Re: Still leaking?!!!!!!
 

Werent you having problems with it before you switched to the studs? Maybe I missed something.

Part of the reason I am so adamant on only torquing to 70 ft lbs is the amount of distortion you get in the cylinder. I have seen this firsthand when I have had a block in the hone. I will bore a block without the torqueplate to about .005 under the finished size. Then when I bolt the plate on and start to hone it, I can see the 'wear patttern' for the first couple thou. Finally when its all done, the cylinder will be near perfectly round and straight. If someone takes this block and torques the head bolts to 90, they are going to over-distort the cylinder and lose ring seal, and power. Possibly lots of it.

The heavy duty blocks like the Dart dont twist up near as much. The 351w with its 95 ft lb 1/2 inch head bolts is one of the worst. Its basically a bigger version of the tin can 302. Simply bolting a water pump on a SBC will change the front cylinders 3-4 tenths.

Glad to hear you got it running though. Problems like that really suck.

Andy

Re: Still leaking?!!!!!!
 

Andy, extremely good point about the cylinder distortion, I know they use the torque plates and they recommended the torque settings, so far I'm pretty happy with the power I'm getting out of the 331 so far, it is a low compression motor so high 11's were fine with me. For the record, I am using the "555", corteco gaskets, and everything is torques to around 95 ft lbs. I sprayed a 150 shot not too long ago just for the hell of it and it rans 10's with no problems and barely any tuning. I'm counting my blessings.
Your right about the bolts though, I WAS having the same problems, not sure why, maybe the bolts were stretched out, can't remember if they were new or not. Wonder if that block I got just didn't go as deep on the bolt holes. Well regardless, I'm saving for a 363 dart block as we speak. Hopefully things will go smoother next year with it.

Re: Still leaking?!!!!!!
 

11.86 on a low compression motor eh? Nice! Nice sig btw too.

Re: Still leaking?!!!!!!
 

thanks, yeah it comes in right at 9.5:1. I originally had the dome pistons (10:1) in but decided against them before I put the motor together thinking I would eventually throw a turbo on. The flattop pistons put it at 9:1 but I had the heads milled to bring it back up just a bit. I think it will do more, that run was with the 17" 99 cobra's on it, with the rodlites and a good launch, I should be able to pick up another tenth. Working out some exhaust issues right now. All in all, I'm impressed. I'm looking at a 363 Dart block now though.