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My son's 1968 Chevy

While we had the tank out, I found out why the gauge doesn't work. the brass float seems to have split apart. I tested the sender and it works so there's that. also in doing a little research looking at the tank design and knowing the PO bought several parts from LMC I believe we have found the tank relocation kit that was installed.

it's the 21 gallon tank in this link.

and here is the install guide from another site.
 
Haven't updated anything since we haven't done anything more with his truck yet. hoping to hear some good news from the machine shop on Monday. at least maybe we can begin putting it back together next week.
 
Well some good news! got a phone call today from the machine shop telling me the head is ready for pickup. they had to replace 7 of the studs along with replacing guides and he said the valve seats were not of the hardened type made for unleaded fuel! so those got replaced too.

all in all it cost a grand total of $642.41 including new push rods and a gasket set. I asked about the head bolts if they are re-usable or TTY and he said they are all not TTY and can be re-used. he also mentioned to me to go 10ftlbs less on the torque for the front bolt at the thermostat housing because the block material is really thin and can crack the block. I will inspect that area before the install first.

plan is to take off work early on Friday and go pick it up. then pending weather, start getting ready to put his truck back together!
 
It was kinda interesting to me hearing about how much wear was on the guides and the seats since this engine only has just under 8k miles on it since when it was fully rebuilt by the same machine shop years ago. If course IDk what was done and not done at the PO's digression.
 
Yeah I figured it would be LOL, the PO did tell us that he installed the engine at the same time replacing the speedo which the odometer was at all zeros but he said that was many moons ago! he's a little older than I am and told us he has had this truck since he was 17 years old! must had been his first love before the misses came into the picture LOL
 
Well, I went to pickup the head and when I talked to the machinist, his office clerk was mistaken. the head wasn't ready yet. he said when he turned in the paperwork to the office, it was a list of repairs and all that was to be done and he mistook that for the job was complete. he said he would call me in the early part of next week, they should have it all finished up by then. I told him that was fine, don't rush it, I want it to be perfect!

I did however inquire about the 6.2 that I'm working on about what it would cost me to have it gone through, bored, and everything. he said it would be about $4k on the machine work with new pistons and all, and he knows a good local shop that would do the IP, but said I would be looking at about $7k give or take for it all to be ready to drop in and run including the IP redone.
 
A little late to the conversation, apologies.

Agree with Will, my vote is also to completely go through the engine. Cry once.

Did not know that the valve seats were individually replaceable. This might come in handy for a friend's old vehicle so that we can stop trying to find lead additives.



Thoughts:

If this truck is going to sit a fair amount of time, consider blending in some aviation fuel. Not for the higher octane or lead, but for the 2 year stability.

Given the mention of an EFI manufacturer who is now out of business and that the current unit is a little bit fussy, might consider swapping to a Sniper EFI by Holley. My mechanic raves about this unit.

And while on the EFI topic, here is a video which seems to do a reasonable job of describing why simply swapping to EFI is only part of the conversion:
 
That's very interesting. I hadn't thought about that. This engine being a straight 6 still has the intake and exhaust manifolds that bolt together and allows the lower parts to be heated by the exhaust. I do have a plate that would block off that as well as a set of tubular headers that would turn the pipes into a dual exhaust. those headers are not samiched to the intake and are separated and bolted up the the head individually. the TBI setup only runs a single O2 sensor and that is the reason I haven't tried to install them. I would have to build a pipe that would join the two into one pipe for the O2 sensor.

Once I get the head back and start reassembly, I may need to do this and install the headers.
 
Hey guys. I got the head back today. so the assembly process might be starting this weekend.

But I need some advice. one of the rocker studs that wasn't replaced (they only replaced 7 studs that were bad) has some buggered threads at the end. I talked to the machinist about it and he assured me the stud will be fine and the lock nut will lock and do what it's supposed to do. The nut will thread far enough down and lock.

the thing is I am being chicken about it and am afraid of the nut loosening causing me to have to go back and re tighten. I checked it myself and the nut does thread onto the stud just fine, I also took one of the old rocker nuts and ran a 3/8-24 tap through it to cut out the locking part out and tested it, it threaded all the way down the stud perfectly fine without a hitch.

what I am wondering is will these style aftermarket rocker nuts with the Allen screw locks be a better securement and not tear up more threads.

when I pulled the rockers off during the tear-town, several of the studs got mangled at the ends by the crimped style lock nuts. as did this one. This is also why I am looking at aftermarket locking nuts. most of the ones I am looking at show to work with aluminum rockers, but the ARP one show to work with both stamped steel and aluminum rockers. they look the same other than the 12 point hex where the others have a normal 6 point hex.

Here is a pic of the stud in question. in the second pic I have threaded the new lock nuts that they gave me on the stud by hand and that is as far as it will thread on before the pinch in the nut contacts the stud and I would need a wrench to go any further.

IMG_1435.jpgIMG_1434.jpg
 
Here is one set of ARP rocker nuts that I am looking at with a photo that shows how they work with stamped steel rockers.

1777593755869.png
1777593774463.png
 
I found another set that shows to work on stamped steel rockers. also shows a couple of comments about crimped type nuts tearing up threads where these helped.

my question is mainly with the starting section of threads already buggered up taking a chance of the crimp lock nut trying to back off once installed. will these type nuts prevent backing off and be worth the effort not only for the one stud in question, but also save on the other studs if it ever had to be pulled back off for whatever reason.

They are not listed for my son's specific engine, but they are the same thread and are the shortest nuts I can find like this at 1 inch tall. I searched for low profile ones hoping I don't run into valve cover clearance issues. I need to measure the cover and head for that to confirm.


1777598420595.png
 
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