Complete Misfire on Three Cylinders

[Captain Obvious]

So no steps backwards today!!!

I made a plug for the other stripped out valve cover hole up by the thermostat housing. That one was a breeze compared to the other one for many reasons. Mainly because the original hole was in the right place, but just stripped out. That and the fact that my PO had not punctured into the water jacket there too. Anyway compared to the one at the rear, this one was way easy.

Red Threadlock on both the plug inserts and screwed them both tight. Here's the smaller, simple one by the thermostat housing:

Give the plugs 24 hours to cure and I'll cut them off and flatten the stubs.

Today I also took the valve seals off and started cleaning the chambers up. First wave done and no real surprises. Couple small gouges from the PO. Probably from slip-oops while cleaning the old head gasket off. Annoying, but I don't think they are going to cause problems.

So, couple steps forward, and no steps back! Much better than the past few days!!

Edited July 14, 2019 by Captain Obvious
speling

[Captain Obvious]

So here's a question for the collective... This is a pic of one of the plugs in the head from the casting process.

Looks like Teflon tape sealing the plug. Was this factory, or did my PO have these plugs out and use Teflon instead of thread lock? Here's what I got:

[Dave WM]

I think it was sealed with compound from the omega molecule.

[jonathanrussell]

All of the L series heads I have looked at have Teflon looking tape for these plugs. I am not sure though whether it is some sort of special tape that is resistant to oil or simply Teflon tape. I would like to know what others think or know abut this tape.

Edit:

Added photo of my E88 NOS head showing tape.

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by jonathanrussell

[Captain Obvious]

That's good enough for me. If you've seen tape like this on other heads, I'm going to assume it's factory and just let the plugs be as they are.

Thanks for the data point.

[240260280]

I saw this many times too.

[Captain Obvious]

Thanks again guys.

So here's that plug where my PO drilled through into the water jacket. Cut off and now flush:

I'll drill and tap for the valve cover bolt later. Now that I've got good metal to work with, that shouldn't be difficult.

[Zed Head]

You do know that you can daisy chain zip ties, right?

[Captain Obvious]

So here's another question... My PO used stainless studs for the exhaust instead of the original bolts, and some of them are crazy long.

And the positions of the long ones seem almost random. Here's a pic I took during the teardown. There's four super long studs... Three of them easy to see in the pic, and a fourth hidden under the thermostat housing:

Question is... Is there some logical reason for the length and the positioning? He clearly did it on purpose. Any ideas?

I haven't tried to take any of them out (yet). I'm kinda torn between leaving just sleeping dogs lie and poking them. Based on what I've found elsewhere, I'm a little worried that something might be stripped out of the head or (literally) holding on by a thread.

[Dave WM]

wow the hits keep on coming. if you decide to remove them and they resist go with heating them, bummer to break one. I Cant see it but is the 1st under the T stat housing still there, that one often breaks. Personally I would pop for some reg OE types if the threads are not buggered up. I also like the kind sold at the auto parts stores, they have a hex head that lets you tighten up with out double nutting or special tools.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Dave WM

[Zed Head]

5 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

Question is... Is there some logical reason for the length and the positioning? He clearly did it on purpose. Any ideas?

I'll bet he did it so that he could replace the intake/exhaust gasket without removing the exhaust manifold, or just to make it easier to install.  Or he got those from the hardware store and that's all they had, and he didn't have a hacksaw handy.

If you decide to replace them beware the odd nut sizes from some of the kits out there.  Some use a 12mm and some use a 13.

[Av8ferg]

I think I’d probably leave them alone. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Again function over form. If they bother you or you any reservations about the integrity the pull them but you could potentially set yourself back with some broken studs.


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