A buffalo’s first bowtie

no rtv on the water ports, throw that tube out after you use it on the ends of the intake and the harmonic balance bolt, if anything use aviation on both sides of the ports cause i know your eager to put something on the gasket, i know the directions do not say to use silicone on that gasket anywhere. i personally will coat the gasket very lightly to hold it place with aviation permatex. I just showed a new guy today how to spread it thin and wouldnt you know it he had it oozin out like a toothpaste tube, remember: what you see oozin on the outside is also oozin on the inside..... from experience i have seen a $20,000.00 transmission fail because of a piece of blue silicone lodged in a lube port, it caused the bearing to fail which took out the case....the same applies for engines

i have silicone in aerosal cans, they closely resemble cheese whiz...in the wrong hands its deadly. if used correctly its the best stuff in the world...if you do use it on the ports apply it with your finger and smear it dont bead it up and cause it to ooze. when it oozes that means you used 10 times what you should have.... you have the info, you decide

its not a BB, its a pumpkin

I had to turn the contrast down on the screen, i put my sunglasses on and that still didnt help..

I do look closely and notice that you pay close attention to detail (just like TR) its part of the OCD, dont worry, i have it too and i notice my 3 year old son also has it, I notice this cause if i help him pick up even 1 of his toys he gets very mad, he has to do it himself.....there is help out there

eric lavine wrote: Greg, i do commend you on the beautiful job and the first thing i looked for was to see if you had silicone squeezing out anywhere

Thank you sir...and the OCD is a part of life for me?!!?   LMAO

I wish the silicone seal was a little cleaner. It was beginning to skin when I cleaned it up, but I did dry fit it and plan for any excess to squeeze out instead of in.

I'm looking at valve covers. The originals don't fit with the 'drip tips'(?) inside of the covers. I think they would without the sheet metal inside...and they're supposed to. Can't go today; I'm still waiting to get snowed in!

eric lavine wrote: I'll take orange over blue anyday...?

That would've been my guess...until you called it a pumpkin. Amy is already joking about me going downstairs to see my punkin! LOL

As for the transmission, I asked you to paint it black because I felt this rebuild coming(I've had an idea of what I wanted since I bought the boat). The trans and the exhaust mani's will be black, and some of the rest is still undecided.

FWIW Sherman did an excellent job on my machining. Eric, it was just like you said...'the smoothest thing you ever felt' on the cam and crank.

OCD will get the best of you, i have to spin the bar of soap in my hands a minimum of 20 times before i start to wash my feet, its irratating lol

Greg, Thanks for the vote of confidence! I haven't commented much because I'm just not into engine details as much as others but I have been following along! The "pumpkin" looks so good that I would be afraid of starting it up but of coarse we know that's not the intent. I've seen lots of restored boats that look so good that you would need to be cautious with using them. In fact at shows, it's a common question from people; "do you take it out on the lake?"

I may be able to help with the tag. Here's a company that restorers have used. The price regrettably is high for one piece but it is a option.

new metal ID tags

If too expensive, Eric's idea I have used! You can whip down the tag with some denatured (it won't affect the paint) and then spray a clear enamel over it. It will darken up the old black and bring back some life to the tag.

Edit: If the denatured alcohol doesn't clean it up very much, try going over it lightly with a pencil eraser.

eric lavine wrote: are you going to prime the pump?

I didn't forget. When I get the covers that I'm keeping, I'll spin it. These covers were purchased with the understanding of return. I got 'em mostly to check fit and for dust covers. I was going to get polished aluminum for the rigidity, but Amy likes the 'shinys'! LOL

As far as fit goes for 87 and others, the stock covers do fit over my roller rockers with 4 qualifiers: the covers can't have the drip tips, they can't have the factory sloped corners(for corvettes I think), the rockers with machined corners must be on #1 and # 8 intake, and they require the thick gasket as in the pic. The fatory baffles for the pcv do fit as well.
I had a 5/16" gap between these covers and the mani's with an exhaust gasket included. This will probably reduce to 1/4" when tight, so I'm guessing tall covers are out.

Pete, I'll see what I can do with the tag. Rather than have it in show condition, I might save that part for when my boat is a little older and maybe put it in a less conspicuous place for now.   

The factory valve cover bolts I have are actually studs with a star drive on top and have a washer nut that tightens down on the cover. Does anyone know why this setup was used instead of a plain bolt? I hope I described it well enough for you to get my meaning...maybe it has to do with the pressure spreaders that go under them? I understand what the 'wings' are for.

Thanks Joe...makes perfect sense now that you say it. Good thing it wasn't a snake?!!? LOL

special bolt.

it's basicly a stud with a hex feature to it. I believe it is a dealer item only. Not sure if it realy as a specific name for the style it is. I'll have to do a little digging to find out.

well you could just get longer bolts and then place some spacers under the bracket if you wanted.

Not sure on the intake you have but most have mounting bosses for the bracket, another style bracket is attached to the carb mounting bolts.