This is not being ****. This is merely checking basic clearance values of components that can easily cause catastrophic engine failure.

Verne IS ****, and wants everything right. The funny thing is, he never even thought to check p/v...that was my idea. He trusted all the advice that "it would clear fine"...and guess what? It didn't.
Now, even TEA is telling him he should expect to see sub-par clearance values at TDC. How many more bought the same package and just bolted it together and drove?

If you deem that as not important, or trust the LS1Tech kiddies to tell you it's all good, that's your decision.

But please, when someone DOES take the time to measure, and finds a critical clearance alarmingly too close for comfort...refrain from telling them "their clearance is fine" and to "not worry about it".

I may not know everything...but one thing I will NEVER do is stuff a sizable cam, and/or modified heads on an engine and NOT check p/v clearance....no matter how many people tell me "no problem, it'll clear fine".
The rework penalty is just not worth skipping such a simple and basic check.

I drove 1400 miles home from Florida after my "clears fine" cam was installed. Yeah, it cleared fine too, by .050". Even though I had no problems, I would not do that again, knowing now what I didn't know then.

As with anything, being unaware is being ignorant. Advising others based on that ignorance is much, much worse. And you'll have little trouble finding exactly that at LS1Tech.

Pat G might be the ONLY words of advice I'd ever trust off that forum.

 

[QUOTE=Y2Kvert4me;1569691346

Pat G might be the ONLY words of advice I'd ever trust off that forum.


[/QUOTE]


Patrick was one of the experts whose advice I followed. Again, I'm not claiming to be the end-all of experts....far from it. I'm just relaying anecdotal experience to offer encouragement, and help. That's what this forum is all about. Get off your high horse, and chill. Or better yet, don't listen or read. Add my name to your "Ingore" post section, and join Ranger.

 

Yep, goes right along with....."there is never enough time to do the job right...but always enough time to do it again".......a timeless American tradition....

 

I'm not on any horse.

I trust the measurements we made, Verne trusts the measurements we made, and yes, both of us were quite surprised by them. That is exactly why this thread was started.

Had we expected the possibility a very tight p/v clearance, this thread wouldn't exist.

We found the answers we were looking for, not only on this thread, but from other credible sources...But the fact is, from your first post in this thread, you were essentially telling us we were wrong to even bother measuring, and then telling us "you're convinced" the clearance is fine. (when you don't even know your own clearance).

I'm glad you're convinced, but seriously...as long as I'm the one staring at the dial indicator, we will see things a bit differently.

This was a pretty simple thread...

It "should clear just fine"
It "doesn't clear just fine"

Telling us it still does clear just fine doesn't really help in any way, shape, or form.

I hope you can understand that. I'm a pretty laid back kinda guy myself....I would love to see no problems happen with this build. But we ran into one, and looked here for answers. Telling us there is no problem is not a good enough answer.

 

I believe this will solve the problem:

Lindy 2.04 plus oversize In Head Piston Cutter with 8mm Guide Rod & Stop!

 

Is the end of the arbor like it appears...just 2 flats cut on it?


These tools are usually made to be cut by hand and a tap wrench, but that takes forever and quickly takes a toll on your hand/arm/wrist.. I know some use a drill (bad idea).

I ended up using a 3/8" air ratchet on mine, as it turns pretty slow and doesn't have a lot of torque..the ratchet will just stall long before the tool breaks if it binds up. (and it does tend to bind up when first starting the cut, since you are cutting into the piston at an angle).

My Isky cutter has a 1/4" square on the end, and I rigged up a custom 3/8" dr female x 1/4" dr female adapter to connect the ratchet to the cutter. Worked great.

But that won't work with that cutter.

 

I believe it is designed to be used with a battery powered drill - I do have battery drills that you can adjust the torque and the speed. Otherwise we may be able to rig something up with my air ratchet!

 

Tom, I found a drill chuck for my air ratchet so we are good to go!

 

Sounds good.

The other big benefit of the air ratchet I forgot to mention...is clearance. Trying to fit a typical drill over the cyl head, and under the cowl for the #7 & 8 pistons would be about impossible,

Using your cutter, Probably still do the first one by hand, to get a feel for how quickly it cuts. Since you read the thread of when I did mine, if you paid attention to the last few posts I made in it, you'll understand why I wouldn't bother with the stop collar. I had one too, but it was more of a PITA than it did good. Cut the other 7 pistons w/o it.

 

I know you guys have likely discussed this, when you cut are you going deep enough to allow the use of the 0.040" Cometics? It really does make a difference on how much timing you can feed the motor without detonation.

 

Yes, definitely will be using the Cometics.

Planning to cut at least .080" deep notches. That will give him plenty of clearance with the thin gaskets, but I will try to talk him into going a little more, say .100"...that way it leaves his future options open if he would ever want to switch to a more aggressive cam in the future.

He's already factoring ease of future cam upgrades with the 2pc timing cover...makes no sense to limit your clearance when doing this job.

 

If you re-measure, one thing I found was if you drill out the rivets on the old GM gasket, remove the thin piece, voila it is a 0.040" thick gasket for measuring PTV, etc. If you do this and decide to clean it up a bit, use Scotchbrite only, no power tools. I unfortunately, learned this lesson the hard way

 

I had brought some strips of plastic .040" precision shimstock to place between the head and block for the purpose of the p/v check.

Well, we tried it that way once, then just used the old stock gasket for all further checking, once it became evident clearance was a problem.

Interesting trick though.

 

As it happens, I did have to do the heads twice. TEA found the original valvetrain geometry causes the valve tips to wear prematurely, if using stock rockers. I put about 1000 miles on my install, and had to redo everything but the cam. For my troubles they gave me all fluids/gaskets/apologys, and a free set of HS full rollers. Stand up guys, for calling me at work to give me the bad news. Very timely, too, as one of the 16 tips was already severely cupped. When I sent back my heads, they totally rebuilt them, and even added the updated CNC program that had better results. PIA, but could have been much worse.

 

The guys from TEA are great guys to work with. This must have been some time ago though, as I believe the TFS and stock rocker problem has been known for some time.

 

True...I had one of the first sets of TF heads. Everybody was buying AFRs, and I always have to be different.

 

Tom, I was able to verify TEA shipped the donor head. If all goes well it should be delivered tomorrow. I will let you know tomorrow night for sure!! At least it will not be as cold on Saturday as last week..

 

Yeah Sat will still be warm...but Sunday looks to be back to the same old cold crap again.

So I fully intend to get those 8 cuts done, p/v verified, everything final cleaned, studs, Cometics, and both heads installed and tq'd before I leave Sat. (easily do-able).

I can come back Sunday if need be...and don't take any offense to this....but I really don't want to have to.
(You know what I mean....No problems this weekend!! )

 

Well hopefully we will be far enough along on Saturday cause Sunday I have a family function all day..

 

Well said... besides, lets say the OP decided to just throw it it because member X said it will be fine. Then after one run down the street, each piston ends up smacking a valve and the motor is toast.

Do you think member X will take responsibility? No, hes just going to say, "oh snap, really?"

Good move on checking PTV, one of the most neglected tasks on a H/C install.