Head fell off the workbench am I screwed???

dneuman · Post by **dneuman** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:54 pm

So I ported the hell out of it and massaged the combustion chamber to smooth off any sharp edges. With a big cam and carbs and a tight chain and head shims this thing was scary fast.

Spyder With the head so thin how did you get your chains tight and when you say shims do you mean cam tower shim or headgasket type shim?

thanks,

Post by **dbrick** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 6:25 pm

If the height from the deck to the cam tower is equal to stock, as long as the cam tower isn't shimmed , cam never moved in relation to rockers, so that geometry is un-affected.
you need to have a total head gasket thickness equal to stock head gasket plus whatever amount you are under 4.526 inches. If stock gasket is .040, then total height from block deck to cam tower should be~ 4.566. There are so many posts, I lost track of where the measurements went.
Unless I read it wrong, Dean says to send him your measurements and he will make up a copper gasket of the needed thickness. Can't get much easier. He also matches them to the bore size so there is no gap.That and a bit of grinding on the head, might be it. Worth a phone call.

Later, when it's boost time, take off the thin head, put on a stock thick head with the same reusble gasket, lower compression and a nice tight cam chain. And still, the rocker arms are none the wiser.
You don't need to get up early to fool a rocker arm.

spyder · Post by **spyder** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:03 am

"Spyder With the head so thin how did you get your chains tight and when you say shims do you mean cam tower shim or headgasket type shim? "

Cam tower shims to help with the fact that the cam was closer to the jackshaft. Also I enlarged the tensioner holes to allow it to be placed closer to the chain and I put a spacer ( fiber washer) on the tensioner's shaft to restrict its travel back into it's mount.

SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 1:14 pm

The towers should be shimmed, but at the same time the rocker arm buttons will need to be changed to thicker ones as well to make up for the change in wipe pattern on the arms. The upper tensoner will need to be shimmed seriously as well.

If everything else is ready on the car, I might have a head that I can loan you for the trip. My car is getting pulled apart this weekend to be preped for the other Shasta meet. I will know more by this time next week. The head will be a bolt on and go with cam and rockers intact. It will just have the one bad valve seat that should be fine as long as its not buing run to 7k rpm on a track.

Will

spyder · Post by **spyder** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 1:12 am

Yes it had thicker lash pads. I replaced the spring retainers with 240z which are a tad bit smaller but have taller walls. I think I ended with .240 on the intakes and .210 on the exhausts for the correct wipe pattern.