So, this last week has been full of hard learned lessons.
Okay well only two.
Actually just one, repeated.
So back when I resealed my valve covers, I cut some corners with the driver side and didn’t move the AC compressor, PS Pump, PS reservoir, and all associated brackets, or wiring harness out of the way so that when I reinstalled the VC I would have a clear shot to set it right. This resulted in a poor seal and ultimately leaks.
I also anticipated that perhaps the VC is bent or warped, so to remove the guess work, I ordered a new one. I figured this would make the redo easier because then I wouldn’t have to clean off the old one and also didn’t have to be as careful with removal.
So I took the day off Friday, and all in one day, disassembled the engine, properly, removing the aforementioned accessories and brackets, removed the old VC and cleaned cylinder head, reinstalled new VC with new silicone and completely reassembled the engine. All in one 13-hour day.
I was actually kind of proud of myself.
But you know what they say about pride ...
Let the silicone set overnight and tightened the VC bolts the next morning. Bled the fuel lines, fired up the truck, let it idle for 10 minutes.
Guess what ...
It leaks even worse than before. Like not even holding oil.
Come to find out, the new VC, while made for this engine, had a slightly bigger footprint than the old VC. And when I applied the silicone, I applied it wrongly along the edge of the VC. This resulted in almost NO seal whatsoever since the silicone was barely making contact with the cylinder head. Additionally, the bigger footprint meant the lip on the intake side overlapped with the intake, causing the intake to not mount properly.
So 13 hours of work wasted. I thought about posting about it, but decided to spare y’all the frustration posts and subject you only to the victory posts.
So I promptly began re-disassembly Saturday morning. Got the new VC off without warping it, cleaned it up, and clearanced the intake side of the VC where it was making contact with the intake manifold.
I spent a long time studying the VC and the cylinder head, trying to figure out how I was going to apply silicone to the VC in a way that would guarantee a complete seal.
Then I had an a-ha moment.
I realized that by removing all of the accessories, I now had an amazing amount of access to the cylinder head. Enough to be able to apply a bead of silicone directly to the cylinder head instead of the VC. So that’s what I did. By doing it this way, I was able to remove the guess work and ensure a complete seal.
So with the silicone applied to the cylinder head, I let it skim over and reinstalled the VC, finger tightened the bolts, and this time let it sit and cure Saturday night, all day Sunday, and Sunday night. Monday morning I snugged up the VC bolts, and Monday afternoon I reassembled the engine bay, bled the fuel lines again, and fired it back up.
I let it idle for 15 minutes then drove it around the neighbor hood for about 5 minutes. So far, NO leaks. More driving testing will need to be done, but I feel pretty confident that I finally have this VC sealed properly.
No pictures of the process. Figured y’all had seen enough of that. But I did get
@campfire ’s ac bracket painted up and installed. Will post that up later, since it’s so purdy now.
So what was the lesson that I learned? It NEVER pays to cut corners. Ever. It takes less time to do it the right way the first time.
I told y’all I learn lessons the hard way. Lol.
So, With all that hopefully behind me, I was able to move on to trimming my rear quarters which I have been wanting to do for a while. Really like the way it turned out. The bottoms were rusted out anyways and I figure I’ll have that high-clearance look now lol.
Andy
