Blown head gasket/Cracked head/tired of mechanics

[bigfootchiro]

Good opportunity to drop in a new camshaft, slightly bigger of course! Any ground wires, straps, sensors, connectors, etc. in hard to reach places needing attention?

Ground wires look to be pretty good, and fairly new, actually, with the exception of the one on the back of the passenger head. Maybe I'll change that. Thanks for the advice!

Oil pressure sending unit comes to mind. You already upgraded the injectors, right?


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Where exactly is the oil pressure sending unit? I'm sure I could google that actually haha. Yes, injectors are upgraded, along with coil, plug wires, ICM, and now going to be distributor.

Don’t forget about your orifice tube while you ripping a/c apart

Orifice tube was changed out right before I bought it. Thanks for the advice!

Yo....didn't realize you were local

Did you find a set of heads? Not sure what L31 goodies i have around around. I may have a set of comp beehives with the correct retainers for vortech heads. May be a little rough as think they ve been shelved for years but machine shop can hot bath or tumble them back to looking brand new

I built a nice little L31 for an old truck I had....after sourcing a handful of used heads that all turned out to have cracks, usually between the valves in the chambers. I ended up just buying one of the updated castings but with 2.02/1.60 valves. A stock replacement pair can be had for about 600 iirc. If you're buying used and throwing another 100 on each to clean up. In my case after getting burned on a few would just been cheaper to go that route to begin with

I did find a set in Hollywood, and come to find out, my casting numbers are 062?! I could have put money on it that they were 906 heads. I haven't picked up the 906 heads yet, unless, of course, you have something laying around! This guy wants $375 for the set, complete rework done on the heads, and wants to buy mine after looking at them. Where exactly are you located? Could have used you a loooong time ago haha.

when the plastic gasket goes bad it will pull oil vapor and or oil into the port also fouling the spark plug! they all do it.

Thank you! I'm going to put an oil catch can in to help solve this issue and probably delete the EGR, too.

What's with the zerex? Never heard of it.

Yeah Zerez is a brand. The G-05 is a rating and/or type of coolant. From my research, one of the big reasons why the Vortecs have the intake gasket failures was due to GMs use of Dexcool, which ate the plastic. G-05 does not deteriorate gaskets and has very good cooling properties, as well. It does very well with Aluminum.

 

[randeez]

I'd pick up that set if they're ready to run for 375... I don't think I have much. When I sold that truck I sent it on its way with a bed full of spare parts.
I'm in jupiter, let me know if ya need a hand or any tools

 

[bigfootchiro]

I'd pick up that set if they're ready to run for 375... I don't think I have much. When I sold that truck I sent it on its way with a bed full of spare parts.
I'm in jupiter, let me know if ya need a hand or any tools

I greatly appreciate the offer. May have to take you up on that. If not now, possibly in the near future!

 

[bigfootchiro]

Here are the 906 heads on the block. Had a late start this morning, found that the machine shop didn’t give me back one of the front head studs for the accessory brackets, and having a bit of a time adjusting the valves. Any tips on adjusting the valves? The typical TDC 1 and TDC 6 adjustments aren’t quite cutting it perfectly. Going to try TDC for every cylinder and adjusting them that way. Other than that, got her all cleaned up, and even flushed out the old rusty coolant from the block!

 

[willxfs]

I like and have used the procedure described in the link below to adjust the valves in my 1998 tahoe. Good luck.

https://www.centuryperformance.com/valve-adjustment-procedure.html

 

[randeez]

Here are the 906 heads on the block. Had a late start this morning, found that the machine shop didn’t give me back one of the front head studs for the accessory brackets, and having a bit of a time adjusting the valves. Any tips on adjusting the valves? The typical TDC 1 and TDC 6 adjustments aren’t quite cutting it perfectly. Going to try TDC for every cylinder and adjusting them that way. Other than that, got her all cleaned up, and even flushed out the old rusty coolant from the block!

View attachment 191729

I could never get the engine off valve lash set up all the great. after a few times of trying the engine on method is easy. basically just take most of the slack out of the valvetrain when you assemble everything (turn engine over and check again) mostly you just want to make sure that the pushrods will stay between the lifter and the rocker arm so you can start it up and let it idle. take the valve cover off one side and just start at the first (or last) rocker loosen till you heard a little ticking - tighten back till it's gone plus maybe 1/4 turn

you will probably make a mess, as oil will be squirting from the pushrod thru the rocker arm. they make something to put in them to keep oil from going everywhere - ive never used them tho. usually a bit goes over the edge of the valve cover, hits the exhaust manifold

 

[bigfootchiro]

I like and have used the procedure described in the link below to adjust the valves in my 1998 tahoe. Good luck.

https://www.centuryperformance.com/valve-adjustment-procedure.html

Thanks! That looks like a great way to do it. Very helpful!

I could never get the engine off valve lash set up all the great. after a few times of trying the engine on method is easy. basically just take most of the slack out of the valvetrain when you assemble everything (turn engine over and check again) mostly you just want to make sure that the pushrods will stay between the lifter and the rocker arm so you can start it up and let it idle. take the valve cover off one side and just start at the first (or last) rocker loosen till you heard a little ticking - tighten back till it's gone plus maybe 1/4 turn

you will probably make a mess, as oil will be squirting from the pushrod thru the rocker arm. they make something to put in them to keep oil from going everywhere - ive never used them tho. usually a bit goes over the edge of the valve cover, hits the exhaust manifold

This is the way we thought about doing it too, just wasn’t sure about the oil flying everywhere haha.

This is the way we ended up doing it

Start at TDC, adjust all rockers til lash is gone, turn crank 90 degrees, adjust all til lash is gone, and do that on every 90 degree turn (doesn’t have to be a perfect 90) until you’ve made 2 full turns on the crank, essentially hitting every cylinder for TDC. Then turn one more full crank, and check all again. Adjust each one 3/4 turn, and you’re done. Went pretty quick and easy, but a little leery about intake side of Cylinder 6, as that one seems to be tighter than the rest. We may start over and do that one you sent @willxfs but I think you’re right @randeez about that way being easy, too. Probably super accurate too since motor is running.

 

[bigfootchiro]

BTW, if anyone ever needs a definitive comparison between Vortec heads, I found this link last week. Great article describing the differences very thoroughly!

http://nastyz28.com/threads/vortec-cylinder-heads-the-definitive-guide.56505/

 

[randeez]

Thanks! That looks like a great way to do it. Very helpful!



This is the way we thought about doing it too, just wasn’t sure about the oil flying everywhere haha.

This is the way we ended up doing it

Start at TDC, adjust all rockers til lash is gone, turn crank 90 degrees, adjust all til lash is gone, and do that on every 90 degree turn (doesn’t have to be a perfect 90) until you’ve made 2 full turns on the crank, essentially hitting every cylinder for TDC. Then turn one more full crank, and check all again. Adjust each one 3/4 turn, and you’re done. Went pretty quick and easy, but a little leery about intake side of Cylinder 6, as that one seems to be tighter than the rest. We may start over and do that one you sent @willxfs but I think you’re right @randeez about that way being easy, too. Probably super accurate too since motor is running.

eh see what happens with the valves, i've done plenty of dumb shit wrong and they take a beating and run just fine after getting squared away. you'll instantly hear chattering if any of them are loose.
engine off works fine - it's just the lack of consistency that drove me nuts. like youre describing you'd do a set, turn over do a set, turn over thinking your good and half of them feel to tight and the other to loose with the locking nuts and a feeler gauge it's tricky to nail down where lash is gone and you're just collapsing the lifter

 

[bigfootchiro]

eh see what happens with the valves, i've done plenty of dumb shit wrong and they take a beating and run just fine after getting squared away. you'll instantly hear chattering if any of them are loose.
engine off works fine - it's just the lack of consistency that drove me nuts. like youre describing you'd do a set, turn over do a set, turn over thinking your good and half of them feel to tight and the other to loose with the locking nuts and a feeler gauge it's tricky to nail down where lash is gone and you're just collapsing the lifter

Haha, I definitely hear ya on doing dumb shit. I'm gonna run a short oil change interval, a week or so, change it out and probably readjust the valves. Once she's purring like a kitten, the transfer case is getting changed out, transmission fluid changed, upgraded u-joints and yoke, rear diff fluid changed, RedHead steering gear, alignment, cats getting cut out, thinking about putting on a Black Widow Race Venom muffler, pocket flares, blacked out headlights with projectors and HIDs, LED signals (blacked out), blacked out grille (see a theme yet? haha), LED interior upgrade, dash needs to be replaced (typical cracks), still have to install @Tonyrodz visors... phew, out of breath! The list doesn't stop haha.