Home Porting Unexpected Feature
 

So, no guts no glory, right?

1971 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Original 455HO block. Edelbrock round port CNC chamber 87cc heads.

I made my winter project doing some porting. Did as much homework as I could.

First oopsie was draining the coolant from the radiator but not pulling the block plug. But I run coolant and I cleaned up fairly well and WD-40ed the heck out of stuff. Didn't see any signs of corrosion in the bores apart from some very light colouring and kept stuff fairly doused with WD-40 whilst apart.

Made my goal to be fairly conservative. I basically gasket matched the runners on the intake and almost nothing else there (HO intake). The Edelbrock heads have gasket matched openings but it necks down pretty fast and the finish is rough. I basically smoothed and opened the opening on into the port. I knocked back the pushrod and head bolt bulges. The only real shaping I did was to attempt to "waterfall" the short turn.

As far as the two bulges I saw that the pushrod bulge actually has plenty of meat. You can almost eliminate it and still have quite a bit of thickness. Anyway, it didn't seem so critical in airflow terms as the pushrod bulge. Now the pushrod bulge clearly doesn't have much margin to play with if you're going to really try to knock it back to make that cylinder wall side port wall a continuous curve. So I thought about it, tried to search on it. eventually reasoned that even if I had a breakthrough the hole is blind in the block and the headbolt (ARP mine) have a machined washer with ARP goop on both sides and torques to 100 ft pounds. I felt that was unlikely to be able to pull anything. So I did go far on them and I did have one very light crack of a breakthrough. Stopped as soon as I detected it. Was a little more careful on the other ports and I didn't have any other breakthroughs.

Now, first test drive and I noticed that when I'd sort of power through a turn (not hard) I'd produce quite a smoke show out the back. It had me wondering about oil slosh and such but then when I had it on the motorway as I powered past a lorry I thought, "aha! It has to be the valve seals. I didn't replace them." It made a lot of sense. I'd had the valves in and out of the head several times, left the valve seals in. Of course they would be torn up. Spark plugs showed oil fouling on three badly, three medium and I had two cylinders that seemed perfect still.

Took a while for valve seals to arrive. Changed them on Monday night. Just did a test drive today. Was fairly hopeful, I'll admit. Car definitely seemed to be running a little better. Got to the first few turns where I'd smoked before and no smoke. Felt good. Then got to a bit of an uphill with a series of bends. Took it with a bit of throttle and BAM! I'm James Bond again. Smoke show. On these small country roads with traffic it's hard to get many places where I can just stand on it and not many places are straight. I was trying to think. New valve seals on now (used WD-40 and the plastic applicator so they all should be good). What's left? PCV valve? Suddenly a problem with oil ring in one of the holes? Can't think why. And, I suppose, I've got to consider the possibility that oil is getting sucked past that 100 ft/lb head bolt and washer. Could it be?

Anyway, was hoping for a few more experienced folks to bounce it off. Pretty bummed. I can't even really explore whether the heads have changed the performance if I dare not give it much stick. I felt like the sweet spot for triggering smoke was to go heavyish in the primaries (but before secondary tip in) and hold it there for a few seconds. I feel like it starts smoking then even before lift-off. It's not a simple case of a sudden lift-off giving smoke or a downshift.

Only other thing that happened at the same time was I had to seal up my well plugs on the QuadraJet. One of the primary and one of the secondary wells were leaking so I had to seal up all four. As far as I can tell that's holding fine. But I guess I won't know for sure until next time I take off the carb and see if the gasket is swelled.

Sam

P.S. I guess the other thing to mention with full disclosure is that I haven't precisely reset the valve lashes. I had them lashed from the bottom, not the top. I did a sanity check of hand turning the motor twice over before trying to fire it. It does run, idle and everything fine. But I haven't rechecked all the lashes. Some might be lashed a bit tight, I suppose, if the set screws moved a little (I did put all the rockers back on the same posts etc.). I did also visually check that none of the set screws were visually much out of line with the others. But let's say lash was a little tight somewhere, it wouldn't give you smoke, would it? I will relash of course. Just trying to mention anything that could be relevant

That’s a bummer. If you haven’t looked yet you could start by pulling the plugs out, look for a plug that is black, and see if you can track down which cylinder is sucking oil. Go from there.

Sorry to hear of the issues your having Sam.

The main restriction in those heads is the stock valve job and the way the head bolt boss juts out from the common wall between both intake ports.

These heads typically flow less then 270 intake cfm out of the box and after a rework of the valve job go over 285 cfm.

Also as cast the roof In the runner of these heads are actually too tall for the as shipped stock size intake port gasket.

In other words they are made to have the intake ports use the RA4 / SD455 height gasket.

It’s good you have these on a 455 because this factor of overly tall intake ports effects around town drivability on motors of 400 cid or less, especially with rear gears of 3.42 or less.

These heads are also known to be shipped with too tight a valve stem clearance which can make a valve hang up, or ware the guide fast and then there goes your oil control and power .

NOTE that in each head two of the valve cover bolts holes break into the intake ports, so if your not applying sealer to the bolt or stud your using for the valve cover then oil can get sucked into the intake ports that way.

If your valve guides or valve stems are getting loose from the ware of being set up from day one in too tight a guide then no valve stem seal will do it’s job well when the rocking valve is making what was a nice round hole oval.

be sure you put sealant on the intake rocker stud as it goes into the intake port, as well as the valve cover bolts.

Skip,

You know... Good point. Of course I've had those studs in and out. And they bolt in with the pushrod plate in between. I've seen those bolt holes on the inside of each runner. And I didn't put the studs back in with sealant. Hopefully we have a winner! I'll go redo those with blue loctite when I have a chance. That might well be it.

Regarding those valve guides. Yes, they sure come tight. Practically had to pound some of the valves out. But I did make sure to see that none of them were too tight by the time I put it all back together. And even the tightest of them aren't really tight once the top of the stem is out of the guide hole. And even the loosest of them doesn't really have any measurable rocking to it. I'm fairly sure that all should be OK..

Regarding the ports themselves. Yeah, those are really big! Of course I'm already on the RAIV intake gaskets beause it's an HO motor with an HO intake. I definitely didn't feel like anything needed to be any bigger. Just those head bolt bosses stick out pretty far into the stream so it seemed obvious to me they needed knocking back as much as possible. And of course trying to flatten and widen the floor before the short turn. The other thing I did was take the four intake bolt holes that are supposed to hold the plastic intake gasket locators and Drilled it a short way in with a half inch drill bit like the factory heads have. That way I was able to use the orange plastic gasket locator washers to make sure the intake gasket stayed aligned as I bolted it all together. Not sure why Edelbrock didn't feel the need to do that part.

I'll report back after I seal up the rocker studs. Fingers crossed.

Sam

My first E heads I did not see anything in the instructions about sealing them. My motor sitting at an idle for a long time would start puffing some smoke-too much oil on top end. Stopped after sealing the rocker and valve cover studs.

With a 259/262 solid roller the HO intake was a restriction for my moderately ported E heads. Finally reworked a Shaker base for a Holley and T2.

I've got to stop being so impatient. So I'm mostly convinced the rocker studs is the issue. I say mostly because the test drive I mostly didn't have any smoke. I was able to provoke some but it took a lot more doing.

I'm pretty sure that is because I really hurried the "sealing the rocker studs" bit. I basically ripped them off, wiped them off, sprayed in some brake clean in the hole and threw it together with some blue lactite on the threads. I'm guessing that probably didn't make for a full seal on all the holes. I'm guessing I need to take it all apart again and this time like really really clean and de-oil the stud threads, the pushrod plates and get the holes really clean.

Sam

I've got to stop being so impatient. So I'm mostly convinced the rocker studs is the issue. I say mostly because the test drive I mostly didn't have any smoke. I was able to provoke some but it took a lot more doing.

I'm pretty sure that is because I really hurried the "sealing the rocker studs" bit. I basically ripped them off, wiped them off, sprayed in some brake clean in the hole and threw it together with some blue lactite on the threads. I'm guessing that probably didn't make for a full seal on all the holes. I'm guessing I need to take it all apart again and this time like really really clean and de-oil the stud threads, the pushrod plates and get the holes really clean.

Sam

Not sure why you believe the smoke is an internal problem. Rocker studs without sealant really can't suck that much oil. I would suspect an external oil leak hitting the exhaust manifold. Have you had someone follow you and see if the smoke is coming out the exhaust pipes or simply from underneath the car?

You mentioned less smoke after sealing the rocker studs, but I wonder if you didn't tighten down the valve cover a little better reducing the amount of oil getting out and down on the exhaust?

I don’t use a loc-tite to seal up stud holes that open into intake ports , liquid Teflon only works in blind holes and Teflon tape is a crap shoot since your not dealing with pipe threads.

I use gray silicone form-a- gasket and it needs to set up overnight before the motor is put back in use.

Steve, thanks. People don't usually define "sealant on the threads" what they mean.

And I'm afraid in my life I've had an old 70s Honda, then an 80s Chrysler, then the Pontiac. And all have been "blind hole" engines for the most part. Maybe if I'd done loads of Chevy work like the rest of the world I'd be more up on this bit but honestly it wasn't anything I really had to worry about until now. The valve cover bolt holes shocked me when I first got the E heads and I dealt with them, as I recall, with some bits of cut off bolts and JBWeld and just use short bolts for that side of the valve cover. But the rocker studs are things I think I might need to remove at times. I must say when I disassembled the heads the factory thread sealant did look, at a glance, a lot like blue loctite.. :) I'll redo the operation with better cleanliness and some RTV instead.

Sam

I have never had RTV fail me once it’s allowed to cure fully, and I have had Loctite work in rocker stud holes in iron heads, but the expansion and contraction of Aluminum heads plus the vibration / cycling back and forth of the studs tends to fail blue Loctite, and you don’t want to use Red there on a Aluminum head.

"Rocker studs without sealant really can't suck that much oil. "

Yes they will!!

Steve I have 3 motor with E heads and Permatex Teflon Sealer. No issues. I does set up a little so does not stay liquid

"Rocker studs without sealant really can't suck that much oil. "

Yes they will!!

Steve I have 3 motor with E heads and Permatex Teflon Sealer #14
. No issues. I does set up a little so does not stay liquid

Truth!

So I took the rockers off again tonight. I actually decided to engage my brain this time and I only took off the eight rocker studs that actually go into intake runners. I again cleaned with brake clean. Dried off the rocker studs. I gooped on some RTV and reassembled. I'll not try and run it until tomorrow afternoon. I did reassemble everything though and set lash. Fingers crossed.

Sam

Cool!��

I didnt take much at all off of the head bolt bulge on mine, there has to be something to transfer clap load to the head / block surface and aluminum is a poor metal to do that to start with combined with 4 1/2 bolts a cylinder that load is more consentrated in few'er spots

Have you looked deeply into heads that have been so called “ wide ported “ ?
They still clamp down just fine for high Hp production!

As always head gasket wise when you look at the percentage of failures it’s mostly from the heat of two center exh ports and there far faster rate of expansion and contraction ( sheering) of the gasket.

And often they use hat washers under the bolt head to make it work and any head gasket that doesnt have enough clamp load will fail first at the hottest thinnest point, but go ahead with that awesome logic

Well, chaps.. I did do a bit of thinking along these lines myself, obviously. I was thinking, "gee, that column is probably there for a reason." But then I saw that it doesn't seem uncommon on other aluminium heads for other makes to go so far into the headbolt bulge that it's completely cut wide open. And these are high HP cars running high compression. I considered the deck thickness and how much meat was still there fore and aft and I reasoned that it must be fine. I do think it's probably fine. In the end I figured that probably the "reason" for the thickish head bolt column was to reduce production wastage in cases of core shift.

The other thing I considered was that porting-wise it was probably more significant than the pushrod bulge. That one just squeezes the inlet a little. It probably even has benefit at realistic power levels. But that head bolt one is just squatting there in the middle of the long wall turn that is trying to instigate the swirl. I'm aware it probably does almost nothing at low flow but I bet it's more significant as lift and throttle opening goes up.

Of course we all know that probably what happens at the seat interface and within an inch of it is the most important bit. Hopefully the small backcut and the smoothing on the chamber help a little there...

My head bolts are all ARP and they do use a largish thickish washer also. Anyway, I'll be sure to report back on any issues.

Sam

OK. So after sealing up the rocker threads I found out again that I just suck at setting lash on hydralic lifters. I just never seem to know where they are really at unless I do it the messy way. So after trying to do it the right way I again just set them on a running engine. Made an oily mess clearly. After that was all good I did a compression test. Pleasantly surprised. All good and more even cylinder to cylinder than before. I'm wondering if the valve seats weren't all as great as they could have been out of box (I relapped all the valves on reassembly).

Anyway, there was oil in lots of places so I figured I'll probably have to drive it a bit before I can come to any solid conclusions about the oil burning. Well, today I was able to go for a bit of a test drive again. I went down to the one bit of straight road that I can sometimes do some testing on depending on traffic. No smoke during normal driving and just a bit to be seen on a hard run. But then I know I'm still burning off spilled oil. Anyway, I'm driving back which is uphill and windy. I decide to drive a bit faster because I know that before when I got a lot of oil it was in situations like a sustained bit of mid-throttle and then a sharp turn. Well, blow me down. First hard corner I meet after being into the mid throttle for about ten seconds or so a nice big roller of blue smoke. Now I'm really feeling what I felt at first. It's like oil collects somewhere when I'm in some sustained acceleration especially uphill and then all that pooled oil spills over somewhere hot in the corner.

So, I'm thinking that really as far as oil-sealing surfaces that I've touched in this whole operation there are the valve covers and there's the valley pan. I'm suspecting the valley pan. Especially at the back of the pan where it would spill out into the distributor area. I did have the gasket slide slightly out of place when I started tightening it. I thought I pushed it all back in place but of course I can only see the two sides and the front part easily. It could be pinched in the back. I suppose I'll just have to drain down the coolant and check that out when I get a chance.

On the bright side I did get to do a charge or two from a start and a kick down to second from a roll. I definitely feel like it should be faster. Hopefully will know next month... But I have to get this fixed. Especially if it's external...

Sam

Before you take it all apart again, and to pin down this oil smoke issue perhaps better try to have someone drive behind you on that turning road and have them note if the smoke is coming out one tail pipe or both.

With the handling of that car oil may just be climbing up into the bottom of a few cylinders and overwhelming the oil rings.

Just a quick catchup. I dealt with one thing I noticed whilst the heads were off which was that the return hose for my power steering pump had gotten brittle and started to leak. It's right in front of cylinder #1 and it seemed at least plausible to me that if it dumped fluid when I turned the wheel after it got hot then hit the manifold... Anyway, dealt with that, recieved my new spark plugs. Changed them. Went for a blast yesterday. Figured if it wasn't fixed at least the plugs would tell me if it was internal or external. Well... It's not external... :) Fact is, I'm seeing some evidence of carbon or oil on about half of the plugs. In a way, that's good. It's something not just in one place. It's either something upstream or something I consistently got wrong! :)

OK. Here's the "driver's" bank
7, 5, 3, 1
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1683538847

And here's the "passenger's" bank
2, 4, 6, 8
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1683538869

I think 7 looks most "wet". 8 looks great. 5 and 3 pretty good. Happy for any second opinions there.

Anyway, my plan today is drain some coolant, pop off the intake and shove a light around inside the runners and see what I can see..

Sam

Sam all most of your black wet plugs are fed off of the passenger side ( upper plenum) of the Carb so I think some of your issue lies there.

It's I bit hard to tell, but it also looks like your plugs are one step too hot judging from what I see of the good looking plugs even though they do not just have only full throttle time on them.

I would be curious as to what a compression test shows up in relation to the bad looking plugs.

Sam, in terms of doing any more porting work on your heads I would not bother, since out of the box they flow more then what your stock HO Intake does, so your Intake is the area cork.

Already this type of area mismatch is giving you a narrower power band then what you could have, and increasing air flow by porting the heads will only make that issue deeper.

Number 1 is what you have taking place, when its number 2 in my photo that you want in a perfect world.

Coolant drained. Carb off. Yeah, looks a little sooty on the one secondary bore in the intake (lower, driver's side) but looking back to the pics I took before I even took the heads off I can see the same. There's a big vacuum barb off the back of the carb for brake booster. Wonder what that hooks into internally in the carb? I think I might check my brake fluid level also in case maybe the booster is on the way out and it's pulling some brake fluid?

Anyway, looks like the carb plug well repair is holding up. Carb gasket was bone dry. Nice!

More details sure to emerge after I pull the intake...

Sam

Number 7 looks like it was having trouble burning the strap clean. I don’t see much for evidence the issue is confined to one plenum necessarily, but 3 of the 4 plugs on the lower plenum have extra deposits on them. I think maybe Steve had the upper and lower plenums and cylinders backwards (or I do)? Number 1 was second worst for deposits, showing up more toward the threads though, instead of the strap.

I would look carefully on the number 7 port and look for either a bolt not sealed that has oil access into the port, or a spot of porosity were you ground at the pushrod pinch. My best guess is the smoke issue is connected too the recent work on the heads or from reinstalling them, and having some oil sucked past a bolt that isn’t blind. (What Skip said). Maybe inspect the port with the intake off will tell more of a story.

That big vac port just ties into both plenums of the Intake.
Your brakes would take far more foot pressure if the booster had a bad diagram.

Too late now, but I would have swapped #7 with #5 and do a run.
Then see what #7 looked like?
To me it's not firing worth a darn?

Those plugs are a cold plug also?

:confused:

OK. So now we're definitely down the rabbit hole with Alice...

Intake off and.. Well, one thing. But I don't think it's related. (spoiler alert: it was -- I'm talking about #6)

OK. First, manifold. All clean at the runners where I'd opened them to match the gaskets. So pretty sure nothing coming upstream of the heads (like from carb, PCV, brake booster, etc).

Second, runners. Well, durn it, they're all good and clean. I mean, I changed the oil so unfortunately if clean oil pulls in it won't be that obvious if it doesn't get cooked but even putting a finger in they all feel dry. I don't know how much of that is fuel in the intake washing away evidence but I don't see anything comeing from any of the rocker holes in the ceiling and my valve cover bolt holes are all sealed as I left them.

I've had to rewrite what I was about to write here. I saw something in the garage and I didn't even appreciate what it was until I saw the picture on a bigger screen. #6 has a decent amount of oil pooled on the intake valve. Like, decent. The other pics it's harder to tell. Hmm.. Could I have really screwed up replacing the valve seals that badly? I was gentle, used the applicator, WD-40ed everything...

OK. Other thing I noticed was the intake gaskets. They look almost oil soaked. Almost like they've been wicking something.

intake gasket passenger side
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1683553479

intake gasket driver's side
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1683553520

Not obvious that any real amount of oil has come out from valve cover or valley pan. Valley pan seal looks good, honestly.

I'll check all the valves for pooled oil now that I know what that is. But #6 really had a lot pooled. And that wasn't even the worst spark plug...

Sam

DO NOT put lube on the side of the head bolt washer that faces the cylinder head. Lube on the back-side of the washer leads to over-torqing the bolts/studs.

I think you rely far too much on WD40; which is a crap product for every purpose except removing water (from distributor caps, etc.)

"WD40" also has "specialist products" which are reasonable lubes, penetrants, solvents and such, but they're only labeled "WD40" as a brand-name, they're not the original water-displacing formula.

You made me double check because I know I followed the ARP guide for my bolts for the newer Edelbrock heads. It definitely specified the ARP lube under the head, under the washer and on the threads. Then 100 ft pounds in three stages.

WD might not be the best product for valve seal install but done carefully with the plastic applicator on the stem would it really be expected to rip the seals?

Sam

Sigh. Well, seeing as I have a second set of valve seals I'm swapping them again. Using nothing but engine oil for initial lube and going slowly. But, honestly, done four so far and the ones I'm taking off look fine and have all stayed nicely at the base of the guide like they should. All the valves I've done so far have very little lateral play. I'm still rather stumped. But I'll get them all replaced anyway...

Sam

https://arp-bolts.com/p/faq.php
^^^NO mention of lubing the underside of the washer.

This is where I learned about the issue:
https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-te...ng-head-bolts/


I don't like the presentation in this youtube video, the guy needs to work off of a script--but the washer-lube info is accurate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skvJ...b_channel=BOOT

Ma dude, like I said, you made me double-check. I'm sure ARP have multiple different products. But for my head bolts this is the instructions

"Lubricate the underhead of each bolt, the bottom side of the washers and the threads with ARP ULTRA-TORQUE FASTENER ASSEMBLY LUBRICANT."

http://arpinstructions.com/instructions/190-3605.pdf

I do recall seeing that article before and, in fact, I have seen some OEM washers like that with the little raised grip things.

I'm kinda bummed about this whole situation. Got all the seals replaced. Can't really see a problem with the ones I took out. Can't really see where else oil gets in. It's clearly getting in multiple places so it's not like "oh, maybe some porosity" or "oh, maybe a crack" because then it would be in one place. I'm really not sure how to track this down...

I guess, at least I know it's happening somewhere in the heads. I found oil on the back of maybe four intake valves. I found a lot pooled on that #6. And, of course, later when I'd done the seals and the valve had been pushed (dumping the oil) there was no evidence of it in the port. So I guess I've not even much hope of seeing where it gets in because the oil just isn't leaving any permanent trail or mark. This weekend is a race weekend so this all really kinda sucks.

Sam

I'll just leave this here https://tech.arp-bolts.com/instructions/190-3604.pdf for the application of the ultra lube for these studs, FAQ are often just the coles note version to a product line not the actual instructions for a dedicated product.

Do the valve cover bolt holes break through on any of the 4 intake ports? If they do did you put sealer in the bolts? I saw that mentioned earlier but didn’t see any response

Sam, you mentioned working on resealing the well plugs on your Qjet at the same time that head work happened. I am curious what you did to fix those? That can be tricky too fix, and can create some similar issues with smoke, running rich.

I sealed those off with cut off studs when I first got the E heads. They never leaked and don't look like they are now.

Sam

LOL. That was actually the one I was nervous about. But after doing the carb I put a new carb base gasket. When I took the carb and intake off again now I found it clean and dry as a bone. I did follow Cliff's advice to drill, tap and insert screw plugs made from cut up bolts. I didn't just epoxy over the top.

Also, the intake runners where I matched them look like they did when I finished with the intake. All dry and clean. I don't think there's anything happening upstream (carb, PCV, etc). The oil that's getting in seems to be happening in the heads in some way.

As I understand it that's really got to be valve seals or those rocker studs. Basically, having verified the oil in the intakes by seeing some actually at the valves on a few ports I'm left with just a few frustrating conclusions:

1. The new valve seals I installed before were bad (maybe hard from sitting on my shelf for years?) or I messed up the install. I doubt I hurt them putting them on since I used the applicator. I now know that none of them rode up. They were all in place. Were they hard? I guess that's possible but I'm having trouble getting too excited about that one...

2. The rocker studs are leaking past the threads. For that to be true it would also have to be the case that when I sealed them with blue loctite that didn't work and when I sealed them with RTV that didn't work. It's possible, I suppose. I'm sure in both cases there was still probably some brakeclean on the head threads (since it's pretty hard to get in there to dry it) and maybe then stuff just didn't set right? Again, I'm sure a lot of people clean threads and then the stuff still sets. But, maybe..

I was really hoping for more of a "smoking gun" when I took the intake off. It was weird to see the intake passages so clean but still see the oil. Unless it came from the valve guides that means that the oil isn't leaving any tracks. And if it doesn't I don't know how I'm supposed to track down what's happening.

Thanks for all the help, though, all!

Sam

Maybe check and see if there’s oil on top of the studs? Also just noticed the PCV valve grommet you are using doesn’t look correct for the hole and may be leaking oil?

Definitely sounds like a proper fix on the carb wells.

The other possibility that I have not seen mentioned yet is it could be oil getting sucked past the common wall head bolt? It was mentioned I think one bolt boss was thin enough it had a crack. If the rocker studs can have oil sucked last them when they are not sealed up, the head bolt could possibly pull oil in if it was broken thru and not sealed up enough. It probably would not take much, that common wall bolt is at a really high vacuum area at the bowl.

Yeah. I think that might have been a candidate if it was only in one runner. I made that tiny breakthrough on the first headbolt bulge I did, which was #3 or #5 depending on which way up I had the head when I started. Whatever I am dealing with is in most holes on both heads. No other breakthroughs happened.

Sam

The other crazy thing I am thinking about is the oil I found in #6 behind the valve just sitting there pooled. I mean, like more than half a teaspoon. So it’s something that came through between me shutting down and taking the intake off. Something that can seep and collect even without vacuum. Either that or the walls were covered with it and then it all pooled. I did do a few revs to check for smoke before I shut it off. And, relating to Jay’s question, this is the completely other head from the one with the small headbolt breakthrough. And a hole that was far from the oiliest spark plug.

Sam

Sam at this point I would pull the intake and stop using those plastic locators.

You may be sucking on oil from the intake manifold bolts that are not blind, or the open face areas of the heads intake flange.
This time around put a thin bead of form-a-gasket on both sides of the gasket around the ports .

Allow this to skin up some and then bolt the intake back on.

I have never had good luck sealing up a intake when I was using those locators.

x2 ... I never use them.

Intake off. I cleaned the gaskets and heads. Did a smear of RTV around the ports and water passage and let it skin. Intake back on with bolts tightened in lots of small steps. No evident interference. Bolted it down tight. Let's see. I still need to put water and spark plugs in it. I figure if I still get smoke now with the replaced-again valve seals and the RTVed intake gaskets It'll have to be rocker studs and I'll just have to do them again more carefully. But that doesn't need intake off again so should be quicker. I sure hope something I've done works. I just don't feel like I've really found the cause still. Very frustrating.

Sam

Well, I suppose you all can guess by now. Took it out, got it warmed up, went for a blast and SMOKE. Of course. Took it back. Parked it in the garage. Left it running while I sort of looked at everything I could think of. I know it's internal now. And I know it's the heads. I know that with a second set of new valve seals very carefully installed with applicator and engine oil for lube that it's not valve seals. Process of elimination, that only leaves me with "rocker studs didn't seal up because of the brake clean still in the head not letting it set". At least that's all I can think of. Once it is all warmed up and has gone for a run it smokes at idle. I think the oil needs to get nice and thin before it gets in wherever. But then it can seep in almost continuously. Again, that seems like rocker studs. Anyway, that's what I'm going to hit tonight. How do y'all get the head holes clean and dry? Brake clean and then paper towel? I don't have any compressed air to blow through...

The exhaust stud holes are blind, right? At least I don't remember seeing them in the exhaust runners. But I didn't look very hard...

Sam

Have you checked to see if the head drains good?
Some early heads didn't drain well and pooled up and filled the head under the valve cover. (which the valve seals can't control)

Engine doesn't have a different angle in chassis? (tilted back?)

:confused:

Another question-do you have a PVC valve in it? What kind of valley cover-aftermarket aluminum?