Wanting to silence the IAC hiss on acceleration synonymous with Holley Snipers whilst wanting to retain an open spacer and not wanting to stack spacers, I bought a relatively cheap 4 hole spacer on ebay. At 1" thick the idea was to mill out the bottom 3rd to allow cross talk between plenums on my dual plane. Pulled it out of the pack, set it up in my mill upside down and it rocked a little. Odd. Took out, went over to my face plate and sure enough it rocked a little on the top surface. Turned it over and it rocked a MILE! Ended up milling the pockets and then milling the top .010 to get it as pictured (not too worried about the middle bit) and a whopping .040 off the bottom to flatten it. Had I not wanted to mill the pockets I may never have noticed this until it gave me grief. It just shows the ability of some companies to fuck up even the simplest part.

Are C4 & C6 front seal the same?

Using the gaskets that come in the Felpro full set with iron block & alloy heads. Pretty sure you are supposed to put them on dry & I have done so before with no problem. For some reason I just have an urge to put some sealer on this time. Does it hurt to add some sealer (maybe non- hardening Permatex No.3) around the coolant holes also or is this a no no?

Have put this old cam back in my 390. Just about to degree it. Any suggestions on ICL or stick to the card?
It is a 390+.040 with TRW 2291F's, tidied up Edelbrock heads, Tri-y headers, Performer RPM & Holley Sniper EFI.

I decided to gap my piston rings tonight. This is a fresh build using a freshly bored 390 block & my existing 040 over L2291F's.

Slipped a top ring into No.1 and squared it with a piston. Gap is between 024-025. Put the second ring in & same deal. This seems excessive to me? Box says 040 but that is the vendors sticker which obscures part of the Hastings sticker. The Hastings sticker only has 4.050 & the ring sizes. I downloaded a QR code reader as that is visible & that came back with '2m574040' which suggests to me they are meant to be 040 over according to the original label. I even put a mic over the feeler gauge & of course no error there.

I then set about measuring bore & pistons. Measured pistons (well one) at 4.089 & the bore at 4.091, which is the .002 clearance we discussed so I can't see any errors there.

Is this gap too large? Ring box pics for shits & giggles below.

I will be using an old Crane Fireball 294 I used to run 20 years ago in a new build. I do not have matched lifters so will use new & follow normal cam break in procedures.

Is it worth swapping on some old worn out 80lb on the seat valve springs I have for this process or will 120 on the seat be fine?

So tonight I was doing a bit of prep work on a std bore 390 block before taking it to the machine shop. There were only three press in plugs in the oil galleries at the back & 4th hole was empty but had a thread. No worries I thought I will just use a screw in pipe plug & maybe even tap the others. Upon clean up the thread looked a little coarse. Yep, 1/2"NC. Yes I can make a headless type pipe plug from a bolt but I thought I might just use a bolt, leave the hex head on, put a copper washer under it & Loctite it in. Will a bolt head back there interfere with the flexplate?

So this low use engine had a set of ARP rod bolts in it when I tore it down 23 years ago. I put them back. It had a freshen up about 13 years ago. I put them back. Its soon to be assembled again. Will these go around again or is it time for new ones?

Just a street car. Standard rods. Saw 6000rpm a lot with occasional 6500 plus over those years.