LeRoar update

I haven't had a lot of time to work on LeRoar till today. As you may remember it was smoking, running rough, backfired at first, spewing water out the header bolts and only had about 5in vacuum ay about 2000 rpm's.

I did re-torque the heads and found about 70 percent of the bolts took another 1/4 turn at least.

I checked the header bolts and they went in quite a bit more! I have found this is normal for them to need retightening but not usually so soon. They only had maybe 15 minutes of run time at good operating temp.

I loosened all the valves and readjusted them carefully. I feel they could be in part of the low vac issue if they are too tight. They did seem kinda tight.

Next I will check the intake manifold for leaks when I get it ready to run again. I will of course check the bolts to be sure they are tight enough too. I would like to remind everyone that it is crucial not to use bolts that are a tad long for the intake manifold where the bolts are adjacent to the exh pushrods. This is an easy way to bend and/or bind your exh pushrods.

This engine ran great until it blew a poorly installed head gasket. My bad - as 'they' say. Therefore it is not reasonable to jump in and worry about the timing chain, etc.. It is an issue with another gasket install, intake most likely, and can be involving the dist timing too. The heads have been off a couple times and I did clean the pistons so I do consider the rings as a possible issue too. This can be determined with comp and leak-down tests.

The bottom line is not to worry. LeRoar is just under the weather but will be back even better!

Rich Kinsley '64 Dodge Polara 4dr 324 poly w/goodies