I owe you a Labatt, Blue. 

 

I see what you did there. 

I see what you did there. 

Was it that Obvious, Captain? 

Haha! It was for me! We can sure keep each other entertained!

 

Worst part about it though is that Labatt's keeps all the better stuff for themselves up north. We get the Americanized versions.

GOTMEGOTMEGOTME, good one

Here's my ceramic header as delivered to my front porch a few weeks ago.  Luckily there wasn't a scratch on it.  MSA packed it into that box knowing it wasn't big enough.

 

 

 

Does it actually come from MSA, in California, or somewhere else?  Return address?   I wonder if MSA doesn't contract this out and maybe they don't know what's happening.  You should send that picture to them so they know.  Doesn't seem like their style.  Looks like crap.

MSA is really hit or miss these days.

Does it actually come from MSA, in California, or somewhere else?  Return address?   I wonder if MSA doesn't contract this out and maybe they don't know what's happening.  You should send that picture to them so they know.  Doesn't seem like their style.  Looks like crap.

Yes it came from CA.  That's box 1 of 2, the other was the 2.5" exhaust.  It's nice and clean and looks to be the same size box as they crammed the header into.  This exact same thing happened a few years ago, called then e-mailed pictures.  They sent a replacement header with a Fedex pick-up form for the damaged one. 

Good news!  I carried the 2 expansion plugs for the ends of the block to the machinist today.  He said I could get the block tomorrow with a set of chrome moly rings he ordered from Hastings, they're supposed to come in today.  He was honing it when I was there then he'll vat it this afternoon, it'll be ready in the morning.  YAAAY!

I'll paint it this weekend and get the internals put back in.  I've decided to use the original E88 for now, he's not started on my E31 yet.  I asked about something Madkaw said in another thread about the valves not sealing against the valve seats.  He said he puts the valve seats in and then does a 3 way cut on them to match the valves, no worries on that.  Then I asked about the .190 lash pads, would I need to source smaller sizes for him.  I never thought of this but he says the cam kits come with the tallest pad needed and he has to mill the others down to size. 

240s are tougher to rebuild the right way.  This block has 43 years of crud behind the expansion plugs between 6 & 5 and 5 & 4 on the right side.  I assume from tilting back and to the right all these years.  I'll spend a day poking it loose and wire wheeling the block, maybe I'll shoot 1 coat of paint on tonight.  This is going to take some time which I have plenty of.  And to think I was originally planning to drive it to Memphus. 

 

You can't even see the stuff at #6, it's full all the way across.  Here's the next one.

 

Here's the front of the block.

 

Here's the hone job, it looks good to me.

somewhere on here i have some pics in a thread showing the poop that came oozing out of my block when i pulled the freeze plugs... nasty. i used a pressure washer and pointed the nozzle down all the water galleries from the top (head off) and then into the frost plug openings and it took almost an hour of constant back-and-forth to blow it all out till the water ran clear. PO ran straight water, so no anti-corrosives to keep things from rusting + i'm guessing some stop-leak got in there at some point as well.

 

i used por15 engine enamel and was very pleased with the results. you brush it on and it self-levels to a nice smooth finish - much easier than spraying and you can really work it into all the nooks & crannies and no shadowing as with spray. it put on 3 coats (one can was way more than enough) and it's a really nice thick, durable finish that they say is chemical & heat resistant. pretty decent range of colors too (though not the "perfect" nissan blue).

I got to thinking about some left over muratic acid I had from the gas tank. Worked really good but I'm scared of that stuff so I went slow with a toothbrush dipped in acid. Wire wheeling is almost done, compressor was hot. I'm cooling down too with some cold beverages now. I'm gonna prime and topcoat with duplicolor engine paint. I'm thinking one good coat then assemble the bottom. Spray it again, put the brass plugs in and move on.