I got the head back yesterday, and it looks great. Finished off the center exhaust port box-in, seems to work OK, I'll weld it in tomorrow. Cost $306: 3-angle valves, new guides, guides cut to accept modern chevy stem seals instead of those old umbrella jobs, and installation of the valves. I was going to do it, but they wanted to make sure all the seats were concentric etc and it was in hte end easier. Put all the trivia on the engine, all the plugs, oil filter mount, etc. The last detail is plastigageing the oil pump and any final grinding there, then pack with vaseline and seal it up. Lost the brand new oil pressure relief valve parts (spring, plunger), ordered new ones from Galvin's, I'm sure the original will show up after I get the engine in. Last and hardly least, I installed all the head studs, and popped the head on for a quick check (no gasket). Big relief! Stud selection was done by-the-book and measurement, it was nice to have it all work out right. I backed out one stud at each end for a nice easy target to drop the head on, that worked out fine. With the head, valve cover, trough plate, adapter and Weber on, the motor sure looks cool and silly on the stand. Also popped the top on the trans, cleaned off the two magnets out that I'd installed on the oil return troughs (minor crud) and changed the oil for the hell of it. Put 20W-50 synth in it this time, I'll see how it behaves with such runny juice. Cleaned up and inspected the flywheel, clutch parts, linkages, etc for reinstall. I still find it odd the way the clutch behaves, all in at the top of the pedal, and one-finger pedal pressure. From what I hear from everyone this is totally normal, but it's disconcerting. I momentarily contemplated moving the pushrod or pedal pivot position to change the leverage but I came to my senses before any needless work was done. When I finish off the oil pump, the motor will be ready to go in. Maybe Saturday! Then I have a lot of wiring to do for all the foolish changes I indulged in. I took the week off (plus I have 'furlough' time to burn off -- thanks California) and I'm making the most of it! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.amc-list.com/pipermail/amc-list-amc-list.com/attachments/20100325/aa2c2549/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ AMC-list mailing list AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com