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Made a mistake putting the heads back on my 225. Help!

B

btravlin2

Regular Contributor
Howdy Guys.......between vacation and other things, it has taken me a month to get back on this job. I got the heads back on and torqued, but I didn't get to finish the angle torque for lack of a 3/8-1/2 adaptor. So torquing isn't quite done. Maybe this will save my bacon. What I did wrong was......I put the heads back on without making sure the crank TDC was synced with the cam pulleys TDC. So far there isn't a conflict because all the valves were seated flat as I got them back from the shop.

But as soon as I turn the camshafts the valves will contact the pistons. There must be a method to this, but I can't think of it and I don't see anything in the manual that explains it.

I assume I have to back out the heads 1/4" so I can get the valves lined up (once I know how to do it) without conflicting with the pistons. But does that just ruin my brand new head gaskets? Can they be re-torqued?

Anyway, if I can get someone to explain how to reassemble heads to block, in sync with the pistons I'd appreciate it. And also, can I reuse my new head gaskets if I back off them?
 
As long as you haven’t installed or tightened the rockers, you haven't hurt anything. Leave heads on and go through the timing procedure of putting crank at #1 TDC and then aligning the cam marks to crank marks and installing the belt.
Good luck
 
No worries. It's so simple I just didn't see it. Basically, move the crank pulley a little past TDC so none of the pistons are all the way up. Then put the cam pulleys on and line up the portside mark. The stb pulley is tricky because it "jumps" when it reaches TDC. Then back up the crank pulley to TDC and cuss at the stb pulley a little and it all goes back together.

Spin the crank pulley 3 complete revolutions to make sure there is no conflict, rechecking the marks each time around. What is confusing is that the crank pulley turns 2 revolutions for 1 cam pulley.

Anyway, I'm closing in. Hopefully in a few days I'll fire it up and see what happens.

BTW, never having installed heads before, I was shocked at the torque required by the manual. I thought bolts were going to break, but it didn't happen.
 
29 lbs plus an additional 103 degree torque.

I do not understand why you didn't just back off the valve adjusting screws, so all valves are seated no matter what ...then set up your timing belt...like jgmo said.

Of course, then you have to reset all the valve clearances.

But that takes a lot of trial and error out of it.
 
Word to the wise. Don't buy a cheap torque angle gauge like I did. After wasting a lot of time trying to make it work, in anger I threw it away as soon as I was done. I'm in the ballpark of 29 plus 103, but not highly accurate. Once I got everything close I determined 65lbs was the total, so I went back over all the bolts to make sure. Knock on wood......but loose they ain't.
 
I predict that you will have no problems with head bolts. Sounds to me like you did fine. Here's hoping that she fires right up and purrs.
 
jgmo said:
I predict that you will have no problems with head bolts. Sounds to me like you did fine. Here's hoping that she fires right up and purrs.
Click to expand...

She does!! I finished up the re-assembly, put it in the water, and it fired right up. It idles much smoother than before. I gave it 15 mins to observe, while I ran it through rpms up to 2000 out of gear. Then I took it for a spin at 4200 and everything was good. We're going for a longer ride tomorrow. Sometime after the next 10-20 hours I'll recheck the compression to see what I've got.

And I only had 2 leftover parts!! (One was a cable organizer that bolted somewhere, but I never found out where. The other was a small, round rubber bumper that fell out of something, and I couldn't find where that came from either) Well, I'm not leaking anything, so......fingers crossed.
 
Ha ha! Sounds awesome!
And......if you don't have any parts left over......it means.........

You used too many putting it back together;~)
 
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