Well the rebuild has 225 miles on it now and I noticed a small leak at the head gasket on the 1-4 bank at the back near the oil sender. Since the cleveland does not pass coolant throught the manifold I feared the worse, the head gasket. The coolant would show up after a hard workout for a bit. There is no smoke at all and runs perfectly. To make sure of the location I placed a small piece of white paper towel at the mating surface between the head and block as held it in place with duct tape. Went out for a "fun" ride and took off the tape and the towel was indeed wet with coolant. I then took off the rockers and retorque the head. I know that I had torqued them to 110lbs (recomended by Edlebrock when using 1/2" bolts) but when retorqueing them I was able to turn them a bit over a 1/4 turn to achieve the 110lbs. My question is regarding the rocker adjustment. Since the engine has been run do the lifters (I have roller hydraulic) still have oil under pressure in them? Do I just adjust them like I did when they were dry? On a side note. When I told the machine shop that I had Edlebrock aluminum heads they told me of a guy that had rebuilt his engine for a boat and use Edlebrock heads and on his first run blew a head gasket. They suggested that I get them checked for straightness. I brought them in and they checked them, but only between the cylinders not at the ends where the water passage is. I hope that the retouque will solve the problem, this engine runs too good to have a stinkin problem like this. I can post pictures when I get home.

Thanks

Sorry I misspelled Edelbrock, I'm not too happy right now...

Aluminum heads on an iron block are always a risk. You must make sure that you use the Felpro "blue" teflon coated head gaskets.

These are especially made for this application. They in fact float between the head and the block since the aluminum and iron expand at different rates, the head gasket cannot be "glued" to either.

The torque of the bolts is critical to this since only a prescribed amount of torque will work. It is in fact possible to put too much torque to the head bolts and thus prevent the head gasket to float properly. This in essence makes the head gasket "wrinkle" in order to move and creates in most cases a dribble of coolant leak. Sound familiar?

Also, I have found that when you make this swap to aluminum heads that it is important to install new head bolts, and torque them in three stages, in the pattern prescribed in the shop manual. DON'T OVER TORQUE THEM.

Until gaskets like the Felpro came along it was next to impossible to keep these combinations from leaking.

I'm running the Edelbrock heads. I used these on with the Edelbrocks and another motor with iron heads and have had absolutely no problems:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-351C-351M-400-045-R...6QQitemZ190242495382

I used the Felpro, new ARP bolts and torqued in three passes in the Edelbrock pattern. They might be over torqued as you said Doug causing the "dribble". Dennis did you use Felpro gaskets? How did you torque the bolts and to what torque? How about the rocker adjustment?

Thanks for the input guys ...

74 LOOKER,
PanteraDoug is right but, if you retorqued & got a 1/4 turn on your 1/2" bolts you pulled down the head another .019" minus stretch of the bolt.This is obtained by knowing your head bolts are 1/2" x 13 threads, you take the 13 threads and divide into 1 and get .076" a turn, then because you only got a 1/4 turn you divide .076"/4 and you get .019" So this is not so bad. look at some info on the total float of a Hydralic lifter, I believe total float in a lifter is approx .125". The preload is set at about 1/2 or around .060".
I think your OK were this stands.
By the way I work/machine aluminum, compared to iron it's like spagetti,not that rigid, look at an air plane wing flex.

What about the leak, did it stop? If not short of a head removal there are some wonderful sealants I have used that may work, I have used them on my Imports, Iron to aluminum heads and ran 100,000 mi more on the engine's. Just a thought. Anyway's good luck.

Mark

http://www.cranecams.com/?show=hydraulicLifters

Nice tip Dennis. I have to try a set.

Mark,

I had to work today and could not put the rocker arms on yet. I'm not looking lforward to removing the bulkhead again to crank the engine by hand, to adj the valves. Based on your math I think that I should be ok. I was also thinking of a sealant to avoid head removal. I was thinking that I should take the original heads down for a rebuild just in case. If I did take off the Edelbrock heads would I just replace the gasket or get them checked for straightnes and a possible milling? Wow that may decrease the chamber from 60cc to ??, Now I have an octane problem.

Checking for straight is very easy.
First you need something straight, a precision/ground scale or ruler, a machine table that has been machined etc. If you have a straight edge you stand it on edge and with a flash light behind see if any of the light is visable on the edge. Move it around and check all area's, no light your flat, if your on a machined surface you can feeler guage around the edges and finally if the machined surface is large enough you can use an indicator to run up and down the head on the sealing surface and do a parallel check.
If you machine you will probably want to match the heads, you'll also find when you cc your heads there are some varience in the chambers.


Mark

Because everyone is taking a shot in the dark here the safest bet would to take the leaky head off, check it for straitness and PRESSURE TEST IT.

These days every head may not be pressure tested for porosity, Edelbrock included, forget about x-raying them for cracks from stress risers.

It would be unusual but it is not impossible that it is cracked or porous. When you have excluded all the obvious, what ever remains, no matter how seemingly unimportant, must in fact be the answer. (Thank you Sherlock)

I don't know which sealant is being referred to here but I believe what the sealant is doing is plugging the hole with fine particles, much like platelets do in the blood to stop bleeding.

Personally I don't like them or the posiblaty that they are going to lodge (like a blood clot) in something like the radiator core and cause it to loose efficiency. Especially in a car like a Pantera which has a marginally adequate system to say the least. But that's just me.

Pull off the head. I installed a removable panel on my bulkhead. Seems I was in your spot one to many times before?