Am I screwed or can this be saved?

[shadowwalker_02]

So I need some more input on this situation.

Have a 468 with oval port 236 heads and a rectangular performer intake. Everything was put together and after a few first test fires I have a massive vacuum leak on the drivers side front part of the intake. Before any rants get going the story on this motor comes from the a**hat that built this motor for me. 1ST mistake I'll admit. He screwed me and gave me the 236 heads and kept the 049 heads I had. He then told me to buy a rectangular intake when in fact I needed oval port intake. I still thought I had the 049 rectangular heads... He came highly recommended to me by alot of the hotrodders around town. Yeah I'm still thinking of throwing the heads and intake through his front door...anyways from googling and searching I have found out that this setup of oval port heads/rectangular intake can work with the right gasket. I'm on limited income and am out of money, can I make this work and how? When I put the intake on the motor I had a hell of a time getting it to fit. I did use the rectangular gaskets but im thinking they weren't thick enough? At this point I'm looking at worst case scenario and having to save up a few more months to buy another performer OVAL intake to match everything. But is there anything else I can do to make this setup work and get this bastard of a motor fired first? Or am I that screwed and have to wait to match the intake to the heads? Any advice?

 

[nvrenuf]

Vac leak aside I do believe that the combo of a rectangular intake and oval heads will indeed run but it's like spandex - just because it fits doesn't make it right. On a true rectangular port intake the runner openings will be a good bit bigger than the oval ports in the heads causing the fuel to puddle at the overlap (killing performance).

I imagine the vac leak is because something is assembled wrong or warped. The only fix for that is to pull the intake and investigate but at that point you might as well replace it with something more appropriate. I could be wrong but you'd probably be better off swapping on a stock intake (also fixing the vac leak) until you can buy the correct part.

 

[1BEATK5]

also if the block was decked or the heads are milled alot, it wont seal because the heads and intake are now at different angles. combine that with the wrong intake and....

 

[shadowwalker_02]

also if the block was decked or the heads are milled alot, it wont seal because the heads and intake are now at different angles. combine that with the wrong intake and....

Sad to say the old bitter bastard didn't tell me what he did to the heads. I suspect they are milled alot as we played hell getting the intake to fit flush. As far as the heads go they seemed to be pulled together at the top not letting the intake sit flush on the valley. The intake fits on one side but it pushes the other side up too much. The block was decked but again he didn't give me any specs to work with.

At this point given the fact that I don't know about the heads and I don't really want to buy another intake and have this same issue would it be advisable to

1. get the heads to a machinist and reworked
2. get new set of heads
3. get a oval port intake and see if that fits

 

[nvrenuf]

Door # 3

Edit: no sense in starting with the heads when you know the intake is incorrect to begin with.

 

[k20]

I agree, change intake. Keep an eye on craigslist & ebay. Friend got one for his for like 35 bucks. When he got it though he was a little...'concerned'. Apparently it had an inch of grease on it, and pine needles down in it. But hey, it works like a charm.

 

[shadowwalker_02]

Even though alot of you don't know me I greatly appreciate the advice, Thanks guys It means alot to me.

 

[4X4HIGH]

So I need some more input on this situation.

Have a 468 with oval port 236 heads and a rectangular performer intake. Everything was put together and after a few first test fires I have a massive vacuum leak on the drivers side front part of the intake. Before any rants get going the story on this motor comes from the a**hat that built this motor for me. 1ST mistake I'll admit. He screwed me and gave me the 236 heads and kept the 049 heads I had. He then told me to buy a rectangular intake when in fact I needed oval port intake. I still thought I had the 049 rectangular heads... He came highly recommended to me by alot of the hotrodders around town. Yeah I'm still thinking of throwing the heads and intake through his front door...anyways from googling and searching I have found out that this setup of oval port heads/rectangular intake can work with the right gasket. I'm on limited income and am out of money, can I make this work and how? When I put the intake on the motor I had a hell of a time getting it to fit. I did use the rectangular gaskets but im thinking they weren't thick enough? At this point I'm looking at worst case scenario and having to save up a few more months to buy another performer OVAL intake to match everything. But is there anything else I can do to make this setup work and get this bastard of a motor fired first? Or am I that screwed and have to wait to match the intake to the heads? Any advice?

For the record, "049" heads are OVAL port heads NOT rectangal port heads. BBC used 3 different shaped intake ports, there are "peanut port" those were used on trucks, then there is oval port which is used on almost every car, then there are rectangal port which were only used on high HP cars such as the Vette, Camaro, Chevell's. Once you see a true rectangal port head you will quickly realize you don't have those.

 

[Fred_M1010]

For the record, "049" heads are OVAL port heads NOT rectangal port heads. BBC used 3 different shaped intake ports, there are "peanut port" those were used on trucks, then there is oval port which is used on almost every car, then there are rectangal port which were only used on high HP cars such as the Vette, Camaro, Chevell's. Once you see a true rectangal port head you will quickly realize you don't have those.

X2

And the 236 heads are peanut ports.
I'm sorry to say he screwed you completely,
cause the 049 heads are some of the best stock oval heads there are
Rectangular heads are way overkill for most engines btw.

 

[sweetk30]

ya 049 and 781 best 2 large oval port heads for building up from stock unless aftermarket wanted.

and peanut port good for low

but the peanut port and the rec port intake = real bad wall inside the runner system and make tons of turbulance.

and i know how you feel. i took a atv motor to a guy whos famialy has been in the atv/dirtbike/streetbike market for years. . . he had opened his own shop for side work on his own. real nice place even had a bike dyno. lots of guys rec his work. long long story short i got screwed by over 2500 bucks time/money/lost work/2 engine remans total .

got the thing fixed at the dealer right and correct. but i am vary ? on any recomends anymore given to me and i dont like giving any out also i dont wana feel bad later if the crap hits the fan.

 

[shadowwalker_02]

Yeah sad to say this whole rebuild has been snake bit from the git go. The guy was awesome back in the day building motors to race out on the bonneville salt flats but I guess caught him when he was just burnt out. At this point I'm tempted to yank the 468 back out and put the 350 back in once I get the broken stud out. Mainly due to the fact that I don't know how much the block was decked, nor was I given anything about the head work that was done. Who knows maybe down the road I can find a cheap set of decent BBC heads and rebuild the top end when I have more money. To date I have spent about 1700 on the dam thing and its still not running. I'm out of time and money and I still have to figure out the death wobble issue in the front axle and I'm thinking about rebuilding it completely. Reason being for a full rebuild is the fact that I hit a curb a bit hard on the pass left tire and now I can't even tow it 25+ without the tire wobbling too much. Plus I need to get new drums for the rear 14BSF, the list goes on and on...

I've had to go through hell and fight everyone to get this thing built to where it is now and even then its not what I wanted. I will admit a screwup on my part as to lack of knowledge of the BBC's but I still feel that a guy with 40+ years of building motors for the salt flats shouldn't have screwed me that bad.

One question about something that has me puzzled. I installed a tach and wired it up to the msd street fire dizzy I bought and when we went to fire the motor there was no spark. Come to find out once we unplugged the tach completely we had spark and the motor tried to fire. Any idea's as to why the tach stole the spark from the dizzy? I've never had that issue occur before.