Looking great!!! Can't wait to get my head back!!

 

This really is amazing work you have done man and I really mean it, you see a lot of people these days doing stuff the easy way such as not shaving the head and just putting on a new headgasket (trust me I watched my friend learn that the hard way he didn't think his head needed shaved when I told him it needed to be, so he just put on another gasket and it lasted three days lol in his 22re) so really great work man doing everything the correct way and getting things done and that engine looks beautiful...I can't wait to see it back in the truck.

 

Thanks all for the kudos. Sorry for the protracted absence. Went to the Ford Nationals in Carlisle, PA last weekend. The truck was up and running before that! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Next step was lash the valves and install the valve cover. I know the spec is to set the valve warm, and that's now on my punch list of things to finish up. But I wanted to at least have the valves somewhat close and uniform before trying to warm it up. Valve lash adjustment was pretty straightforward. Then button it up with the valve cover:

 

Next is install the exhaust manifold, a simple sounding operation that caused another week's delay in the reassembly. I cased the threads in the bolt holes on the head, and began carefully torquing down the exhaust manifold bolts to the requisite 33 ft-lbs. I should mention here that there had been several bolts missing. Working in stages up to the final torque number, three bolt holes proceeded to strip out before I reached 25 ft-lbs.







I could still see a visible gap between the manifold and the head at the rear of the engine. SO it was time for a trip back to Ed's Auto Machine in Naugatuck to see if he could machine the warpage out of the manifold. He did indeed, by taking over 0.060" off! Meanwhile, I had to find some Helicoils. M10 x 1.25 is not stocked locally (not that I could find anyway), so I ordered a kit from MSC Direct, and it arrived in two days. $130.00 well spent, as the Helicoils worked as described and were very easy to install.



Here's a few lousy shots of the repaired threads:





So three stripped holes drilled, tapped, and repaired, and studs procured to replace some of the bolts. Recommence installation of exhaust manifold. I got all eight fasteners torqued to 30 ft.-lbs, and proceeded to bring then to the final 33 when another bolt hole stripped. So off came all eight, and I Helicoiled stripped hole number four. Repeat process. Torque to 30 ft-lbs. Finish to 33... and ANOTHER hole strips. Commence swearing. Undo all eight AGAIN, Helicoil stripped hole NUMBER 5! Repeat. This time my perseverance paid off, and the exhaust manifold was finally in place.

 

last year of the 22re i beleive?? And black, my favorite color.NICE WORK SO FAR!