Cylinder Head Installation

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bofish52
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Cylinder Head Installation

Post by bofish52 »

Getting ready to put head on and have a 99 block with a 95 head. Block has alignment pins but the head has no holes for these they have been eliminated when casting jacket was enlarged. Head seems to align pretty tight with bolts but thought I had read some where about centering washers. Have none from tear down and could not find any in parts manual on internet. Other thing to throw out is I set head head on and checked valve clearance and have .480 from piston dish and .365 from upper part of piston. This was checked with no gasket and pushrods .025 to long. Any thoughts appreciated.
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Re: Cylinder Head Installation

Post by 5-90 »

The alignment pins aren't strictly necessary, and you only really need "alignment washers" when you're using a head designed for larger screws with smaller head screws (this was common on AMC V8s, where heads designed for 1/2" screws would be used on blocks that took 7/16" screws.) If you want to make sure nothing moves about on you while you're setting it down, you can make temporary alignment pins - get some 1/2"-13UNC threaded rod, cut some sections about 4" long, and slot one end. Install with the slotted end up, set the gasket down, and lower the head onto them. Install at least two screws to contact, use a flat screwdriver to unscrew the alignment pins, and use a magnet-on-a-stick to remove them. Problem solved.

For the valve-to-head clearance, you'll be fine. Yes, there is some elasticity in the connecting rod, gudgeon pin, piston, valves, &c. However, the typical 242ci head gasket runs somewhere around .050" compressed, and there's not that much elasticity in the parts. You'll be just ducky (did you use the "clay method" to get an actual measurement, or is this a SWAG with a maths background? Just wondering...)
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