Mild pump gas 454 build and dyno test.

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The camshaft installed, the double roller timing set is installed. Make sure the oil galley plugs are put into the block first, otherwise you might forget and have a huge internal oil leak. The camshaft is "degreed" or checked with a degree wheel to make sure it's installed as it was designed. In this instance, I had to use the 4 degree retard position(after the photo was taken, since it clearly shows it straight up, or at 0 degrees), and installed the 112 LC cam at 110.5, or 1 1/2 degrees advanced, primarily to counter the affect of the timing chain stretching.

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I have taken a strong liking to the Cloyes two piece timing covers, with the built in adjustable cam thrust adjustment. I think it's practically fool proof, and saves a bunch of time cutting down a thrust bumper for proper cam end play. The Cloyes cover does not include a front seal, so don't forget to buy one, and it should be carefully pressed into place. I use gasket cinch to help insure there are no leaks around the perimeter of the seal. I also care fully oil the thrust prior to bolting it onto the cover, and had previously oiled the thrust bearing behind the billet timing gear, as well as putting some oil on the chain and gears.

[obnoxious001]

I have taken a strong liking to the Cloyes two piece timing covers, with the built in adjustable cam thrust adjustment. I think it's practically fool proof, and saves a bunch of time cutting down a thrust bumper for proper cam end play. The Cloyes cover does not include a front seal, so don't forget to buy one, and it should be carefully pressed into place. I use gasket cinch to help insure there are no leaks around the perimeter of the seal. I also care fully oil the thrust prior to bolting it onto the cover, and had previously oiled the thrust bearing behind the billet timing gear, as well as putting some oil on the chain and gears.

[obnoxious001]

I like the one piece pan gaskets,, not so wild about the bright blue Fel Pro against a black engine, so I use grey ROL gaskets, which appear to be identical to the more expensive GM gaskets. I tried some red Permatex gasket adhesive on the front seal instead of my normal Gasketcinch. Other than the two ends, I use just a tiny bit of silicone at all 4 corners, both between the block and gasket, and also between gasket and pan, and a small bead on the bottom of the pan gasket ends.

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After taking the 990 heads to the machine shop to be cleaned and get a freshen up valve job, it was evident they were a nice piece, polished chambers,, and ported intake and exhaust runners. The roller valve springs get checked on the Rimac spring tester to verify that they are what I thought I was buying., and then set at 1.900" installed height for about 225 lbs on the seat.

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The heads then get a treatment similar to the block. All surfaces masked, spark plugs holes included, intake surface masked and trimmed to match the intake gaskets.

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The Fel Pro 1027 head gaskets are set onto a carefully cleaned block surface, and the head surfaces are also cleaned to help insure proper sealing. Then they are bolted onto the block with a new set of ARP cylinder head bolts and torqued according to ARP instructions, using a high quality pipe thread sealer on the threads since the head bolt holes go into the water jackets in the block.

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Although there is a large number of roller lifters available, I chose to use the new Comp Endure X lifter with the forced roller oiling. The rockers are a really nice set of used Comp Pro Magnum rockers, with a brand new set of ARP poly locks. Pushrods are Comp .080" wall one piece pushrods. Length was determined with adjustable pushrods set to give proper geometry. The lifters get soaked for a bit in a mix of STP and oil, so that it won't all run off right away

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Once Dave decided he wanted a roller cam, I suggested changing the original dual plane intake to a single plane, figuring it would work better with higher rpm. I tried a Dart single plane intake, but it would not clear the ridge on the 990 heads, so I spent a few minutes thinking about grinding the edge of the intake,, or removing the heads and grinding them,,, wasn't excited about either. I had offered to get the Dart intake polished, but Dave declined, so while I was looking over the problem, I decided to get a polished Professional Products intake that would compliment the look of the new Quick Fuel carb, Rex stainless steel scoop, and fabricated Obnoxious Racing Engines valve covers that still had not arrived.

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Ok,, still no valve covers, but had to get it on the dyno so I didn't miss my turn. I put some cast aluminum ones on for the dyno test, which was probably a fine idea anyway to keep the new fabricated ones from being scratched up. I chose the dyno at Sissell's Racing Heads, mostly because I know Mike Kirby and trusted him to take good care of the engine I spent so much time putting together, and I knew I would be allowed to be as involved as I wanted to be with it as well.