Nicks fast back conversion

Never use white grease to assemble a motor ,especially if it will set for any length of time ! Nicks heads were rebuilt about a year ago ,the shop used white grease and it hardened ,it leached into the valve seats and was a pain in the butt to clean out . The valves were stuck in the new bronze guides . A bit of cussing ,a bit of brushing and 2 cans of Chem tool and the finally cleaned out . Going to give the valves a light lap and reassemble .
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Got to the last head and last valve ,an exhaust valve , and the spring compressor slips off while clamped all the way down ! Yep ,that sucker shot off like one of those cartoon bullets Bing bang boom zing! A bit more cussing ,and 10 minutes later I actually find both the spring and cap ...little piece of ... sprayed them off with Chem tool and they are done! Maybe this weekend we will assemble the block!
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Driver side done ,just sprayed the primer ,I noticed a very small ding in the rocker and a small ding from the inside right in front of the quarter window ,in all I am very happy with the turn out so far.
The driver side I blocked yesterday so I shot some more primer on it ,the roof line blends into the quarter just beautifully.
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Another coat of primer ,it will set a few days then get a scuff and set a few days again ,then get a good block sanding . One more shot of primer and it will be ready to spray the under side and inside in Brown primer ,the under side will stay brown . Then it will come off the rotisserie and fit the rest of the panels one more time . Soon as I am happy the rest fits like I want it will get a final block sand and sprayed candy apple red and clear .
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I pulled the heads apart once more and did a gasket match port ,even just that, opened the ports almost 1/4 inch ! Took it deep into the runners and removed the thermotractor bump then flipped them and cleaned up the bowl then put them back together ,just this bit of work was almost half a day . It should be ready to assemble ...soon as I get some more free time.
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what type of bit and tool were you using?
I/we have a small stack of original 289 heads with different date codes that we will be accessing this winter. They have been in dry storage for ~40 years.
Most are non-thermactor. At some point, I'll make a thread with dates for people looking for a specific original head casting. Some were pulled off of
small blocks before unleaded fuel came out.
Keep up the good work !
 
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