Saculia

iTrader: (1)

Dear third gen engine gurus,

I am a newbie at reassembling a chevy small block and what makes things more interesting, is the fact that I am using a thin head gasket, .015" steel shim from SCE on my 305 LB9.
As I read through my GM manual, there is a call for coating steel shim head gaskets. What coating should I apply to this gasket prior to assembly? Is the a coat from a spray can of outozone copper head gasket sufficient for this?
I have purchased new ARP head bolts for re-assembly. Do I need to coat all with thread sealer prior to installation, or is coating the bolts on the outside only sufficient?
What is a good way of cleaning the threads in the old bolt holes in the block?

Also, do any of you recommend special prep of the block deck surfaces, beside a thorough cleaning with brake cleaner? The cylinder heads going on top are brand new World Products castings that I had a machine shop assemble for me. The block is still in the car and the rest of the engine did not go to the machine shop. I am using the thinner head gaskets due to my engine having been rebuilt with cheap, rebuilder pistons that sit .045" in the hole. The engine deck surfaces were not decked and this rebuild was performed only 30000 miles ago, but 8 years have elapsed.
A valve spring on the exhaust side on cylinder number 6 broke, causing the tear down and cylinder head replacement. The machine shop that performed the rebuild did a very poor job of rebuilding the heads, thus the stock 081s were toast and would have cost more to fix than the World Products heads I am putting in.

Any suggestions, tips and tricks on re-assembly wold be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

NoEmissions84TA

iTrader: (1)

YES. The old-school way was aluminum (not silver) spray paint. Coat both sides.

Coat the threads of the bolts before installing. Torque in 3 steps - 25, 45, 65 ft/lbs in correct sequence.

A thread chaser would be best - otherwise use a 7/16-14 tap.

If the machine shop is not going to check the decks, then just clean them with scotch-brite and the brake cleaner.

fstarocka

I used copper spray few times on the shim gaskets, never an issue. dont over spray too much and let it pool up. Watch for other debris getting stuck on the copper spray - its quite sticky.. align the gasket first to make sure you have em on right. I would torque down at least one stage immediately so the spray doesnt dry up in high spots..

DEF clean the threads! The bolts by the exhaust manifolds have GM thread sealer - VERY tough stuff! I would do ALL the threads, you dont want an inaccurate bolt torque on steel shims.

When you have cleaned the heads/surfaces look over them VERY carefully, sometimes a tiny dent somewhere creates a little bulge - file/sand it flat.

Not sure if the block was cleaned - but Ive done a couple of these. I use a pipe brush from Home Dept (cut the grey handle off) in a drill to brush out the dry muck build up in the lifter bores (go slow if u switch to counter clockwise, the wire can untwist)..

These are just some things ive picked up along the way. .