Local shop prices

[Ghoste]

   It's just a process that has become very misunderstood over time, especially since the end of the golden age of musclecars.  

[Purple440]

I had no idea it was that extensive, obviously.  You guys really opened my eyes on this.

There was some balancing done...saw the weights myself.  And my builder told me the deck was shaved to be even so the heads seat evenly.  The engine wasn't assembled at a professional shop, but rather in my builders garage with my dad and myself.  He sent the block and heads to his trusted machinists for the work.

So Cooter, based on me wanting help getting new heads on and calculating my actual compression ratio by measuring the piston to deck, and a given head gasket thickness, what do you think should be a fair rate?  Or should I try this myself?  I don't have a tool to test piston to deck.

Thanks,
- Doug

[Cooter]

I had no idea it was that extensive, obviously.  You guys really opened my eyes on this.

There was some balancing done...saw the weights myself.  And my builder told me the deck was shaved to be even so the heads seat evenly.  The engine wasn't assembled at a professional shop, but rather in my builders garage with my dad and myself.  He sent the block and heads to his trusted machinists for the work.

So Cooter, based on me wanting help getting new heads on and calculating my actual compression ratio by measuring the piston to deck, and a given head gasket thickness, what do you think should be a fair rate?  Or should I try this myself?  I don't have a tool to test piston to deck.

Thanks,
- Doug

First of all, I really don't think new Aluminum heads is gonna solve your "Pinging" problem...I think it's all in that "Recurved" distributor....But, that's just My opinion...When EXACTLY, did all this pinging start? Right after that dizzy was recurved? I'm thinking it's got too much timing in the motor at low RPM's where the cylinder pressure is greater....(Recurved dizzy prolly hurt you in this case)...Getting an engine to start on the first try is something that has ALOT of different things it could be..ie: Carb dribblin' fuel, Floats too high, timing too far advanced, etc...

With your compression ratio right now, you shouldn't have to swap heads to aluminum to remove the pinging...I'd swap out a stock distributor and see how it did....

To answer your question though, You can make the TRUE TDC piston stop out of a few pieces of metal and a bolt with two nuts..FINDING TRUE TDC is the trick..
Piston to valve clearance is not hard to check at all, as all you do is pull the heads, put some clay (Playdough) on the piston head where the valve reliefs are, reinstall head and torque down..Then, roll engine over by hand then remove cyl. head and with a Slide Micromoeter, measure the playdough at the THINNEST point and there you have your piston to valve clearance...But again, I really don't think this is your problem...

[Purple440]

I had no idea it was that extensive, obviously.  You guys really opened my eyes on this.

There was some balancing done...saw the weights myself.  And my builder told me the deck was shaved to be even so the heads seat evenly.  The engine wasn't assembled at a professional shop, but rather in my builders garage with my dad and myself.  He sent the block and heads to his trusted machinists for the work.

So Cooter, based on me wanting help getting new heads on and calculating my actual compression ratio by measuring the piston to deck, and a given head gasket thickness, what do you think should be a fair rate?  Or should I try this myself?  I don't have a tool to test piston to deck.

Thanks,
- Doug

First of all, I really don't think new Aluminum heads is gonna solve your "Pinging" problem...I think it's all in that "Recurved" distributor....But, that's just My opinion...When EXACTLY, did all this pinging start? Right after that dizzy was recurved? I'm thinking it's got too much timing in the motor at low RPM's where the cylinder pressure is greater....(Recurved dizzy prolly hurt you in this case)...Getting an engine to start on the first try is something that has ALOT of different things it could be..ie: Carb dribblin' fuel, Floats too high, timing too far advanced, etc...

With your compression ratio right now, you shouldn't have to swap heads to aluminum to remove the pinging...I'd swap out a stock distributor and see how it did....

To answer your question though, You can make the TRUE TDC piston stop out of a few pieces of metal and a bolt with two nuts..FINDING TRUE TDC is the trick..
Piston to valve clearance is not hard to check at all, as all you do is pull the heads, put some clay (Playdough) on the piston head where the valve reliefs are, reinstall head and torque down..Then, roll engine over by hand then remove cyl. head and with a Slide Micromoeter, measure the playdough at the THINNEST point and there you have your piston to valve clearance...But again, I really don't think this is your problem...

Cooter -the engine was pinging early on.  We initially retarded it to a total of 32 degrees after running it for a few months.  Since then I had it recurved to have only 12 degrees advance so I could set my initial to between 16 and 18, and I had the guy have it come in full after 3000rpm, and this has worked ok.  Starts great.  I still need need to mix in some 110 octane to get all the ping out, but it's much better since I had it recurved.   My goal is to have a normal advance, so I can run around 35-38 total on premium fuel without adding the 110 race gas.  I exclusively use 91 unoxygenated fuel (no ethanol) , along with some 110 race.

*30 at .050 duration, auto trans, stock stall, and '28 tires did not get us off to a good start.  The guys here have helped me work through it.  I now have smaller tires and a 2800 stall, and the plugs look good finally, and no vacuum leaks.  It's a MSD6 box with a Mallory distro.

This local shop I was asking about suggested my open chamber heads were a problem.  Which I agreed with based on what I've learned on this forum.

- Doug

[Cooter]

I'm thinking most aftermarket Aluminum heads are gonna have s,aller chambers than your open chamber, iron heads now though...

It would have to be a REALLY high comp. ratio (10.8-11.8:1) in order for it to ping as bad as you say...Just how much DID those "Blueprinters" shave off those open chamber heads/block?

[Purple440]

...Just how much DID those "Blueprinters" shave off those open chamber heads/block?

That's exactly what I asked by builder a few times now and he just says "just enough to level the surface".

I measured my cranking pressure on a few cylinders at between 165 and 170.

[Cooter]

I wouldn't think that if they took off "Just enough to straighten them up", you'd be that high of a comp ratio to make it ping...

[Purple440]

I wouldn't think that if they took off "Just enough to straighten them up", you'd be that high of a comp ratio to make it ping...

So what would you do in my situation?

[Ghoste]

Unless you've already bought them I'd hold off spending money on the new heads for the moment and exhaust all the basic tuning issues first.

[Cooter]

I wouldn't think that if they took off "Just enough to straighten them up", you'd be that high of a comp ratio to make it ping...

So what would you do in my situation?

Suffering computer problems at the moment and won't be able to psot regularly until around Friday, so I'll try here..(Work)

First thing I'd do is DOUBLE check the ignition timing....Somethings off..I'd bet a bushel of apples somethin's wrong there....Too much timing or something....My GL has 180-190 PSI cranking pressure and doesn't ping....

Make sure your balancer hasn't mnoved on the rubber making your timing mark invalid....