Anyone heard from Bill about engine issues?

Bill,

So what's happening down in LA, with the engine and head work being done? I know that no news is sometimes good news, but the suspense is getting to me.

Well, the plot thickens. Still dealing with the head. Had the shop test the valves springs and found them to be somewhat lacking in pressure, even when shimmed. So Uncle Ted is sending new spring sets down. Only problem is Ted's springs are really strong, so here I sit wondering if they will be too strong. He swears no. So here I go, with a new high-rise cam, new strong springs, new hardened tappets, and some new reservations. As is usual, the things will be in "soon". Thinking of checking out my bearings with some Plastigauge. Just not in the mood to get dirty right now. Had a Dr's appt. today and not feeling great. But am ok.

Will keep you posted.


Thinking of sending my dizzy to Jeff and have it recurved.

Hi everyone,
I'm new to these forums and plan to frequent them often. And since we are on the topic of heads and im in the middle of doing a rebuild on mine. I had one major or hopfully minor question. I ordered the new no lead valve guides from victoria british but when going to install them they didnt seem to fit. then looking back at the catalog i noticed that the stock steel ones are .002" smaller in the outter diameter. will I need to machine the head to have these fit. Or do i just need to have someone install them with a press?
please anyone who has done this swap befor let me know what you did?

Welcome to BCF,
You might find this interesting:
https://www.netbug.net/blogmichael/?p=384

I think you might want to have an experienced shop fit these guides. They will need to be reamed/honed to precise clearance after they are installed.

In an iron head, I would actually prefer iron guides with a bronze liner, such as "K Line".
D

Bill,

Have I followed this?
You had GP2, lifters, springs, and roller rockers from Richard.
And you will have cam, springs, and tappets from Ted and roller rockers from Richard.
What did you have for guides and seals?

Dave Russell said:

I think you might want to have an experienced shop fit these guides. They will need to be reamed/honed to precise clearance after they are installed.

Click to expand...

Right. An experienced LBC shop will both know how to press them in (they are deliberately oversize to ensure a snug fit in all heads, then crush a bit as they go in); and that the bronze guides must be reamed larger than cast iron guides, to account for the larger thermal coefficient of expansion of the bronze. Failing to ream them, or not knowing to use an oversize reamer, can lead to sticking valves.

BTW, the stock cast iron guides work fine with unleaded fuel. IMO The folks at VB have no idea what it is they sell; so taking their technical advice is risky at best. The valve/unleaded issue is between the valve head and the seat, not the guide.

Thanks for your help guys. I had to learn about VB the hard way. Thats why i came here to ask from real world experts. I was expecting the size difference to have something to do with the differnce in metal types, but knowing now that they need to be reamed after being pressed ill have to find a reputable shop here in vegas. I wonder if SOCAL speed can do an LBC head. lol

Hi Bill, don't fall into the Tinkerman trap of "over engineering" stuff. Do your due diligence and trust that those folks know what they are talking about.

Hope the Dr visit was routine stuff.

Tinkerman