Pulling the Heads-What to do to them?

[93formulalt1]

Send a PM to BLK HAWK.

Will do. Thanks!

[Fox Slaughter]

Woops, meant $170. lol

That's for FelPro's head gasket 'kit' that includes head gaskets, intake gaskets, header gaskets, valve cover gaskets, throttle body gasket, valve stem seals, etc. Basically everything I'd need when it comes time for re-assembly. That kit is $140 plus shipping, and I wasn't looking at ARP head bolts, although I probably should. . . I don't plan on re-using ANY gaskets when it's time to re-install everything, the car is sitting at just under 170k miles, and rather than order all of the gaskets individually, I was going to eliminate the hassle and just buy the whole kit.

I got the same kit doesn't come with timing gasket set or waterpump gaskets. Does come with a gasket I have no clue what in the hell it is.

[Boost Addict]

Still got those 617's in bags waiting for ya

[Fox Slaughter]

Still got those 617's in bags waiting for ya

617s? I know 634 and 374s are LT1 heads.

[93formulalt1]

Still got those 617's in bags waiting for ya

Do you now? I didn't bother PM'ing you because I thought for sure they'd have been sold by now. . .

I may have to pick those up. What kind of springs are installed on them?

[JoeliusZ28]

Not sure if this has been said or not already but it is NOT safe to assume valve guides are not worn. Mine intake guides were worn with 90k on the engine and it ran perfect when it came apart. had visible slop in them.

[93formulalt1]

Not sure if this has been said or not already but it is NOT safe to assume valve guides are not worn. Mine intake guides were worn with 90k on the engine and it ran perfect when it came apart. had visible slop in them.

Thanks for that. . . What can be done to solve this problem, I'm looking into a couple sets of heads right now, still unsure of the condition of them, but if the valve guides are worn, how can that be fixed?

[Fox Slaughter]

Take the heads to a shop they will press them out and press new ones in.

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Take the heads to a shop they will press them out and press new ones in.

Yup, and ream the guides if need be. The guy who did my heads added an extra .005 total clearance because I told him I had autocross in mind...didn't really want him to do that but he said it should help with the hard 7k pulls

[Sic96]

There's a couple guys around here that could help with your problems. Jason Poe is a huge chevy guy, he lives on Burton right before the gilbert rd intersection on the right. He built my uncles 78 Mustang II(i know) and it is one hell of a bad a** ride. He could probably do anything you need, but I'm not sure what his prices are like anymore. He has a couple 9 sec. chevy's out there. It's the Poe's Towing family. Should be in the phone book.
Another guy is my cousin's friend Chris that lives on Wilmoth hwy. between sutton and laberdee. He is Generally a Ford guy, but last time I was in there he was building a 10 sec. Nova so.. He is amazing at machining. I seen him fix a head with a fist sized chunk missing out of it(no clue how it happened lol), when he was done, it was impossible to tell. I'll see if I can get his number for ya, I never had it i always just stopped in there. Besides machining, he's an awesome engine builder. wouldn't think twice to drop my car off to him.

[93formulalt1]

There's a couple guys around here that could help with your problems. Jason Poe is a huge chevy guy, he lives on Burton right before the gilbert rd intersection on the right. He built my uncles 78 Mustang II(i know) and it is one hell of a bad a** ride. He could probably do anything you need, but I'm not sure what his prices are like anymore. He has a couple 9 sec. chevy's out there. It's the Poe's Towing family. Should be in the phone book.
Another guy is my cousin's friend Chris that lives on Wilmoth hwy. between sutton and laberdee. He is Generally a Ford guy, but last time I was in there he was building a 10 sec. Nova so.. He is amazing at machining. I seen him fix a head with a fist sized chunk missing out of it(no clue how it happened lol), when he was done, it was impossible to tell. I'll see if I can get his number for ya, I never had it i always just stopped in there. Besides machining, he's an awesome engine builder. wouldn't think twice to drop my car off to him.

PM me, maybe I'll have you drive down there with me, introduce me to them, you know. I'd like to get something figured out soon, I just got my taxes back, picked up my paycheck today, getting a ton of overtime on my next paycheck, so I should have the money chilling in the bank when it's time to have the work done.

[Sic96]

PM me, maybe I'll have you drive down there with me, introduce me to them, you know. I'd like to get something figured out soon, I just got my taxes back, picked up my paycheck today, getting a ton of overtime on my next paycheck, so I should have the money chilling in the bank when it's time to have the work done.

I don't know Chris that well, so I'll talk to my cuz. As far as Poe, I'll see what I can do.
Peace

[Boost Addict]

617s? I know 634 and 374s are LT1 heads.

These are 643's my mistake

[93formulalt1]

Alright, I need some input here. . .

I picked up a set of heads, intake, and 1.6RR's last week from Dan (Thanks for the great deal, Dan, I wouldn't have been able to swing it otherwise!), and I'm mulling my options over in my head. . . I want a respectable car with decent street manners (will be a "weekend warrior" for the most part, but I don't plan on really racing it, mostly just cruising around town, maybe drive it to work a couple times a week), and according to everyone I've spoken with, now is the best time to go a little wild with the performance parts. The problem is money, as usual. I can swing buying the parts a little at a time, but until the heads are swapped, unfortunately, the car will be "out of commission". I'm thinking that to get the most "bang for my buck", I want to have the heads ported and rebuilt (new seals, springs, install the roller rockers), do a cam swap to something mild with decent low- to mid-range power, install a torque converter to compliment the cam, port the intake (at least gasket match to the heads), have the true duals I've been planning for a couple years now installed, and at some point have it tuned (if I can ever find a place that has the capability to tune a '93, since it requires replacing the PROM chip, rather than just hooking up a cable and hitting "enter"), then get started on the appearance/structure of the vehicle.

The car has some rust, which requires immediate attention. I'm going to be taking the car to a shop to have the major rust taken care of, and I'll then prepare the car for a full paint job, which will be taking place in my garage at home. The color has been chosen (it will be unique, but not overdone), the equipment is already on hand, I just need to get the car prepped and ready for paint before I start ordering materials. That's not my priority, however. For now, I want to get the car running again, put some miles on it, and get the rust repaired. That's Phase I, and I'd like to have this accomplished before winter hits, since I can prep the body for paint and send it off to the body shop while there's snow on the ground.

What I need from you guys is this: I've never done a cam swap before. I don't know what all I need in the way of parts, I really have absolutely no clue what I'm doing, but I'm a quick study, and there are plenty of walk-throughs out there to help out in a pinch.

So far, I'm looking at the following:
-Cam (undecided, if you have suggestions, feel free to share, but I want something mild/streetable)
-Torque Converter (stall speed will depend on cam largely, so feel free to share suggestions here as well)
-Valve springs (I've been told upgrading these is strongly recommended when upgrading to 1.6RR's)
-Gaskets (obviously)
-Replace Optispark and Water Pump (Since I'm already going to be down there. . . )
-Pushrods (Might as well, stockers have 170k miles on them)
-Valve seals (cheap insurance, don't want to sink all this money into it for blue smoke on startup)
-True Duals (dumped before the axle, 3" w/ X-Pipe)
-Tune (would prefer a dyno tune, but I may be stuck with a mail order tune, depending on availability of a shop that can dyno tune a '93 due to the PROM chip issue I mentioned above)


Aside from these things, and the other, unrelated items that I'll be picking up (tires, paint, rust repair, seats, dynamat/other sound deadener, carpet, etc.), I'm not sure what I'll need to get before I can start turning wrenches on this car. I'm hoping to have it back on the road this summer, but as I mentioned, funds dictate the schedule. I have other expenses that are more important than this vehicle, but it's sat for too long, and I've already started buying parts, so it's going to get done.

Here's the deal, I know we have a few resident experts on the site, you point me to the stuff I need, and I'll break open the checkbook. Aside from the rust repair, I will be doing the work myself, with some help from friends. I need to find a decent cam, get the heads dropped off for porting, order the valve springs, figure out which converter I need and get it ordered, and start contemplating a basic schedule to get the work done so I can enjoy this thing again. Just point me in the right direction, and I'll make it happen.

As far as overall goals for the car go, I'd like to keep up with stock LS1's, maybe some bolt-on LS1's, and possibly woop on some bone-stock 5th gens, although I know that may be a bit out of reach.

Thanks in advance for the help, and I really hope I can get some of the gurus here to help me out when the time comes to piece the parts together.

[98blackbeauty]

well if money is a big factor, I would 1. put the heads on you just bought. 2. get it running without having to worry about a tune etc. 3. concentrait on the boddy work and paint. 4. then save up the money and do motor over the winter next year.

If it don't look good, doesn't matter how it runs.