Progress Thread Diagnosis front end clunk (and more)

I’m not removing any material from the head whatsoever. As long as the port on the head is smaller than the port on the header I’m good. On the intake, as long as the port on the intake is smaller than the port on the head, I’m good. These new heads will out flow and out perform my GT40 irons, hands down, as is. I’m not touching them

I’m replacing my water pump in this project as well. I did not have any oil leaks from the timing cover or pan gasket prior to beginning this project. No coolant leaks from the timing cover gasket either. A few thousand miles ago i actuall had this engine out and rebuilt it so the current timing cover gasket is not the original, its a recent replacement. I’ve got the one piece Felpro oil pan gasket and its not leaking a single drop so I really don’t want to disturb it.

So, how many of you have replaced the water pump and not done the timing cover cover gasket and not had problems with a leaking timing cover gasket? Given my particular circumstances described above, do you think its a reasonable decision to not mess with the timing cover and oil pan gaskets during this water pump swap?

Thanks for your input.

Nicholase, I got the Tuff Stuff water pump. It has rounded Allen head bolts for the backing plate. They look just about as low profile as the stock ones. Should be good there but I’ll pay attention nonetheless. Thanks.

I think I need longer header bolts due to the thicker Remflex gaskets. The threads only show about 1/4” when the bolt hole in the head is at least 3/4” deep. What do you think? 1/4” longer will do?

I’d like to get reliable locking type header bolts. Any recommendations on which ones to get?

These are the shorty type headers I have of unknown brand but they’ve been good to me.

Thanks, John

Yeah these header bolts are 3/4”. I need the 1” ones.

I’ve got the heads torqued down and I sized up my pushrod and rocker assemblies. I’m going to need to find my pedestal shims which are somewhere here in the garage. On cyl #1 TDC, it took 1 1/4 turns from zero lash to cinch up the rocker bolt. That’s too much from what I remember. Should be more like 1/2 to 3/4 from zero lash. Am I right?