I have the stock 882 heads with an rv cam sbc. the head on the passenger side is failing and soaking plugs in oil and producing a nice blue fog from the exhaust. I bought a set of clean 882 heads that had minor work done to them. I need to swap the old with the newer. I'm confident on the tear down, marking distributor before pulling, draining coolant, pulling intake off, loosen rockers and remove pushrods then removing heads. the biggest question I have on assembly is valve adjustment and distributor install. if I install heads, intake and distributor how easy is it for valve adjustment? I had a guy tell me it was easier to adjust without intake installed. this would mean that timing would be off once valves were adjusted and I would need to find TDC and re-time. looking for opinions and suggestions.
I have always adjusted the valves using the exhaust opens-intake closes method. Looking at 1 cylinder at a time. Turn the engine till the exhaust begins to open, now you adjust the intake valve. Turn the nut till there is no lash and crank it down 1 full turn more. Kepp the turning the engine a little more. You'll see the exhaust close and the intake begin to open. Turn it further so that the intake is now closing. Just as it closes you stop and adjust your exhaust valve now. This way you could still use your markings to drop the distributer back in. Cesar
does it matter which cyl. you start at with that method or if engine is on compression stroke or not? When you say no lash, you mean no up/down play in pushrod- correct?
When I build an engine, I usually set the valves by starting on TDC/No. 1 cylinder. I adjust the valves, turn the engine a 1/4 turn and set the valves on the next cylinder in the firing order (No. 8). Nuther 1/4 turn and then No. 4. You get the idea. When you get to No. 6 you can double check TDC to make sure you're still on the money. After No. 2, 1/4 turn more, you're on TDC again and ready to stab the distributor. I usually have a primer stuck in the oil pump and give it a shot between every adjustment. You should be able to do the same thing. You might check out post 27 here. It's a 409, but same procedure as any other Chevy. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=215715 Just out of curiosity, why do you think it's the heads and not the rings? Larry T
I rebuilt the bottom end, has brand new rings. The top end looked decent and money just didn't allow me to get all of that done. After the bottom end work was done the engine funds were drained. Thank you for your suggestions on adjustment
Not unusual to rebuild the bottom end and have the extra pressure reveal weak spot in the top end. Or vice versa.
Yep, biggest problem shows up first, fix that and then the next becomes visible. You heard its easier without the intake because you can see what's happening at the can lobes. You don't need to see that only understand what's happening. You won't have to retime anyore than anyone else. You'll be a pro at turning that engine over by the time your ready to start it back up.
The EOIC method works real well see here http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0303_setting_valves_info/index.html with the manifold off you can see when the pushrod seats in the valve and when the plunger in the valve starts to move, but they key is the up down movement, some people try to stop the pushrod from spinning and that results in too tight valve. You can do it with the manifold off or on. To re set the iginition timing, turn the crank til TDC and watching the number 1 valves will tell you when it is on the compression stroke. check you mark on the timing pointer and install the dizzy http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/howto/45673/index.html read on down about the dizzy being out of the car..good luck
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