[steve25]

I don’t have any anymore, but in the mid 70s when they where still available from Pontiac I order up 16 of the push rod hole sleeves used in the SD 455 heads, and guess what?

To use them as I intended in D port heads all I had to do was drill the as cast push rod hole out to 1/2” and then coat the hole with blue Loctite and I used a long 1/4” drive metric socket ( of what size I forget ) to drive the sleeve in.
In a hour all 8 holes can be done.

[tc]

Tim, I'm not sure where the hole is in relation to your elongating work. You may have to slice ( cut ) the sleeve part way and bend it around (toward ) the area with the hole to keep the elongation you have. The sleeve will then be a backer for the epoxy. Do you have a .500 reamer if you need to open the pushrod hole?

[tc]

My above post is wrong, you might have to bend the sleeve toward the elongation. That is what I get for posting during break time and then 5 min into work realize that was dumb. Then having to wait to post again. Another idea is to use shim stock, ( or other thin metal ) cut 1/2 or 3/4 wide, bend it in a circle the diameter of the pushrod hole. Epoxy it in covering the hole in the port. No drilling or taking the head off. Just make sure the pushrod does not touch it.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by steve25

I don’t have any anymore, but in the mid 70s when they where still available from Pontiac I order up 16 of the push rod hole sleeves used in the SD 455 heads, and guess what?

To use them as I intended in D port heads all I had to do was drill the as cast push rod hole out to 1/2” and then coat the hole with blue Loctite and I used a long 1/4” drive metric socket ( of what size I forget ) to drive the sleeve in.
In a hour all 8 holes can be done.

Steve25 I'm not understanding how you beat those tubes in without screwing them all up? The factory pushtubes we have measure .565 OD.... That's about .065 pressfit!

[steve25]

Paul you are 100% correct and I am a jerk for not recalling the full details of how I used them back then.

The last set of D port heads I put 8 of them in was back in 1985 I think it was and what I did to each one was to slit them length wise with a cut off disc .

But the key here is to stack two cut off disc together (.035” + .035” or whatever ) to make a wide cut and then they roll right into a 1/2” hole with a slight press fit.

[steve25]

I think I have heard that if you drill out with a 9/16” bit first and then chill the liners with the special spray for going that they then press in without much force or harming them.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by steve25

Paul you are 100% correct and I am a jerk for not recalling the full details of how I used them back then.

.

Not sure about that but are you recalling the details correct for the advice you're giving for the OP's situation? He going to quite a bit of work to pull the head off and then run into a conundrum due to a poor memory or bad advice.

I'm not understanding why the pushrod hole needs to be drilled and also not sure a .500 OD sleeve is going to work well in a hole that's been drilled my a 1/2 from bit.

[Tim Corcoran]

I appreciate all the responses and believe me I don't want to pull the head if I don't have to. Most of the time when people sleeve the pushrod holes is because during port work in the intake port they break through into the pushrod port. In my case I was removing material by hand from the pushrod hole to clear for the pushrod using 1.65 rockers and broke through to the intake port. This complicates things as the pushrod hole is now odd shaped.

What I'm thinking might work is, rather than drilling the hole and installing a tube the full length of the pushrod hole, make a short section of brass tube that has been slit, trial and error for size. Position the tube in the area of where it broke through into the intake runner, epoxy it in and done. I may be able to do this with the head on the engine.

[steve25]

That way to repair it will certainly work, just watch out if you use the cut off disc method to slit the tube as those edges will be deadly sharp if you use brass tube.

Just in case be sure to pack the intake port with paper towels.

[Gach]

Just curious what size are these brass inserts tubes compared to the push rod hole. I mean I get the slit of the tube and Apox in it in.