The machine shop finally got to the engine after about 5 weeks. They called and told me to come in so they could show me what was found. The cylinder head on that side was the one I had issues with before. Aerohead didn't drill out the oil feed hole for the rockers. It turns out the rest of the head was junk too.

They did a leakdown test and found cylinders 3 and 7 were leaking 90%. There were two sticking exhaust valves and all the seats were cut excessively.(1.88in-1.60ex valves in the 318 heads) That head needed a couple valves, all new seats and all new guides. The other head was working OK at the time but would have had the same work done to it. I ended up bringing in the original heads to have them gone through.

A couple days went by and I went back in to see what the original heads looked like. That's when I was told the original intake manifold was cracked. The crack extended all the way from the choke thermostat to the EGR opening. The manager said, "Now is the time to put a 4-barrel on it." I had a spare 2-barrel intake that I brought in. The casting is a little different then the original one but I doubt anyone will notice. The original intake had the casting date in the front. This intake has it in the back so you won't see it anyway.

I picked up the engine on Tuesday.


Cleaned and painted it on Wedesday.


Installed it on Thursday.


I worked on it Friday night and all day yesterday. I installed the new reproduction battery I got from Fred Gilmore and filled up the fuel line again with gas. It fired right off and sound decent. I was tired so I havn't thrown a light on it yet but at least it runs. Here's a short video I took of it. My wife did a little editing today and added a little production value.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKhYa6QDfc