Los_Control

I got to love that. I never paid any attention to the tv. Same time I admit the wife lets me watch my news channel while fixing dinner ... I personally would never donate a dime to AARP .. Funny how it all worked out. I am laughing with you

Teachings from the school of hard knocks Actually my 1991 chevy the gauge is very active while driving.

I think times have changed ... I think in the 1990's I was on top of the tire situation. I was a manager of a Bandag retread shop and took care of all common issues with semi truck tires, and pretty much had a good grasp on passenger tires. This forum and some members think I was totally wrong, while at the time I was correct ... now I see the rules changed and I was using the old rules. I refuse to nit pick Tony for the same reasons. When he was in the pits and taking care of nitro engines ... Everything has changed. The source, the quality and availability is all different. In honesty I think Tony is a barf bag and smokes way to much, he spends to much time eating bacon ... but is actually a intelligent person and made more then one living off of cars and mopars., not going to hold cigarettes and bacon against him. His tricks and tips are relevant today porting heads and basic engine rebuild.

And I had such high hopes. This morning he drove off down the road a few hours ago in said truck ... YAY! maybe he sold it. Fed X just dropped off a new set of slicks and sitting on his front porch. It aint over yet.

I watched that myself, before this video was released Nick had given a update last week that Tony found the lifters failed. Is this more cheap China part coming back to bite us? The kid from the other youtube channel supplied the parts. My opinion after watching the video this morning, There were about 4 things wrong that Nick found. The crud in the oil galleries. But they found out the block supplied needed machine work, Tony just happened to have a original block that needed no machine work ... Hot tank would have been good but out of the question. for the time constraints. There was a gasket missing on the oil pump, Is it possible one was not supplied? Nick thought was not a major issue but had one and installed it anyways ... I would like to hear Tony opinion on that. He also did not put a sealant on the soft plugs and Tony said he did not want any ... I raise my hands up, I cleaned my block up and installed the plugs dry, They dripped for a bit and quit. Was bad one of the rocker shafts was turned around, And Nick said was not a big issue and would still work, but did correct it. Think I remember seeing the new kid assemble the rocker shafts on the bench and then hand them to Tony .... 12 hours in on a junkyard build and Tony may have missed the mistake the kid made. I imagine if Tony was working by himself and not in a rushed contest environment, that would not have happened. Other then those, Nick the MAN found nothing wrong with assembly. Tony got hit by cheap China parts ... AGAIN! His other car named bottlerocket, Tony took it out on a weekend and beat on it. New lifters failed and wiped out the cam. He lost oil pressure and had to tear it down, that was 6 or 8 weeks ago ... And these were the parts Tony ordered for his own engine. I am still reserving judgement on Tony, would like to hear his opinions on what happened and then after Nick does final dyno if it blows up or not.

I actually thought about that .... think I am just keeping the video's handy in case something goes sideways. The court house is on this very street just a few blocks down the road, and the police station sits behind the courthouse. Those times he is doing multiple passes, police could be here in 45 seconds or less ... if they are not interested so be it. This is not the first so called race car he has had, then a few weeks ago he came home with a Harley sportser then that disappeared and this truck showed up .... the truck does have a shoe polish 4 sale sign on the back window. Maybe it will be gone soon. Kid had a pretty decent job and a company work truck, then the virus hit and work truck sat in his driveway for a month and it went away ... I assume his job did to. I get frustrated with youngsters, I wish him no harm.

Been dealing with a neighbor for some time ... putting up with it. He is a young kid, the type that puts his dog on a chain in the back of the truck bed and parks in the sun ... when the dog jumps out and chokes itself on the short chain ... 3 different neighbors ran out to save the dog. Then again, while he has a fenced backyard, he lets the dog run free ... The dog comes over to the other neighbors house and drags garbage all over the hood. The guy is a menace in the grocery store, puts his young boy in the shopping cart and runs full speed up and down the meat isle. Making var000m var000m noises. Boy just does not have the brains he was born with, imho. I just been avoiding him after he tried to hang his dog. Now he has possession of a truck that belongs on a dragstrip ... am I just a grumpy old man that does not like hotrods? Here is a mild video of what he did today, yesterday he tried to see how big of a burnout could do, came out with a tape measure this morning to measure the black marks his Hoosier slicks left on the road. ... truck been quiet for awhile, as I write this is getting dusk and he fired it back up again. And again it sounds like a drag strip in front of my house. Am I just a grumpy old man? or should I embrace this kid for being a hot rodder? open it up for opinions

Funny story about head bolts. At one time I was active in a Ford Explorer forum because I owned one. One of the forum members was a local community collage shop teacher, bought a all wheel drive explorer from a wrecking yard that needed a new wiring harness. Used it for teaching class. In the end they took it to the 1/4 mile race track for a couple years. Kept adding more horse power and bigger turbos .... rebuilding transmissions, Actually a pretty cheap cool car, with AWD, that thing would hook and go, While the car in the next lane was doing wheelies and burn outs and trying to get off the line, the explorer was 1/2 way down the track. At one point, He was losing a couple of quarts coolant racing the 1/4 mile and tried everything with new head gaskets new oem head bolts this went on for a few months. He finally realized because he did drive the car on the street to school and the track, was only when racing, the head bolts were stretching and the heads were lifting during the 1/4 mile race. He bit the bullet and bought high dollar head bolts for it, cured the issue. While some may think it stupid, was just a hrrr'm moment for me thinking about the limits of head bolts.

I agree, we are always told to re torque but they always say after you run it for x amount of time and then again after x amount of miles. Because of the temperature we run these engines ... 180 T-stat? I imagine the cylinders and head reach higher temps, exhaust manifold is several hundred degrees. but block is surrounded by a cooling system at 180 degrees it does not get too hot? I cook my dinner at 350 degrees, 180 is pretty cool. When you shut off the engine, cooling system stops working and we get heat soak, temp gauge rises ... When that goes back down in just a few minutes. In my mind any expansion / contraction is over. A busy mechanic may just as soon as it is cool enough to actually get the socket on it and get er did, push it out the door and get to the next job. Since I am not a mechanic, I have time for it to cool down and be comfortable to work on. Between the heat cycles and the compression of the engine, you get it up to temp for some time. There is aprox 120 psi compression on 2 cylinders at every firing stroke. Those head bolts really take a lot of abuse.

I would think, since metal expands when heated, when cooled is optimal time. After a few times, at least 3 times if head was off ... should be no more movement. Twice probably gets it done, and 3 times is to be sure ... never hurts to do it 4 times though. I agree with this also, if after re-tourquing the head is a small dribble, give it time.

Is the engine overheating? A properly working cooling system and a 180 degree T-stat it should run at 180 degrees. No idea what temp your T stat is. If you are having a over heating issue, checking the T-stat is one of the first things to check ... I put them in a pan of water and as long as the T-stat opens before the water boils .... I assume it is working.

When I first got started in construction, as a grunt labor, moving sprinklers around on fresh concrete was one of my jobs. Let it setup over night, then water it for a few days to cool and slow down the drying process. Less chances for cracks etc... in the driveway of your new 500 thousand dollar house you just bought.

Years ago we would buy terracotta tiles from Mexico, they were hand made and then laid out in the sun to bake. Then a stray dog would wander across them and leave prints. They became very popular. Today, when you order x amount of tile, you have to open the boxes and separate the ones with paw prints. then lay them in some sort of path that makes sense. Just became so popular and a demand for the tiles with paw prints, today I think they have a hand stamp and randomly add them. I think it adds character and a lived in effect.

Maybe go get a new kitten, is the season and let it run across the pad? This lil girl we got yesterday, today she is figuring out the doggy door.