351 Windsor Swap

mr gasket now has a multi layer steel shim gasket. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MRG-4825G/
these work really well. they maintain the preload on the header bolts. the oems are using this style of gasket on there stock manifolds now. i couldnt get it to seal the collector on my car. the flange on my pipe that goes to the header is a lose tpye and just didnt match the ridge in the gasket. you can reuse these gaskets also.

 

Hm. Neat. Would you say those are better than the "dead soft" copper ones?

 

The 3k20 means your block was cast on November 20, 1983.

 

Wonder what BA 17 is about. B and A are major and minor revisions, right?

 

The more I clean and paint this engine piece by piece, the more I realize it's just not even an option to reuse most of these bolts. They'll work fine but they'll look horrid.

I at least need to find nice shiny bolts for the water pump, timing cover, valve covers, intake, and any accessory/bracket bolts that will be very visible.

Please tell me there's a list somewhere of what size all these bolts are so I don't have to buy an overpriced "set" for each part. I'll do it if I must, but I really shouldn't have to.


It's going to be a disaster when I get to detailing and painting the engine bay, I swear. I need to rein myself in before I let it go too far.

 

Got a bench top grinder you can put a wire wheel on? i just hit all my bolts with that when I'm cleaning things up. Leaves them clean but not new and shiney, bolts just dont look right shiney.

 

Well granted, some of them wouldn't look right shiny. But I think that zinc plating looks awesome against that fresh blue paint! I was thinking for anything that's not directly against the blue I might go with a galvanized type finish, but you have a point on the wire wheel. I can at least clean many of them up enough for paint so I don't go completely insane.

 

Dont paint the bolts. It dosnt stick as well and when it starts to chip off it looks terrible. Learned that the hard way. I like the nice old blackened bolt look. Or all new Black ARP look bolts look good but expensive. On your motor you wont see much of them anyways since you have a/c and heat. id maybe do some nice intake and valve cover bolts and stop there if you really want to dress it up.

 

Kinda what I had in mind really. Nice looking bolts for the ones that are visible... Intake, water pump, timing cover, thermostat, valve covers, etc. Others are less important but I don't want to put nasty corroded bolts on anywhere, even where you can't see them. Wire wheel may be the best route for that, or just cheap hardware store bolts, but definitely not what I have to work with right now.

 

Ok, that seems a bit counterintuitive to me so help me out... You're saying no gaskets at all might seal better with just some copper silicone? I assume you're talking about the flange and not the collector, right?

 

First off don't use Cheap hardware store bolts. Ive done that and had them corrode and get all nasty before.

On the headers I've seen guys run without any gasket to the head. I questioned them about it and they say they got less leaks like this and just run a bead of the copper high temp silicone arounf the ports. If it gains you a 1/16" it might just be enough to keep from hitting the shock towers. But it could also end up leaking and be a pain to redo. I'd take a straight edge to the headers first and see how flat they really are. they probably need to be built really well to seal without gaskets.

 

Noted. I'll use coated bolts of some kind, and at least grade 5 for the ones I replace.

Yeah I'll keep that in mind as an option. Maybe using the silicone with the gaskets will get me a better seal too. It's a real drag having to constantly mess with headers to keep them from leaking. I'd love to just tighten everything down once.

 

yes i would. the dead soft copper works well the first time. it gets compressed and fills the imperfections. then you take them off and put them back on. now they are compressed or now hard and dont conform nearly as well. the steel gaskets return to there orignal shape there are 3 or 4 layers of very thin stainless steel layers. one layer has a raised ridge to compress and fill the imperfections. ive used lots of types of gaskets and saw these used on imports from the factory. when you buy header for a honda, it doesnt come with gaskets because you can reuse the stock steel shim gasket. then i wished i could get them. before these i used the earls pressure seal gaskets that used a graphite insert in an aluminum frame. they worked really well but would need new inserts every time you had to take a header out. these steel shim gaskets are the best i have used to date.

 

I bought a set of stainless bolts off of eBay for mine. Had intake, valve cover, oil pan, timing cover, and some others. accessory drives, you're on your own to find those. I think IIRC, the company I bought from was named Bolt Locker. They also did custom sets. Might check them out.

 

I think I know the set you're talking about, was looking at that yesterday... Sounds like you were pretty satisfied with it, then? Good quality for the money?