It started as a small project the got "BIG"

[eliminator]

Since this site is dragging a little I thought I would start an extensive thread. After Homecoming this year I decided it was time to adjust the valves on the FE 427 Side-Oiler. After pulling the valve cover on the passenger side I noticed the intake gasket was not laying nice and flat against the Edelbrock Aluminum Head. That means one thing, the intake gasket had slipped, I had also noticed that the passenger side pipe was not the nice light ash color it normally was. This happens when it starts sucking oil into the right bank combustion chamber or chambers. After pulling the intake, the gaskets had failed on both heads, the passenger side was just a bit worse off. Fel-Pro Gaskets are great, their intake gasket "sucks", Print-O-Seal turns out Print -O-Leak.As you can see the gasket is in bad shape. So basically just put a new gasket on but not so fast. My Edelbrock Heads don't have Helicoils in the intake holes and I had a few bolts that were getting soft while torqueing the intake down. After trial and error it is impossible to install Helicoils in all 10 holes correctly while the heads are bolted on the block. So the only way to do it correctly is pull the heads off..... You know that is about impossible in a Big Block Car. You may get them off but you will never get them on a torqued down correctly. Now the fun begins, pulling the engine.....more to this story.