ChevroletR

I need to do this on my Monte when I'm home. When I put my roller cam in, my intake valves looked pretty caked up with oil/carbon from what I suppose were my intake gaskets leaking. We sell SeaFoam at Advance where I work up here at school and people swear by it!

I did come across this thread where I saw a video and picture: http://www.firstgenmc.com/ubbthreads/ubb...=true#Post70891 Looks good. Does anybody else have pictures?

Anybody tried the 'real' LED taillights made for our cars? (not the LED replacement bulbs...I can't see those working since our bulbs point up and down at angles and LED's need to be a straight shot) There are some here: http://www.shiny-hiney.com/montecarlo.html I was wondering if anybody had a picture of them in their Monte? Thanks

Wow that thing sounds mean 502. That's about exactly what I want as far as tailpipe exit. All very nice and thanks! Keep em coming!!! PS. I see a C5 Corvette in the paint reflection!

I was looking to FINALLY get exhaust for my Monte and I really want a certain look to my exhaust exit. I'm going to do 3'' and don't want the 'straight out' look like some Chevelles, but a hidden turndown look from the corner of the bumper. Can you guys post some pictures of how your tailpipes exit? (Side shots, underneath, and behind) I want to make sure the guy who is doing my exhaust does it like I want it and may use one of your pics to show him. Thanks!!

Awesome, that's the reassurance I need to hear! lol thanks

When do I know if I need a steel roller, aluminum, or nylon cam button? My Edelbrock stamped steel timing cover calls for strictly ONLY a nylon cam button, but I was looking at cast aluminum covers and they don't specify. Wouldn't the nylon or aluminum cam button be best for an aluminum timing cover?

Wow, thank you Wallaby...that's an interesting find. The only think I checked was by using Play-Doh and pushed my timing cover on until I knew I had ground my cam button down far enough where it wouldn't push the cam button out. I didn't check endplay or how far the cam would move though... Also interesting about the cast or billet aluminum timing cover and the flex that a stamped cover can have. I for one am using that STAMPED aluminum Edelbrock cover and am wondering before I install this cam again, should I look into a beefier cover? I'm thinking so... Thanks again!!

I'm doing a COMP Cams retrofit roller swap and I'm running the Edelbrock two-piece aluminum timing chain cover: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=EDL%2D4242&autoview=sku Edelbrock tells me to use a nylon cam buttom, which COMP happens to make:http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=CCA%2D202&autoview=sku With my timing chain set, I had to grind down a good bit of this cam button to get it to fit under the cover. I was wondering how much clearance or endplay of the camshaft/cam button should I have? Thanks

Well I ended up needing a small base circle cam so I didn't finish my roller cam swap. HOWEVER, I did find some things out regarding this issue. My oil drainback holes are lined up properly with the head gasket and the block. As I said, the intake gaskets WERE soaked in oil and the intake bolts always came loose. When I bolt the intake down, I'm planning on using a thin film of silicone on the intake gaskets and using blue Lock-tite on the bolts. The picture of the gaskets below have been wiped off. Below is a picture of the fitment of my intake on my heads. I made a mistake though and didn't use the intake gaskets as Buzzard (Chuck) suggested. I could only fit about a .008-.010'' feeler gauge at the ends, which I'm sure the gasket is good to take care of and I'll be using Fel-Pro's intake gasket MADE for aluminum intakes instead of the stockers. The intake ports looked mostly dry...except for the one below The intake runners in the heads As you can see, my intake valves were pretty wet with oil, which could also be valve seals. In the middle picture, it looks like the oil started coming in at the middle of the runner... I noticed a few of the ports, there was signs of oil around where the rocker studs pertrude. I pulled some rocker studs and it looked that the ARP thread sealer I used three years ago was barely there on some studs. I pulled ALL the rocker studs and applied thread sealer TAPE. On the intake, around the exhaust crossover, it looked a little wet with oil I don't have a straightedge, but I used an old pushrod to check for intake flatness and I couldn't see any light under neath when I rolled it across the gasket surface. I don't think the front and rear intake bolts are bottoming out because I would think it would leak coolant. I guess I can put it back together with a few improvements mentioned and see if it's still using oil...if so then maybe I need to replace 3 year old valve seals...unfortuantely. Thought these pictures might be a little help and may answer some questions for people. Any more help/advice/ideas are still appreciated! Thanks again

Well when I was home, my dad and I briefly checked out the engine. We used my old 350 block to pop the rear cam plug, front and rear cam bearings, and oil galley plugs out of the block to see where oil gets routed. I found that oil comes from the filter, to the pressure tap where the oil pressure gauge is tapped into the back of the block and that also taps into a hole in the main galley about 2 inches from the rear galley plug. Without putting the oil pan back on and putting oil in the engine and priming it with the too, I'm not sure if the main galley is getting oil. If it is, then oil travels to the rear cam bearing and there is a groove cut in the block where the rear cam bearing sits which also provides oil to the lifter galley, which we know for sure isn't getting any oil. I'm guessing we have some junk or debris in one of these passages, or behind the rear cam bearing. Any idea how we can clean this oiling system out? Would that 'Motor Flush' or gasoline/kerosene be a good idea to put in the oil pan and pump through as long as the engine's not running to try to clean out some passages? Sure would beat stripping the block completely bare to have it hot tanked and new cam bearings and freeze plugs installed, etc. Always open for other ideas! Thanks

Bones, haven't checked the PCV yet...like I said a buddie of mine is the one who took the cam out...I'm still in Michigan and the car is in Maryland. What should I look for? Interesting point Allan...I'm using ARP intake bolts and I wonder if that has anything to do with it. I know several of the intake bolts go directly into the galley though, right? I would think the end ones would be the bolt holes with bottoms and if those were bottomed out I would think I would leak coolant first. I'll have to look into this though. Thanks

Well here's the latest...before I could do a compression check or anything, my buddie took the cam out while I'm still 600 miles away from the car. I asked him to pay close attention to the intake gaskets when he took them off and he said they were covered in oil. I figured this when I was home for a week and took each intake bolt out at a time and cleaned them off and thread sealed them again since oil was puddling on the top of my intake around each bolt hole. When I went to go tighten the intake, a little oil from the intake gaskets seeped up and out from between the itake and heads. For some reason, my intake bolts don't stay tight. What do you guys do to keep them tight and keep them sealed from oil in the galley at the same time? Also, along with a new cam and lifters, etc; I ordered Fel-Pro's intake gaskets made for aluminum intakes since I was running stock replacements before: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=FPP%2D1256&autoview=sku I also ordered Edelbrock's Gasgacinch: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=EDL%2D9300&N=700+115&autoview=sku This also says it's for intake sealing surfaces but I still want to use a thin film of silicon around the coolant crossovers. Wish me luck and please send more advice! Thanks

Yeah...that's really what I figured this would lead up to. Not a big deal. Like I said, the engine has one of those aftermarket 'rebuilt' tags on it and the pistons were stamped .040'' over so I know the engine was gone through...just don't know how long ago. I'll see what I can dig into. Thanks all!

Yeah, I have this one specially made for this task from summit: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=SUM%2D901010&autoview=sku And again, the car was run with the distributor in and there was still no oil to the top end...just a whole bunch of noise!!!

Very interesting. Thanks guys. So it looks like the oil goes to the main oil galley first, then to the front of the engine and through the front cam bearing to the cam journal and then to the two lifter galleys, right? I'm wondering if that front cam bearing has spun or is not lined up with the oil holes in the block.... Could I check this by removing the front main oil galley plug and then priming the engine with my priming tool to see if oil is feeding to the main galley?

Hello again. Having an issue with not getting any oil to the top end. When we primed and ran the engine, it had excellent oil pressure. Don't know how long the engine sat, but I know it has new bearings. Pulled the intake, pushrods and the lifters and didn't see any oil going to the lifters, even in the rear two. After holding a drill to my priming tool for a good 20 mins-30 mins like a machine shop suggested, we got just a couple of drops of oil to the top of the lifter. Yes, lifers were soaked in oil before installation because they came out of my car that was just running and put them into another small block along with the cam. It seems we have a clogged oil galley/passage somewhere and I'm not sure where to look and how to try and clean it up a bit. I know there are two or three plugs in the front of the block that when removed, should allow access to the plugs all the way in the rear of the block, correct? I'm taking suggestions but also wondering where does the oil go once it gets pumped out of the oil pump? I searched the net and forum and couldn't find anything. I know these small blocks are 'secondary oiling' where the valvetrain gets oil before the bottom end...if I remember correctly. Thanks in advance!

Amen! I loved driving my Monte to work and back this summer as much as I could (25 miles each way). Then up to Gettysburg PA. After I built the engine in 2005, the same week, I took it up to the Goodguys show in Hershey, PA, which was awesome. Then I drove it to Deep Creek Lake and back in Western Maryland (3 hour drive one-way) twice that Spring! A car is no fun if you can drive it!!!

Yeah, but you know what they say about Mustangs, "They're like @$$ holes, everyone has one and they all stink!" Nobody around town has a Monte like mine and I like it that way. The foxbody Mustangs usually don't like seeing my tailights either, lol

hmm, i guess some of them are pretty accurate! very niiiicce

yessir Tim! our cars are 'mild' heavyweights, not quite Impala or station wagon heavy. Back to the truck scale, I wouldn't think they'd have to be calibrated very accurately when you're dealing with tons. Give or take 100 pounds probably is no big deal for truck. I took mine to a recycle yard where 25 pounds might make a big difference. Nate's car is definately stripped next to nothing so I'm not saying it would surprise me, but I'd rather take it to at least one other place to compare readings if the car were mine. my 2cents

I've used this technique before on other engines, but if my intake gaskets are sucking in oil from the inside of the engine, the oil galley, why would this show up on this test by spraying on the outside of the intake/gasket/head surface?

Thanks Frank, that's interesting. I guess the best and cheapest thing for me to do is pull the intake off and see what I find.

Ouch. And yes, Fel-pro still provides the end seals in the SBC and 4.3 engines. I know at the dealer, we use RTV on 2.8/3.1/3.4 V6s on the ends, but the 3.8's always get much thicker rubber end seals and the 3.8's have much, much less leaky intake gasket issues until they get a lot of miles on them...unless you have one with the plastic upper intake...and I bet you can guess what the problem was there.

The car is home. The oil would have to be coming from the intake bolts because I would think if it was coming from the valve covers, there would be oil puddled up on the seam where the intake meets the gasket which meets the block. Mike, could I borrow your scope? lol j/k That's a lot of money I don't have now, but I'm sure it's a tool well worth it. I'll check with a few guys back at the dealership and see if someone has one. Do you mean by the intake being "cut" that it was machined to fit best? The answer I think is no. I never had any machine work on the intake and it doesn't look like it's ever been machined (even flanges, no obvious machine marks). Thanks for the tips guys and keep em coming if you have more! Ryan