1985 Ford F-150 said:

You dont have as bad of rust issues though.

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Very true...and when I first threw the engine in there...they didn't look too terribly bad, just not as clean and purdy as I'm used to.

SuperCab said:

I know on the 390 the bolt holes are exposed at the back causing terrible rust issues...

One of the few things Chebbrolet did better. blind exhaust manifold bolts. no rusty...

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You hush your mouth.

I was plenty thankful the previous guy put anti-sieze on the header bolts of my truck...I couldn't believe how easily they were removed...I was expecting a huge hassle!

Ben, I seem to remember a discrepancy in torque values between the Ford service manual and a **ilton manual that I purchased. Also was a discrepancy in the tightening sequence.

Thanks for the info Doug.


Another question...

Anyone have any tips or tricks for porting the heads? I figure I'll have them off, why not spice things up a bit. And this can be done with a Dremel and a stone right?

A die grinder would better, you will be there along time with a dremel....

Truckin4life said:

A die grinder would better, you will be there along time with a dremel....

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Ok...but the short of it is line up the gaskets to the head, mark obstructive material and then remove said material?

That's port matching....
Supposed to do the same to the intake for proper gains....

Porting would require removing material from the inside.
All said and done, i think Karl had like 40hr's into his heads.

Port matching is one thing....and yes, pretty much what you said....just gotta be careful about getting too close to water jackets. Polishing the runners would be a waste of time due to the kind of engine you have....if you are constantly running 6krpm plus....sure...also, having the intake runners too smooth can lead to atomization problems....then there is the combustion chambers...modifying those can cause all kinds of issues with flame fronts etc.

So are you guys saying yay or nay on the port matching (didn't I say porting the heads? Is there a difference in porting and port matching)? Don, are you saying it'll take 40 hours to port match? The tv shows do it in a half hour. And is there anything else a shade tree mechanic can do to improve anything while the heads are off?

UTfball68 said:

So are you guys saying yay or nay on the port matching (didn't I say porting the heads? Is there a difference in porting and port matching)? Don, are you saying it'll take 40 hours to port match? The tv shows do it in a half hour. And is there anything else a shade tree mechanic can do to improve anything while the heads are off?

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Unless you are fully familiar with where the water jackets are, I'd be careful.
Port matching by blending the runners is one thing, porting..like all the way to the valve is another....done with a head flow machine and experience...you can cause yourself all kinds of grief by just going in there and starting to grind....on a stockish engine, I'm not sure the work involved will be worth the reward...just my 2 cents Ben.

Yeah...that's it, I was just going to blend. Anyone else think it would be a waste of time?

UTfball68 said:

Yeah...that's it, I was just going to blend. Anyone else think it would be a waste of time?

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Hey...if you have the time, it won't hurt!...my point was more that if it took you 20+ hours...you might expect a huge difference...and that really won't be the case...I was just being frank...or some other guy....hehehe

IMO, use an eye bolt or something and a cherry picker to set those heads back into place. They are heavy as all get out while having to lean over the fender to reach the engine.