Now I don't have a lot of experience with the particular engine being mentioned here. But I DO have a LOT of experience doing all kinds of automotive machine work (40 years). Has anyone using one of these motors and having that much trouble had the BLOCK machined? In my experience the top of the block will be warped as bad or WORSE than the head after you run it hot a couple of times. MOST head gaskets will only "crush" between .003 and .007. MOST of the old blocks (no matter the type) I machine have an AVERAGE of .012 taken off to get them flat. Sooo,, do the math,, ASSUMING your head is flat and you put it together with .012 warp of the block and the gasket only crushes .007,,, she aint gonna last long that way. And what kind of finish and accuracy are you getting on your machine job? DO NOT let your head get "sanded" on one of the big sanders. I have seen more cylinder heads ruined by those things than I can count! I have actually measured a cylinder head that was sanded .125 more on one end !!!! Spec to your machinist that you want it MACHINED not sanded. I do mine on either a Storm Vulcan Blockmaster or I have a jig for my Enco mill that I use. The Enco will get a cylinder head 18" long square and flat within about .0015, that's DARN close!! I can't see where a re-torque of the head periodically can hurt you after the initial squeeze is done. What type of gasket is being used? I'll have to tell you I have absolutely NO faith in FelPro's non-retorque head gaskets. If it were ME, and I knew the history of this motor I would be looking for a Graphite head gasket with a silicone release on it, I would NOT use any sealer on it. If your block and head are flat with a reasonably smooth surface you should get good service life out of it. But HEY,,, that's just ME!! Bruce Hevner -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.amc-list.com/pipermail/amc-list/attachments/20071220/3cffbd72/attachment.htm _______________________________________________ Amc-list mailing list Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list