The small-block Chevy drills the head boltholes into the water jacket, so you will need to apply thread sealer to the bottom four to six threads of each head bolt to prevent seepage. Torque the head bolts in a circular pattern in three steps from 35 to 45 to 65 ft-lb. Make sure to use engine oil under all the bolt heads to ensure a decent clamp load.The small-block Chevy drills the head boltholes into the water jacket, so you will need to Long-Block Assembly The final assembly is the easiest part with heads, valvetrain, intake, distributor, and the rest of the accessories. Original equipment head bolts offer superior thread engagement over budget high-performance bolts because the cheap bolts use a looser thread that will pull threads out of the block. We also splurged a little with a new Summit intake. We applied the cam lube to the bottom of the new Lunati lifters and slid them in place with engine oil around the lifter body. We reused the old pushrods after a good cleaning, but a couple of rockers were worn, so we replaced them with some used pieces we had. GM Performance Parts offers a complete set of these rockers that are very affordable. The guides on the rocker tip position the rocker over the valve tip, eliminating the need for guideplates.We applied the cam lube to the bottom of the new Lunati lifters and slid them in place wit Once all the rockers are in place, the valves must be adjusted. The easiest technique is what we call the EO/IC or exhaust opening/intake closing method. Again the technique is listed in our How-To sidebar on CarCraft.com.Once all the rockers are in place, the valves must be adjusted. The easiest technique is w After gluing the intake gasket with good-quality sealer (don't use RTV on an intake gasket because gas will dissolve it), lay a bead of RTV on each end of the block to seal the ends. Use the RTV instead of the end gaskets because they can easily push out, causing a massive leak. We used Summit's inexpensive dual-plane intake that uses adapters for the more vertical four center boltholes.After gluing the intake gasket with good-quality sealer (don't use RTV on an intake gasket It's a good idea to pressure-lube the engine before installing the distributor. We made our own pressure lube tool by cutting off the top of an old distributor shaft and had a friend turn the shaft top down in his lathe to fit our drill motor. Use an oil pressure gauge and turn the crank slowly until you see oil filling all the rocker arms.It's a good idea to pressure-lube the engine before installing the distributor. We made ou To install the distributor, turn the engine until the No. 1 piston is at TDC on the compression stroke by putting your finger over the spark plug hole. When you feel cylinder pressure pushing on your finger, turn the engine clockwise until the timing mark lines up with 10 degrees before top dead center (BTDC).To install the distributor, turn the engine until the No. 1 piston is at TDC on the compre Drop in the distributor so the rotor points to the plug wire on the cap you want for No. 1. Generally, this is roughly where the rotor is pointing. However, you can place No. 1 anywhere as long as the firing order is maintained at 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2.Drop in the distributor so the rotor points to the plug wire on the cap you want for No. 1 We completed the engine with a water pump and a used HEI distributor with a set of Summit plug wires along with a budget 600-cfm Holley carburetor we already had from a previous project. Now we're ready to bolt it into that engine compartment and make some noise.We completed the engine with a water pump and a used HEI distributor with a set of Summit Cam Specs The camshaft we chose was the Lunati Bare Bones flat-tappet cam and lifter kit. Lunati offers two different cams in this budget series. We chose the smaller of the two cams since this is a daily driver-style engine. Both cam and lifter packages are priced the same at less than $100 from Summit. CAMSHAFT DURATION DURATION LIFT LOBE (ADV.) (0.050) (INCHES) SEPARATION Lunati 10000 LK, intake 270 204 0.420 112 Flat tappet, exhaust 280 214 0.443 Lunati 10001 LK, intake 280 214 0.443 112 Flat tappet, exhaust 290 224 0.465 « | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | » | View Full Article By Jeff Smith Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
