Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

could someone explain to me how replacing the intake manifold gasket caused my 1 year old starter solenoid to fail, ha ha

right after I replaced that intake gasket I battled hard starts when the engine was warm/hot it sounded like the engine was fighting itself when I tried to start it when it was already hot of course I blame the long tube headers, hee hee

I share this with you, because I thought what's the deal do I have too much timing, well that couldn't have been it cause I am running less initial advance now by 2* than I was before

ok, what is it vapor lock in the carb, must be the carb - - - nope

below is a pic of my old starter (or partial pic) my buddy Pontiac Mike taught me my old starter was not a high torque starter (not that that's what the problem was, it's just that there's two kinds) when the solenoid is bolted directly down to the starter like in this pic its a low torque, if it has a long copper looking spacer behind it it's high torque (second pic)

sorry I don't have better pics, I literally replaced the starter in an ally behind McDonald across the street from my work yesterday (Friday morning) Roadkill Style - LOL

[Gregski]

you guys heard of the Occam's razor principle?

I believe it's the idea that sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution.

Let me give you an example: The other day I was at an open mike event when we could not hear the performer, well after toying with the karate-okie machine it turned out that the microphone was OFF, and after the singer turned it ON, the guitar player in the background was overheard blurring out "Occam's razor"

so my point is, if your truck was starting fine and now you have a starting issue, look at the starter before jumping to messing with timing and carb etc

Motor De Arranque Nuevo (for our Spanish speaking affiliates)

Duralast Gold - you get what you pay for and this is so much nicer than the prior Value craft I had in there! truck starts so smoothly now on first kick, ha ha but I'll be honest with you I only bought this one cause it had a smaller (shorter) solenoid and I wanted a starter with the smallest form factor possible to keep it as far away from the heat from the long tube headers as possible, and this is the best I could score at AutoZone

sorry no pics of the actual starter as this was a rush job, roadside repair I kid you not, I was so proud of myself for just knocking it out rather than calling triple aye!

[rusty76]

You know everybody told me long tube headers and starters don’t mix well. I didn’t have any issues. And when the old starter gave up the ghost I didn’t have to remove the headers to get the starter on and off like I was told. Good luck in your endeavors.

[deejaaa1]

are you sure the head to intake surface is the correct angle to seal? i don't know gassers as well as diesels but heard tale of certain heads and intakes not mating properly.

[LT7A]

Man, sorry to hear about all the setbacks. I hope the new set of heads checks out good and that the starter holds up.

By the way, I heard a rumor that Heisenberg used Occam's razor to kill Schrodinger's cat. As yet unconfirmed.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by deejaaa1

are you sure the head to intake surface is the correct angle to seal? i don't know gassers as well as diesels but heard tale of certain heads and intakes not mating properly.

yes I am following GM crate engine specs and using GM Performance cylinder heads and dual plane intake manifold

[Gregski]

quick update, just heard back from the Machine Shop, one of the spare heads I brought in to them is cracked, good thing I have 2 more spare ones so they want me to bring both of those in

again the crack is in the spare head not one on the truck (we have not autopsied those yet)

[Gregski]

sorry double post from my cell phone

[daddyjeep]

We heard you the first time. there is really no need to repeat yourself.

Ill these troubles with vortec heads. Maybe you would be better off just getting a new set from summit.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-12558060

[daddyjeep]

We heard you the first time. there is really no need to repeat yourself.

All these troubles with vortec heads. Maybe you would be better off just getting a new set from summit.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-12558060

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

We heard you the first time. there is really no need to repeat yourself.

Ill these troubles with vortec heads. Maybe you would be better off just getting a new set from summit.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-12558060

did not mean to do that, I blame my phone, thanks for the advice, I am looking at some ProMAXX aluminum heads, about the same price for a pair as these cast iron ones

[Gregski]

so took the '99 Suburban L31 Vortec cylinder heads off my truck and took them in to the machine shop on this lovely Sunday morning

Here are some action shots for you so you can see how they iron powder coat them and use a huge electric magnet to test them, pretty cool

Nichols is the best machine shop ever!

[Gregski]

now for the bad news, both of my cylinder heads had cracks at the center bolt holes into the water jackets, now this is something I did not look for when I inspected them myself cause I was too focused on the chambers, live and learn

not sure how well you can see the small cracks in the pics but I was trying my best to point them out

[Gregski]

and here is the other side, now that crack right in the middle of the hole in the lower part of the hole in the pick also runs down the head so as the head heats up I assume it opens up and is just enough to slow leak that coolant, my thoughts anyway

[Gregski]

so I scored some brand new Edelbrock E-Street aluminum cylinder heads, a new Edelbrock Torker II Series single plane intake manifold, and a set of new ARP bolts. All for $850, not bad

not sure how the single plane intake is going to respond in a street application, but I've always wanted to try a single plane intake, so here we go

[RDrancher]

That manifold will move your powerband up and you'll lose a bit of torque, but the symptom is easily cured...https://www.summitracing.com/experta...ive/answer/485

[pontgta]

For a minute there I though I was watching "wheeler dealers"....Great stuff really cool that you are taking the effort to walk us through all the good and bad.

[rusty76]

Good score on the heads and stuff.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by pontgta

For a minute there I though I was watching "wheeler dealers"....Great stuff really cool that you are taking the effort to walk us through all the good and bad.

yup, they are a huge influence, and I believe I've learned way more from my mistakes than my successes

[MikeB]

Make sure the head bolts are long enough to go AT LEAST 6 threads into the block, and preferably 8. Worst case, you may have to ditch the hardened washers.

I don't know if that's a problem with the Edelbrock heads, but I have experienced it with Dart Iron Eagle and Brodix IK heads, even with ARP bolts which, as I recall, are a shade longer than stock bolts.

Ditto on the idea to use a plenum divider, assuming there's one available for your manifold. I suspect a Performer, Performer EPS, and Performer RPM would have a much more street-friendly power band. But, hey, have fun experimenting! Next up, tunnel ram.

[MikeB]

I was reading through your posts and saw where you had radiator problems, so wanted to tell you about the aluminum rad with plastic tanks that I bought about 3 years ago. It's a Murray brand (same as Spectra and probably a half dozen other brands). It cost $120-something at my local O'Reilly Auto Parts store. And get this: It has a lifetime warranty!

But heck, even though it's the basic radiator for 250 and 305, it keeps the 350's coolant temp in the 180-190 range, even down here in the Texas summer heat. However, I'm sure the OE-type fan shroud, clutch fan, and brand new GM water pump have something to do with that.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by RDrancher

That manifold will move your powerband up and you'll lose a bit of torque, but the symptom is easily cured...https://www.summitracing.com/experta...ive/answer/485

thank you for the suggestion I did not know they made those plenum dividers, though if I don't like the single I think I am just gonna splurge for the Edelbrock Performer Air Gap RPM

[Gregski]

so the one thing I just had to do before starting the re assembly with the new shiny bits was to pull the oil pan and take a looksie, I mean with the heads as milk shaky as they are how in the world can the oil I drain out of the pan be nice and black(ish)

strange I tell ya, strange!

[Gregski]

alright we commence with the re assembly

Step 1. Move the shinny bits from the living room to the garage, place them on the work bench and allow them to acclimate to their new habitat (think goldfish in a plastic bag)

[Gregski]

I swear a Top End Swap (heads, intake, etc.) will run you $150 in gaskets and materials alone... good times (I paused my mental calculator...)

Head gaskets - $52

I didn't have the time to order and wait on the proper Edelbrock gaskets to so went with these Fel Pro 7733 PT-2 instead, (then I spoke to Edelbrock Tech Support and they recommended Fel Pro part # 1003, oh well) the important spec was to match to how tight they smash down to once torqued...