Pecks, knocks, bumps, and squeaks

[swervin ervin]

Man, I'm getting tired of all these rattles and junk. It seems the more I do to tighten up the suspension, the more I get. The more I do to raise horse power, the more I get.

Like this. I went back and re-read the GM Goodwrench 350 articles I have on my site. I have this engine in my truck, for those who don't know. Anyway, I have Edelbrock heads, intake, XE268 cam, etc. I used composition gaskets when I installed the heads. So, the articles say they used the Felpro 1094 rubber coated steel shim .015" head gaskets to raise compression with the dish pistons in these engines. With 64cc heads and .041" gaskets, they said it was 9.1:1 CR. With the .015" gaskets, it raised the CR to 9.4:1.

So last week, I swapped head gaskets to the 1094's. Everything went smooth as silk. But, since getting done, I have an irritating rattle now. It's not the engine or anything, but something under the truck rattling because of the engine movement/power. The extra CR helped for sure with the power. You can tell it has just by the sound of the exhaust and feel of it. I have an idea of what it may be, but who knows. It's not really a rattle I guess. More like a tiny spring pecking against the tailpipe thing. Hard to explain. Not anything major, but still is there, you know?

If it kills me, I'll chase down all the little noise making things yet. Maybe if I would hurry and get my console installed I could crank up the CD's and hear the thump of the subs instead of something else getting on my last nerve.

Just wanted to vent a little. I feel better now.