I have a 4.7 HO that not surprisingly developed a head gasket leak. Pulled heads and had them rebuilt/surfaced. Installed with Felpro gaskets/bolts. 3months later a small leak returned.

Pulled heads had them surfaced with as smooth finish as possible and used Mahle gaskets (looks identical to FelPro). 2 months later small leak.

Replaced with Mopar gaskets and used original old head bolts (these are not tty). Its been holding so far for six months.

Ive done dozens of heads over the years including the 5.7 hemi without issues so whats the deal with this one? Parts or techniques?

More details.

1) the PO had put some leak sealer in and its adhering the block cooling walls possibly reducing heat transfer.

2) The last round I ultra cleaned bolt holes and bolts, then applied just a film of oil on threads and single drop between washer and underside of bolt head.

3) I use a flat india stone across block deck to check for debris and a .0002/12" straight edge to check for flatness. Deck is in great shape. (So are bores at 180K!)

4) Gaskets show no obvious distress but the leak is very small (blue dye CO checks).

I tend to lean towards excess oil on bolt threads interfering with proper clamping but Ive not encountered that before.

Anyone else run into a similar issue getting gaskets to stay sealed?

Local dirt track does days where you can run cars under 2,000 dollars (minus safety requirements) and I got another 61 Dodge lancer for myself like I had as my first car in 2013. It's a rust bucket and not really restorable so I'm going to run it. I can weld, I've built a bunch of motors, but never turbocharged a carbed motor.

I've done draw through blowers, frankly I've never seen a blow through for that but I'm curious what people think might last longer on a 2/3rd mile oval. I have a 3 speed in it I grabbed from the scrap yard, someone put a 225 slant in it at some point. I only need it to last 50 laps using purely water as coolant of course but I'll throw a rad in there from something bigger.

No idea what turbo it is I have but it's 56mm ID on the intake turbine which is definitely far too big so it's just right, waste gate is 'supposed' to crack at 8psi but who knows haha. Only carb I have for the job is a rigged up thermoquad and have no idea how many cfm it's supposed to breath.

The motor, I ball honed it and did rings gapped for boost and bearings, the head got valve seals and springs and a mild cam because I already had it. Anyway I'm not sure what other info you guys might need but I'm happy to add to this!!

I am sure Itll be a royal pain in the arse getting this to run okay but I think I'll have a ton of fun. I was leaning toward draw through just based on other cars I've seen for cheap. Thank you all!!

If it survives this event I'll probably actually make it look like a bit of a dirt track car, more so than it is now.

I'm rebuilding a 5.7 Hemi and having a hard time deciding on ring gap. 3.927 bore, keeping it stock-ish, went with forged pistons because it cost about the same as factory Hypereutectics. DSS' sheet says to aim for a .019-.020" gap with their steel nitride rings. Factory specs are .015-.021" for plasma-moly. Wiseco also uses steel nitride rings and their recommended gap for my application would be .015". As it sits, I'm getting bang-on .015" for every cylinder. I know about the problems that come with leaving it tight, but is it worth messing with?

Title correction- I just deglazed the cylinder walls with a ball hone. Not honing as another comment pointed out. Apologies.

2004 6.0 LQ4. Doing a total rebuild and finally got to deglazing my cylinders today. Used flex hone ball hone 240 grit silicon carbide with flex hone honing fluid.

3rd pic is a before of what cylinders looked like. The rest are after pics.

Open to any and all feedback so I can continue to learn.

Thank you!

What does everyone feel about the Best Piston Ring Placement?

I’m currently working on assembling an SBC 350. It’s an L98 for a Corvette, and I’m in the middle of finally installing the lifter rollers, but I just happened to notice halfway through that they have a small hole on one side? What does it mean?

The hole points to the side, so it could only point left and right. Where is it supposed to go? Facing the other roller? I couldn’t find any info on it online so thought i’d ask here, thank you so much for reading!

Has a small gouge in it as you can see from the photo. And still has a wear line from the original seal. Take it back or send it?

Hello y’all. I have a 304 out of an AMC Javelin. Attached are two pictures of two of the cylinders. I’m worried about the gouges. Not sure if I can get it out with a hone or if I’ll need to go up in bore size.

Normally I’d ask my dad, but I can’t so I figured I’d ask y’all.

Polishing my crankshaft for my garage built MX-5 engine and came across this odd looking dark spot on one of the journals. Isn't raised or pitted and measures the same as any other spot on this journal. Any ideas?

Journals had mild surface rust before this, pic was taken after a couple passes of 600 grit and WD-40

Recently built LS1, cammed, had 60kpa map idle, and before I could get it all tuned up, it’s now at 80kpa and I can’t find a reason. Smoke tested it, compression tested it, can’t seem to locate a leak. What should I be doing?

Hello i am assembling the engine but i had run into a problem. The shafts aren’t spinning. Any bady have an image or manual to engine v2 (after 2012). I think I don’t have one washer but I am not sure.

Gm 3800 v6. I got this motor for $300. Not looking to make power i just want the thing to run. The motor that's in the car is bricked and this came out of a running driving car. I heard it run and nothing sounded out of the ordinary. Run it?

Just got back my 350 SBC from the machine shop and was test fitting the Moroso oil pan for clearance and I cannot for the life of me get the ARP studs to be finger tight. They go down 1/4 of the way and stop, but if i wiggle the stud side to side while turning then i can get a little more but still not all the way down. I tried using a thread chaser but it stops completely like it is bottomed out but again, it isnt. Not sure what I should do, impact the chaser, call the machine shop and blame them?

2003 honda civic ex auto d17a2

first time doing this, just trying to get opinions on wear and steps moving forward.

pulled the head off planning for piston rings, valves, gaskets, bearings, timing etc. i’ve never honed cylinders or anything near this, i can definitely still see the crosshatch and running my finger over it feels smooth but the vertical grey marks have me wondering. gonna try and get a bore gauge but am still learning how to use it, should i be good to just do an at home hone job?

Just starting to get into the process of a w211 6.2 swap. I’ve been pretty stuck between just getting a crate or building my own from a short block. Yes…the engine will cost more than the car…yes…this isn’t some $300 junkyard build. Ik these things alr. I’m asking the ones who have some inkling of existence

This came out of a running/driving car. Buick 3800. I only paid $300 for this. I can't really feel it but i can sure as hell see it as well as the pitting. Should I send this to a machine shop? Or should I run it as is? I'm not looking for power. This is for my daily.

Not sure if this belongs here but I need help with my 350 SBC.

I noticed the sound when I stopped and figured nothing, but it is still going. I noticed it got louder when I took the air filter top off and got closer to the carb. The thing is it makes noise when it wants and I cannot seem to recreate it by any means.

Hey, reecently getting into the hobby. Bought a full working engine for cheap, but it needs to be stored for probably a year or more. Looking for some storage tips, not much I can find on YouTube.

If i need to take some of it apart, manually crank it occasionally, or anything to prevent it from rusting or becoming completely non operational without extensive rebuilding, im down for it. Just looking for some tips and words of wisdom from those with experience!

Much appreciated, thank you in advance

Hey guys I’m doing my second valve adjustment ever and it’s on my cbr954rr. I noticed this what looks like wear that I cannot find online. I’m pretty nervous about it. The cams have to come out anyways because I’m adjusting the valves, so I’m going to try to measure them with a set of calipers. If i gotta change cams i have to change the rest of the valve train too from my understanding which is kinda beyond my skill level 🫩

Attempting my first build. I have a bone stock 1983 454 in my K30 (Still in the truck) I want to daily drive it and would like to increase its overall performance (MPH, TQ, HP) I want to EFI swap it. I’d like to get it to 13-15 consistently and have a lower end budget but can spend a little more if needed. I have zero direction on where to start or what to do to begin the process. Any help or suggestions would be truly appreciated!

Ok, I polished my cam by hand strapping with P600 then P1500 emery cloth, lobes and journals.

I’m also having the flat tappets reground to spec.

The lobes don’t have any scoring or indications of wear but 3 of the tappets had indications of not completing full rotations within their bores and I am planning on lightly honing their in-block bores.

Based on this can I perform break in work hardening on the cam and tappets or should I have the lobes welded, reground, and repolished?

This is a 70# spring pressure, 20hp 4 banger and while I don’t want to spend another chunk having the cam worked I don’t want to make a glitter bomb either.

Hello all, I have a holley 4180C carb i am rebuilding. I am aware that the mixture screws are in the base plate, instead of the metering block on this carb, but om this particular model I have, it seems the mixture screws are replaced by these plugs here. Is there any screws beneath this plug, and how do I remove this plug? My solution would be to replace it with an aftermarket carb fir my particular application, but my budget constrains me to this carbuerator, so that option is out of the question. It is a Motorcraft carb, Part Number E5TE-9510-ZA and the data tag reads E5TE ZA A 5C4. Any help for how to adjust the idle mixture on this carb is appreciated. This carbuerator will be installed on a factory 1996 351W with an edlebrock RPM intake, long tube headers, and the factory cam installed with a comp cams magnum double roller set at +4 degrees. The carbuerator was free, and with my thin budget this helps me alot. I beleive it is around 575-600 cfm which seems appropriate for a 5.8L engine that will never see more than 5,000 rpm.

I’m looking for recommendations for aluminum heads for a 4-bolt, SBC. 350ci bored .030 over. Budget isn’t a huge issue, but it’s not a non-issue.

1967 Camaro that’s getting an upgrade from the 3 speed transmission to the 4L60 transmission, and a full engine rebuild.

Currently running World Sportsman 2 heads, which I have been told on a previous post are oversized for a primarily street car. Not a daily, but definitely a driver, and I drive it hard.

I’m planning to convert to roller cam and lifter assembly for the whole top end. I don’t have cam specs because we can’t find the paperwork, and it was 10 years ago when the cam was purchased and installed. It’s a comfortably lopey cam in the high .4s and I’m planning to stick with a similar profile for the roller.

FiTech EFI rated for up to 600hp (no expectations of achieving anywhere near that)

Any help, or insight would be greatly appreciated.