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Aluminum L98 heads and drilling depth allowance

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Old Jan 16, 2019 | 09:55 PM
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Aluminum L98 heads and drilling depth allowance



Howdy..

As some of you may already know, the L98 in my 89 T/A was showing symptoms of a cracked block so on my quest to find a solid replacement I came across a 1991 Corvette that was wrecked with 19,000 original miles. I’m getting close to being able to bolt my T/A accessory drive on however the taps on the head are in different locations from the cast iron head and what I’d like to know is if anyone here has drilled and tapped the aluminum head before and what was the “comfortable” depth of drilling? I’d like to guess 3/8”-1/2” but don’t want to drill into a water passage.
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Old Jan 16, 2019 | 11:06 PM
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Re: Aluminum L98 heads and drilling depth allowance

The hole where the a/c bracket stud is fairly thick . To drill the hole mount the bracket and use the hole as a guide. As for the depth use tape on your drill bit. Make it the same depth as the other holes.
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Old Jan 17, 2019 | 06:19 AM
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Car: 1989-92 FORMULA350 305 92 Hawkclone
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Re: Aluminum L98 heads and drilling depth allowance

The 128 heads I have drilled before didn't have a boss for the Fcar bracket. (Have to use sealant on the stud there) ZZ4 heads did, I've also done some 113 (almost the same as ZZ4s) but I can't remember if it had the extra material for the boss.
I can tell you that you can see the extra boss through in the coolant port. If you have the deep boss, bolt on your pass accessory bracket, use a bigger drill bit that just fits in the bracket to locate the center and then give the cyl head a shallow centering mark. Remove bracket, stick correct (for tap) size drill bit in another accessory hole that's close, use tape on bit for the depth, drill and then tap it. Also use a bottom tap to make the threads clean all the way to the bottom.
Takes maybe 10 mins

Last edited by TTOP350; Jan 17, 2019 at 06:35 AM.
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Old Jan 17, 2019 | 06:29 AM
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Car: 1989-92 FORMULA350 305 92 Hawkclone
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Axle/Gears: 3.70 9"ford alum chunk,dana44,9bolt
Re: Aluminum L98 heads and drilling depth allowance


Drilled ZZ4 on left engine, non drilled 128 on right but you can see circle where the bracket hits it.
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Old Jan 17, 2019 | 08:08 AM
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Re: Aluminum L98 heads and drilling depth allowance

I drilled 1/2" deep 3/8" -16 bottoming tap and had worked good for 2 years did not break into the water jacket.
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Old Jan 17, 2019 | 10:56 AM
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Re: Aluminum L98 heads and drilling depth allowance

FWIW - I drilled my LB9 head for the serpentine brackets and (as expected) hit the water passage. You just use some thread sealer on it. Just like a head bolt. It's not an issue really. Honestly everything I've read indicates it's expected that the accessory bracket holes may hit water jackets in that location.

GD
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