cam lift w/o valve float.
The blue ink you put on the valve stem will tell the tale about the pushrod length..

The heads will look same height, its the rocker stud pad that is higher on aftermarket heads.
I can't stress enough how important the pushrod geometry is. If the pushrod is too long or too short the rocker will over-reach / under reach causing valve guide wear.
or damage could occur to the retainer.
If you are not sure how to do the procedure, look around on YouTube. Must be a vid on the subject.

 

using a tool improperly is always bad advice.

Also on a side note, if changing valve springs and going larger, you need to account for the diameter of the spring and retainer in buying new rockers

 

Yea, I noticed seeing can also get 1.6 ratio rocker arm instead of 1.5, so, I’m assuming that would help with the pushrods,but calculating the length now.

 

Using quality pushrod checker such as Comp Cams unit, you don't have to put a sissy spring on the head, nor is that considered improper use of a tool.

Golferdad, I found a video on YouTube that will show you what you need to do.
In the search box type:

Engine Building Part 7 Measuring for Pushrods
by Petes Garage.

 

Thanks,I will check it out.