1991 RCLB Driver

[Dylan1991_1500]

So I have one of the heads sitting in the hot tank here at work. Soaking a valve cover with it and so far the results are impressive, the valve cover cleaned up nicely and it is showing some Chevy orange under all that grime. Grime might be nasty stuff but it can be a good preservative.

 

[Dylan1991_1500]

And now all the paint is gone off the valve cover. Whoops! I was going to repaint anyway.

 

[Dylan1991_1500]

I might just leave the heads looking like poo, would be funny and only those smart enough to notice the non-center bolt valve covers would suspect anything has been done.

 

[Dylan1991_1500]

Head #2 is in the trunk of the car waiting to go to work with me to spend some time in the hot tank tonight.

 

[Justin S]

I'd like to spend some time with you in the hot tank tonight too.. I mean wait, what?

 

[Dylan1991_1500]

Yikes! You been hitting the bath salts again?

 

[drewcrew]

Not that this means anything but I have a date matching upper end swap. The heads are coded G 8 0 and G 1 0. I bought the intake manifold along with the heads. It's casting number is 3965577 and date coded G 4 0. As I said, it doesn't mean much dollar-wise, it's just cool to know.

In other news my heater core hose restrictor valve came in from Amazon yesterday. Nothing fancy, just a 5/8" tube that has a 1/4" restriction in the middle of it. This is to avoid blowing up the heater core since I am doing away with the OEM hose assembly which is restricted internally at the manifold.

I am going to tank one of the heads at work tonight and do the other one tomorrow. Get some of that 47 year old grime off of them.

That's all I got today.

Picture of the restrictor valve.

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Pic of the manifold w/ Q-jet carb (which I probably will not be using).

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I replaced the GM fitting off mine too but I didn't know it has a restrictor in it. So without the restrictor it can damage the heater core ?

 

[Dylan1991_1500]

Yep, too much flow. But I may be mistaken, the restrictor might be part of the intake manifold gasket. If you look at one for a TBI motor you will see the rear ports blocked off except for a small pin hole. That's the restrictor. Older SBC cars like the Vette use the piece I bought from Amazon. Removing the restrictor from the intake manifold gasket allows more coolant flow through the radiator but runs the risk of blowing the heater core. This is second hand info I have seen on a few different sites but they all seem to agree....rare on Chevy sites actually.

 

[Dylan1991_1500]

Tanked head# 2 for four hours last night. It got rid of the grime but I am not impressed with how much work these heads are going to need just to get little in return. I would be better off getting aluminum heads for how much these iron heads could cost me to rebuild. I have listed them on CL. I don't have any issues putting my labor into them but I will not be dropping machine shop coin into them.

Instead I ordered a new intake manifold gasket set for the new TBI manifold with rebuilt TB, going to go with that setup for now until I find the sweetest of deals on heads...I may be waiting a while though. But at least the truck will be driveable while I wait.

 

[Dylan1991_1500]

Fel-pro intake gasket set arrived. Painted the new TBI manifold flat black. I almost have everything I need to do this swap while i am on vacation in 2 weeks.