I'm planning on starting a project to keep myself from going stir crazy. I figured I'd try to replace any gasket I can reach without needing an engine hoist, and also doing some work on the cylinder heads.

I'm going to be doing most of the work on a budget, so I figured I'd do some minor porting and gasket matching. Could I just do it with a heavy drill along with some sand rolls and a single carbide bit? Also, I figured I should o-ring the cylinder heads. Would I have to use a copper head gasket, or is a normal gasket going to seal? Or, then again, is there a good pre-o-ringed gasket out there? I believe it is a '70 z28 block, and the cylinder heads are 305ci 601's.

Would it be easy, and cost-effective, to pull the cam and replace the seals? And afterwards, would I need to degree the cam (?) or do I just line up the dots on the timing sprockets?

Also, are there any plugs on the engine that I should replace? The idea is to try to restore as much performance as possible without messing with the crank and rods.

 

Are you running under heavy boost? If not there is no reason to O-ring the heads/block (and this should be done by a machine shop anyway) The only V-8 ( N/A) that needs O-rings on the head gaskets are Fords, they only have 10 bolts per head, the SBC has 17, much more clamping force there.

 

o rings require copper gaskets. if you don't mind using the wrong tool for the job a drill would be great to do the port work with. there's no seals on the cam so pulling the cam to replace them is pointless. there should be 8 plugs you need to replace, 4 in each head at the end of the plug wires. you don't need to degree the cam, i doubt if you could or have the tools to do it with anyway. you have to match timing marks.

 

By "plugs", I think he may have meant freeze plugs and oil galley plugs.

 

yeah i wondered about that, but freeze plugs and oil plugs aren't usually part of a PM process.

 

What head gasket would you guys recommend? I can't go spend a bundle on a SCE, but I should be able to shell up $30. I saw a set of copper head gaskets in the 'new products' section of a recent summit catalog that were like $20. Ever hear of Flatout gaskets?

What seals, bearings, and gaskets can I replace without having to pull the egine, besides the the top-end? I just want to do what I can to restore some performance.

Also, since I only want to get one porting bit, which is the most versatile?

I didn't mean spark plugs. The guy I bought the car off of jury-rigged a lot of stuff, so I don't hold too much faith in his rebuild skills, plus 4 years of 'shop work' before I started doing the work on my own. I guess I'll just check the condition of everything, and replace what is necessary.

 

no bearings you can replace, the gaskets and seals you find as you go. i'd run a regular old coated fel pro head gasket. you don't need copper. as for a carbide bit i'd buy a 1/2 single cut cylinder with radius end.

 

Got a simpler description of what it looks like?

Also, when cleaning up the heads, how much should I take off the combustion chamber? I'm not planning on replacing the valves, so should I be carefull not to do much work around the shrouds?

Also, is this tool what I need to get the springs off to remove the valves?

 

The 305 heads are making a lot of compression, so should I go with a beefy gasket, or just a stock fel-pro?