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Here is what I have/ordered so far to rebuild the top end of my motor.
-04 Grand Prix L26 Heads with 11k miles on it
-Used head gaskets
-Copper spray for the head gaskets
-Intake Gaskets
-exhaust mani gaskets
-New injector O-rings
-Throttle body gasket
-dremel bits to do a little port/polish work on the heads and intake
Now Playing: \'99 Pewter Firebird, stock, bone stock, and nothing but stock, so help me God!<br />Comming attractions: K&N Filter, Lid Mod, Intake Bellows Smooth Pipe Mod.<br />I dream about: Forced Induction (TC or SC) or NOX (or both!)
Consumables:
New Head Bolts (because they are yield torque)
Antifreeze (unless you re-use the old)
oil and filter (I always change the oil & filter after doing major surgery like that)
Red RTV (but not for head gaskets!)
Assembly grease (lubricate head bolt threads, pushrod and rocker arm assembly, etc. ..)
Hopefully you will not have problems with the exhaust manifold bolts or the exhaust collector bolts. If they break you'll need to drill and extract and replace with new.
Now Playing: \'99 Pewter Firebird, stock, bone stock, and nothing but stock, so help me God!<br />Comming attractions: K&N Filter, Lid Mod, Intake Bellows Smooth Pipe Mod.<br />I dream about: Forced Induction (TC or SC) or NOX (or both!)
Consumables:
New Head Bolts (because they are yield torque)
Antifreeze (unless you re-use the old)
oil and filter (I always change the oil & filter after doing major surgery like that)
Red RTV (but not for head gaskets!)
Assembly grease (lubricate head bolt threads, pushrod and rocker arm assembly, etc. ..)
Hopefully you will not have problems with the exhaust manifold bolts or the exhaust collector bolts. If they break you'll need to drill and extract and replace with new.
Ohh yeah.. good one.
I'm adding those to the list of stuff to get.
Whats the red RTV for? valve cover?
Some of the MLS head gaskets in GOOD condition are technically reusable. You may want to check which thickness they are as well as that will affect compression.
I've always used the Red RTV in the corners where the heads, block and lower intake come together and the lower intake gasket sometimes doesn't seal completely. Just put a little dab there to help the gasket seal.
I've always done this to my motors in the past (when I had the intake and valve pans removed), but they were not 3.8s or 3800s. Maybe not required, but always good to have on hand.
Now Playing: \'99 Pewter Firebird, stock, bone stock, and nothing but stock, so help me God!<br />Comming attractions: K&N Filter, Lid Mod, Intake Bellows Smooth Pipe Mod.<br />I dream about: Forced Induction (TC or SC) or NOX (or both!)
Did I say "valve pans"??? What the heck is that! Man sometimes....
I meant to say valley pan! (the area of the block between the heads and below the intake)
Now Playing: \'99 Pewter Firebird, stock, bone stock, and nothing but stock, so help me God!<br />Comming attractions: K&N Filter, Lid Mod, Intake Bellows Smooth Pipe Mod.<br />I dream about: Forced Induction (TC or SC) or NOX (or both!)
On some engines like my 72' Pontiac 400 that valley isn't covered by just a one piece intake manifold, but has a pan that is bolted down first then the factory hi-rise style manifold is put on. That why I said valley pan, it's the old school in me.
Man, that 400 is one great engine, reverse flow cooling and hi-rise style intake long before any other corporate engine.
Ya gotta love those Pontiacs!
Now Playing: \'99 Pewter Firebird, stock, bone stock, and nothing but stock, so help me God!<br />Comming attractions: K&N Filter, Lid Mod, Intake Bellows Smooth Pipe Mod.<br />I dream about: Forced Induction (TC or SC) or NOX (or both!)
Reverse flow cooling: The coolant flows from the radiator into the water pump then into the heads, then down the cylinders. This way the heads get the coldest coolant first (as this is where most of the heat is). The more heat that you can take away from the combustion area, less detonation you will have and higher pressures and more power can be had.
Remember that this was designed in the 50's, and it took chevy until the 90's to put this in the redesigned small block.
The intake on this engine sits above, seperated from the the engine lifter valley and is not heated by the engine. Because of this the intake air charge is kept cool and more dense resulting in less detonation and more power.
A true hi-rise manifold has long intake runners that keep the airflow straight and smooth (no turbulence). Also creates a ram effect in the cylinder when the piston hits botton dead center. There is more enertia in the moving air (in comparison to a normal manifold) and that air will keep cramming in there even though the piston is no longer moving down trying to draw in the air. Because the intake runners are long, the manifold is higher than a normal manifold, thus Hi-Rise is what they call em.
Now Playing: \'99 Pewter Firebird, stock, bone stock, and nothing but stock, so help me God!<br />Comming attractions: K&N Filter, Lid Mod, Intake Bellows Smooth Pipe Mod.<br />I dream about: Forced Induction (TC or SC) or NOX (or both!)
That's a good question. I'm not sure of the coolant flow in our engine at the moment. But I think it already is reverse cooling. I think that was one of the changes when they evolved it to series II. The original 3.8 buick V6 was based on the Buick 260 CI all aluminum V8 designed and built in the 60s. Just like the 90 degree 4.3 V6 which came from the small block chevy, they pulled 2 inner cylinder out of it and the 3.8 was born.
The little buick V8 was eventually licenced for manufacture to Rover, UK. They only quit making them 6 or 7 years ago. The engineering that GM did in the 50's and 60's was pretty awsome!
Now Playing: \'99 Pewter Firebird, stock, bone stock, and nothing but stock, so help me God!<br />Comming attractions: K&N Filter, Lid Mod, Intake Bellows Smooth Pipe Mod.<br />I dream about: Forced Induction (TC or SC) or NOX (or both!)
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