Short Block is built. Time to turn it into a Long Block. Why is it called a Long Block when it’s the same length as Short Block? They should really be called a Tall Blocks…

We had the heads prepped by Barrington Engines – Cylinder Head machining and Prep is covered here.

Cylinder Head Installation

Tools Needed:

• Torque wrench
• Hammer
• Clean rag
• Brake Clean
• Drill and drill bits (if modifying head gaskets)

Important Specs:

• Head Stud Nut Torque – 80 ft-lbs
  • Verify torque spec with chosen hardware manufacture.

Clean deck surface with some brake cleaner on a clean rag. Make sure not to get any brake clean in the cylinder bores. I took time to make sure all the lint from the rag I was using was cleared off the deck too, but that might be overkill…

*Insert pic of clean decks*

Install head dowels. Ours were already installed at the machine shop. A lot of times the machinist needs the dowel installed when boring/honing the block. If they were not previously installed, they can easily be tapped in with a hammer.

Modify the head gaskets (NOT REQUIRED). This engine will start without additional water lines to the back of the intake manifold, so we’ll modify the gaskets to promote flow to the back of the heads.

Lots of engine builders claim the coolant holes in sbc head gaskets are designed to be the optimal size – quite frankly they’re wrong. They are often too restrictive, and the symmetrical layout causes the back of the engine to run hotter than the front. We’ll discuss this in another post. (insert link here later).

Enlarging the water holes in the center and back of the gasket will increase water flow to the back of the head. This will result in a more uniform temps across all cylinders. Overall water flow increases as well, improving the rate we can pull heat out of the engine.

To keep from bending the gasket while drilling I stuck a spare set of dowel pins in the heads and placed the gaskets on the heads while drilling them out.

I increased all 5 holes shown to 1/2” dia using a simple step drill bit. BE CARFUL not to nick any other part of the gasket or head. Make sure the clean all the gasket shavings out of the heads.

Install The Heads. Pro tip – set the gasket and the heads onto the deck with just the head dowel pins installed, THEN install the studs. This is way easier than trying to slide either the heads or the gaskets down over the studs.

Install the Head Studs. Thread studs into block only hand tight. If using a stock block – apply thread sealant to threads going into the block. If using a Dart block, thread the studs in dry.

Install Head Stud Nuts. Lube nuts, washers, and upper stud threads with lube provided by ARP. Torque nuts to value specified by ARP (80 ft-lbs) in the sequence shown below.

BOOM – Heads are on. Next up? Valvetrain and intake installation.