Having built Many of these, my .02 is not to Over-think these things. for a high torque 550-670'is horse motor theyt can't be beat. Find a good solid block like this one 71 230 but not a cold weather uber-thick main and drop in a 4.15 to 4.30" crankwith a decent st of 280-320 CFM heads with a streetable 250-265 ish @.050 cam and let it go; there's really not much point making more top end power if you can't make the torque you already have hook up. The best, most reliable motors are the ones that keep the torque peak in the 3800-4400 RPM range, when you really turn up the wick with big 360-380 cfm Max Wedge heads they can make 675-725+ HP but it requires a lot more spring/cooling/converter and tire to really make it pay off and 90% of people won't even know the difference between a 620HP and 720HP motor below ~5000 RPM anyway. Torque is what sets you back in the seat and as strong as B/RB blocks are they are (after all) 2 bolt main motors designed for modest RPM torque peaks... If you think about it....there's a reason Hemi's had/have cross bolted Mains....durability.

I'm not saying you can't build a reliable 700 hp motor and drive it on the street, it';s just that it generally costs a lot more to achieve a powerband improvement that is usually only appreciated above an RPM you (for most people) seldom get to use outside of a drag strip.

Again, don't over-think things, build it the way you want it, this is the Race forum so (although well-intentioned) a lot of what you'll hear on this forum will lean toward "super-sizing" the build. You can, but don't feel you need to. MHO only

so after having several issues with timing, running the coyles "tru roller" double roller timing set up. and changing out to a msd blaster 3, she fired right up. And all was right with the world, until it started bubbling and geysering water from the radiator. immediately shut it down, had no clue what could have caused it. oh joy time to trouble shoot, so here we go down the rabbit hole;

So the radiator is a thicker 2 core out of a 80's ramcharger with ac, copper/brass, capped it put a gallon of distilled vinegar and topped it with distilled water, gave it a 5-10 minute shakey shake, let it sit for an hour vertically so all the crap would settle at the cap, did that for about 4 hours, got it nice and clean before the install.

****TSTAT WAS OUT THE WHOLE TIME OF BREAK IN******plugged the lower rad hose and filled up the block with garden hose water, once full popped the plug and continued to flush block the best I could to get all the crap out.

best thing I can figure is the arp head studs need a retorque, and the main reason I went with studs instead of bolts is a better clamp load, and yes I cleaned, cleaned cleaned the crap out of the bolt holes, bottom tapped them, arp lubed them.

Once I get off watch I am going home, tearing it down to get to the studs, torque checking them and if any turn break them all loose and retorque them, put back together and fire it up......again and pray it fixed the exhaust in the coolant, weird thing was car didn't miss a beat, no knock or ping, nothing, hell we'll see. still need to get the wide band hooked up ( weld the bung in place ) and get my tune on

and as always thank you everyone for the continued help with this project
-Mike

How long and what RPM did you run it at before the troubles started?

only about 5 mins, just set timing at 2,500rpm 34deg vac plugged on carb and dizzy ( fire core vac dizzy not the RTR), thought it could have been a hella air bubble trying to burp out, but it didn't seem right so i shut it down and it kept spewing brown *EXTREMELY HOT WATER* every where, I just finished retorquing the head studs to 80 ft/lbs per ARP instructions, all but 2 moved, started it back up same issue, belt not hooked up and still puking fluid out of the rad fill hole, so heads are coming off, off to the shop for a magnaflux and pressure check, i may say f it and quite wasting money on these iron heads and go with some 440 source heads,

-Mike

Before you pull the heads, you could connect an air line to each cylinder, with the piston at TDC, and look for bubbles in the radiator. It may help you find which cylinder is leaking into a coolant passage. It might just be a gasket problem.

I have a radiator pressure/coolant system tester tool I could loan out, it may help and im here in Jax. Also, i've had water puke out forever on a dry engine until all the air is purged... but im always using a t-stat in mine so that could be why.

Dustmite it would be appreciated, but I plan on ripping it down tonight to get the heads ready for turn in tomorrow, I thought it might have been a wicked air bubble as well, but with the water pump/ alternator belt off it still gurgles and pukes from the rad. Dave I hope its just a gasket problem, other wise it might be time to pull the trigger on a set of 440source heads, already have about $400 in the iron heads


-Mike

so they magnafluxed the heads again, and still good, double checked the flatness, still good, so i got another set of felpro blues, lets see if if this works, thinking about making sure the studs are a bit more then hand tight this time, and running a torque check at least twice before i fire it up again, trying what the shop suggested and sprayed them with copper coat, lets hope all is right this time. also I noticed the cooling holes in the gasket are just tiny slots, should i use a hole punch and atleast punch them out round to max coolant flow through the heads ?

Don't modify the head gaskets I drill several .125 holes in the thermosat flange to let any air out of the cooling system when filling it initially, I've seen more than one new motor act just like yours did because they weren't full of coolant As far as tightening the studs more than finger tight They don't need it, you can try inserting a short handle allen head wrench and snug them slighty, if that will make you feel better
AKA, you can also try filling the block through the top radiator hose with the drilled thermostat to make sure it fills all the way up I have filled them up and then squeezed the top radiator hose to make sure water squirts out of it into the radiator on radiators that the upper outlet is in line with the radiator cap fitting You do know that Murphy hates hot rodders, correct

How's the Volare coming? I just got my 440 back in my Volare last weekend.

its coming, had issues with the rag joint and 1 7/8" hooker headers, that's a post in and of its self, just been working alot more than normal ( thanks navy training squadron), but I am shooting to have it up and running this weekend, and hopefully fixed its coolant demon

btw thats a really good looking car, very clean install

Sorry to hijack...

Jeff, what headers are those? I'm stuffing a BB into my M body and the engine compartment is exactly the same as an F. Are those shorties?

Very clean install!

Thanks...

well I am stuck like chuck, the rusty color all over everything is from the radiator and block flush/ first explosion of water. So I have kept having problems with what i assume is head gasket issues, but now i am thinking more head issues, and not willing to go aluminium just yet ($1,000 is a big chunk just to throw at something for trouble shooting) but if thats what will fix it, heres the story in the short,

-73 vintage block .040 over
-906 heads decked to clean up
-block decked to clean up
-calculated comp is right around 9.8-1
-stock length eagle h-beams
-KB 240 hyper pistons
-383 forged crank cleaned up stock specs
- felpro gasket kit (felpro blue gaskets)
-GMB aluminium WP
-440source aluminium pass side water pump housing
-ARP bolts for mains
-ARP head studs
- firecore dizzy and wires

first issues with was on first start, brought up rpms for break in, then water puked from the rad filler neck, I just figured huge air bubble, shut it down to cool continued to try and burp it, nothing was working.

disconnected wp/alt belt and it still was puking from the rad filler neck, not good, pulled off the valve train and retorqued the head gaskets ( installed finger tight with the arp lube, on re torque #3 i broke them all loose snugged them down with an allen key, then retorqued them) and still same issue.

ripped the heads back off the motor, took them back to the machine shop, had them go through them again, re magna flu them, and still all checks good. put it all back together, except this time copper spray the gaskets, and now all seemed right with the world.

except now it still does this......
[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/GO94yMbJUiU[/video]

and the [censored] is driving me insane, and no i broke the mic on my iphone so no sound, but still shows how even theres no belt it still bubbles and gurggles, also once shut it down, refilled it with water, put the radiator cap on, drove it around the front yard, parked it and shut it down, i could hear an audible hiss from the passenger side right around the 4-6 cylinder region, which has me thinking i have a crack in a water jacket, but......


no water in oil
no oil in water
no visible water leaks
no "white smoke" or any smoke/water vapor from either muffler

I am really getting irritated with this, like to the point of selling it and going back to the boosted slant, kinda pissed... but jesus i have so much $$$$$$ into the build, and so much $$$ into the iron heads,

I need help guys, and if your in the local jacksonville, fl area feel free to come by, i have a beer fridge in the garage lol

-Mike

Is there a thermostat in it? What kind of radiator?

Are you running it with the cap on it first? And it starts to overflow? Or?

When the shop "checked the heads out" did they pressure test the effing things? S/F....Ken M

So it looks like its pushing compression/exhaust out by the heat crossover on the driver side, I agree to double check with your shop to see if they pressure testing them. You could also fill the cylinders in the trouble spot yourself with compressed air and see what happens, maybe the heat cross over is cracked?

Hmmmm missed the part with the heat crossover. It would seem that its cracked where the heat crossover is. If you were close I'd lend you a set of stock heads to bolt on and see if they work.

I had a similar experience with a 360...heads were milled.......decks milled......ended up the intake needed corrected for proper fitment......
acted and sounded just like you are describing

On a small block it would make sense, but remember, big block's don't flow coolant through the crossover