Posted by cr400 It just gets bigger and better the deeper you get lodged in these fuckin' cars You are aware that if you had bought a FORD, you wouldn't be in this situation?

if it had been a Ford, I would've junked it rather than work on it.
i have very little love for the Blue Oval... i've had too many problems to ever want one of my own again.

this was just a comedy of errors from trying to do it all at once, not having the right tools, not working in a proper garage and bullshitting without concentrating on the job at hand. The o-ring cost us time and I had to go get another upper plenum gasket set after work.
Should have it back together tonight, early tomorrow. I think we'll have the hood back on it by tomorrow night. (we took the hood off to do the gasket as it was much easier than trying to work around the struts.

my biggest concern was whether or not the rocker arms had been torqued properly, same with the lower intake and upper intake plenum. Everything was torqued in inch/pounds and we had to convert that into pound/feet for the torque wrench.

anyways...

Yeah, I know, I own Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Honda, Nissan. When I have to work on them they all suck, When all I have to do is drive them, I love them all like children.

I just lack the brand loyalty gene that Sam has in abundance!

I think I lost it in the late seventies and early eighties, when Nascar started heading towards generic looking cars built to the same specifications.

Rather than allowing only certain safety and performance modifications to stock automobiles, with a little cheatin' thrown in for good luck!

Do they even call it stock car racing any longer??

I rarely watch it anymore, it went to Hollywood/showbiz for me!!!!

I see I was replying to Nostra, and you slipped in between, I was making the tease about ford cause I suspect Pops, has said that to you a few times!

As for the gasket issues, I am fearful any time I see cork gaskets provided to me, My success rate is not good, I have problems over torquing them.

Any way the Monte sound like she'll be purring soon enough, glad to hear it!!

the lower intake gasket was plastic with rubber inserts on the ports.
the rocker cover gasket was rubber and the the upper intake gasket was almost a paper-type.

it's not blind brand loyalty, it's just i have had more luck and more fun with General Motors products than anything else. It's being a fanboy when you just say everything else sucks and can't back it up with experience and performance.
lol

Posted by Samurai if it had been a Ford, I would've junked it rather than work on it. i have very little love for the Blue Oval... i've had too many problems to ever want one of my own again.

I second that notion... I'm sure they're decent vehicles, but fuck I hate working on them.

Having said that I want a 4 speed '68 Mustang Fastback with 390 in a bad, bad way.

Somebody just saw bullit???

I watch it like once a week.

my brother has a 67 Mustang coupe, 390 with a 3speed manual.

Anyways, here is a couple of pics of how my engine turned out. We went with the classic old standby, Chevy Orange for the intake plenum and rocker covers.

Posted by bandi I watch it like once a week.

Really, what part do you watch???

Sam the motor looks great, the camera sucks ass!!

Posted by cr400 Really, what part do you watch???

Oh, you know, the part with the jazz band.

Posted by bandi Oh, you know, the part with the jazz band.

Nope!! never seen the jazz band, Honestly. I have only seen about 20 minutes of that movie, always the same part too, I have to admit, I detest the sped up portions, the hub caps flying off and reapearing, fenders repairing themselves, and the same scenes over and over, only from different angeles. And don't get me started on the ridiculous double clutching on the upshifts? What's that all about?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of McQueen, Mustangs, Chargers, Chase scenes. however I'm also an auto nut, and tend to pick scene continuity apart.
I would rather see slo mo, instead of sped up scenes.

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry had great chase scenes, not sure if any were sped up or not, can't remember? I'm sure there were some though!!

Hows the Monte runnin' Sam?

Posted by cr400 Hows the Monte runnin' Sam?

still losing coolant out of the block.
not happy about it.

Posted by cr400 Nope!! never seen the jazz band, Honestly. I have only seen about 20 minutes of that movie, always the same part too, I have to admit, I detest the sped up portions, the hub caps flying off and reapearing, fenders repairing themselves, and the same scenes over and over, only from different angeles. And don't get me started on the ridiculous double clutching on the upshifts? What's that all about?

Ok, so maybe I like to watch the chase scene and not the jazz band scene.

As cheesy as it is (I like how they pass the same dark green '68 Beetle like 25 times), it's soooo great, the car sounds soooo good, and I dunno... it never gets.

And as redundant as it may be, the double clutching sounds super cool.

edit: I should add, another worthwhile chase movie is "The Driver".

..and now, back to your regular program.

Well I'll hope and pray that it is a heater connection at the water pump, or a loose hose connection someplace. Maybe that little block drain plug is weeping?

I'll keep fingers crossed that it is a design or engineered leak location!!

Best of luck to you!!

still trying to decide if the head gaskets are leaking or not... here's another mystery symptom... all the way to work, the temperature gage keeps bouncing from the bottom peg to almost 3/4's... It gets hot, i have heat, the gage drops, the air goes lukewarm. I'm wondering if the cheap ass Advance Auto thermostat isn't sticking and causing too much pressure in the system?

Posted by Samurai still trying to decide if the head gaskets are leaking or not... here's another mystery symptom... all the way to work, the temperature gage keeps bouncing from the bottom peg to almost 3/4's... It gets hot, i have heat, the gage drops, the air goes lukewarm. I'm wondering if the cheap ass Advance Auto thermostat isn't sticking and causing too much pressure in the system?

Once a thermostat is overheated, like boiled over, it needs to be replaced, I'm sure some come out of the factory in Thailand or china pre fucked, or even mis labeled?

Yor car will run poorly, but you could try to remove it and see if this will stabilize the temp. You can also try a remote magnetic temp gauge, place it somewhere on a water jacket if possible, or set it on the radiator, your in car gauge could be malfunctioning?

It's downhill to work, your bearings should be soaked by now? ride your board to work and hitch a ride home.

another possibility that i have been thinking about is the fact that I never bled the air out of the block when it was all done. I know the 3100's are an absolute bastard to bleed... the car just runs too good to have head gasket issues.

cracked both bleeders tonite on the Monte... seemed to cure the issue.
we'll see how the cold start in the AM goes.

Good news!!!