Replaced the header gasket last night. I took it for a drive and parked it just now. I'll retorque either tonight or tomorrow. But... The valvetrain on both sides isn't what I'd call quiet. Got good pressure hot and cold. Cold 2000 RPM is 60 PSI. Hot is 40. But it is running kind of rough, almost like it has a miss. I'll pull the valve covers and have a look. I'm afraid what I'll find. I'll also check the plugs and ignition. sigh. I'm just so tired of constantly dicking with this thing. I'm an inch away from just building the 455. But that's a grand$$ for the shortblock that I don't really feel like spending.
Pulled the driver's side valve cover. I've got plenty of oil. So my cam bearings appear to be OK. Not sure why I have rocker noise. Could be the adjustable pushrods, I suppose. At any rate, I adjusted the idle mixture screws and it seems to be better. I had a break in the brittle 33 year old covering on one of the wires leading to the alternator. I repaired that. It does seem better. Now I'm chasing the out-of-balance problem. Please. Everyone. When you rebuild your engine, have it balanced. I pressed 2 weight plugs from my old harmonic balancer into my current one, opposite where the weight plugs are currently. It seemed to help a bit - and moved the vibration up in the RPMs a bit. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a chance to pull the balancer and knock the weight plugs out and move them around a bit. Thaqt's my biggest annoyance right now. The vibration at speed. Anyone ever messed with weighting an engine in-car? What's the best way to add weight to the flexplate? Thanks.
