Well, time for an update. Spent all weekend working on the 'Ol girl. When I say working, I really mean creating more problems.

Starting on Saturday, it began with putting everything in the new head. Simple enough, right? Well, I started to transfer everything from the old head to the new head, then realized that some of the valve lifters need to be replaced. Here's what a bad one looks like:



As you can see, the tip of the lifter isn't rounded off and has uneven wear. This will cause warping on your valve stem. It is vital that if you pull your head apart that you inspect them. Also be sure to push down on them to get any oil out of the old ones.

After getting new lifters, I got the head fully assembled. I put lubricant on every moving surface to prevent any metal on metal rubbing.





Prior to installing the head, check to make sure your cylinder bore is clean of any debri. At this point, rotate your crank until your #1 piston is top dead center. When you put on your timing chain gear, you want the dot to be at the 12 o clock position. Make sure you don't allow any slack in the timing chain or the tensioner will slide out.

After that, I placed the new head gasket on the block, and installed the head. THERE IS A SPECIFIC ORDER FOR TIGHTENING DOWN THE HEAD BOLTS. For the order, refer to the Haynes manual. The torque value of the head bolts, with the exception of the front 2 are 69 foot pounds. The front 2 bolts are in inch pounds. If you have a foot pounds torque wrench, just divide the inch pounds by 12 and that is what you will set the foot pounds torque wrench too. The front 2 bolts are torqued to 13 foot pounds.

After getting the head installed and torqued, lather all the moving surfaces with lubricant.






After that, things were pretty smooth sailing until the carb install. My recommendation is this...TAKE A PICTURE OF EVERY LINE AND HOSE THAT GOES TO THE CARBURETOR BEFORE YOU DISCONNECT THEM. This will save you a major headache. Trust me, it is damn near impossible.

The next and last problem I have run into is connecting the distributor. I was undoing the nut on the ignition coil so I can put the positive wire or the distributor on, and this was the result...



Morale of the story, take your time. All I have left to do is order a new ignition coil, then put in new oil and antifreeze. I will post more of my progress as it happens. Feel free to ask questions and thanks for reading y'all!

-Ty