I managed to spend about 4-5 hours on it the last two days. Tomorrow is mostly dedicated to this project. The driver side is on with ARP studs torqued to 65 ft/lbs. The valve train is back on amd adjusted. The header is back on. Rinse and repeat on the passenger side tomorrow. Then the marine intake finally goes back on. Fresh oil and filter, then a quick test fire before all the accessories go back on.
I also discovered at 1-1/2 turns preload the GM lifters still have enough travel that the rocker contacts the poly lock when the rocker arm is forced backwards to gauge the remaining travel. It will not contact when it is running because the rocker will not be pushed against its normal travel in a running engine but I wanted to make sure the lifter hydraulics had ample clearence to adjust for heat expansion. I am at about 0.100" preload on a lifter that has 0.220" total travel. LS7s preload to 0.130" from the factory. Factory GM spec say that lifter should have about 0.080" preload, yet they run them at 0.130" in the LS7. Richard Holdener gained 10-15 hp installing 0.100" longer pushrods in a test he made on pushrod length in a LS. Hopefully the added preload makes the cam act larger and trades off some dynamic compression for improved breathing. The previous fast bleed design lifters worked too well and I had 230 psi cranking compression. When I get it back together I will check the cranking compression before I fire it. Hopefully it drops to the 200-210 psi range. I also removed my 1.7/1.5 rocker combination and put my 1.6s on both intake and exhaust making this cam truly as Comp speced it for the old 350 it was ground for.
I also torqued the heads yesterday evening to 65 ft/lbs in 3 passes. I ran through the studs at 65 again this afternoon. I found it odd that none of the nuts moved at all, they were all at 65 ft/lbs, even the center stud that was the first one to hit 65 ft/lbs. These studs either must have some insane clamping force even at 65 ft/lbs or the pre flattened steel rings in the head gasket prevented the gasket from compressing further somehwere under 65 ft/lbs. I know these head gaskets will likely brinelle the heads but IMO that is not a problem since it will hold on to the steel rings keeping the head gaskets in place and sealed.
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