Subscribe to Precision Engine
Sign up for our E-newsletter
Using my Goodson 1.8″ – 2.6″ valve spring height gauge, we set final spring installed height at 2.150″.
The original valve guides protruded a tad too high for adequate retainer-to-guide-seal clearance.
Using a 1/2″ guide cutter and an 11/32″ pilot, I cut the guides down by 0.147″.
During intake manifold and gasket test fitting, I discovered that only minor removal of vertical head port edges was needed, along with a bit of gasket trimming at the port bottoms.
The Dart billet rail spacers, at 0.375″ thick, provided a perfect cure for the large block-to-manifold rail gap. The spacers are already drilled with holes to provide the option of securing them with roll pins or screws.
This dry test fit shows the front rail spacer in place.
In order to insure against spacer movement, I installed a pair of 1/8″ roll pins in the front and rear block rails.
I set a roll pin depth to establish the top of the pin below the spacer top surface.
The billet rail spacers fit perfectly and match the deck angles. I didn’t need to modify the spacers at all, and was able to install them straight out of the box.
Before applying RTV, I masked off the face of the spacers and the adjacent areas of the block and heads, to prevent smearing RTV.
Once the RTV sets up, the masking is pulled off to reveal a clean and tidy exposed surface area.
The special (and optional) inboard 7/16″-to- 3/8″ Dart inboard head studs were torqued to 50 ft-lbs using a 7/16″ 12-point torque wrench extension.
To access the lower row of cylinder head stud nuts (shrouded by the exhaust bosses), I used a 2″-long 1/2″ 12-point extension on my torque wrench. In order to achieve the desired 65 ft-lbs, I compensated for the extension by setting the torque wrench at 57 ft-lbs. I obtained this wrench from my local Snap-On dealer.
I used ARP 12-point stainless steel intake manifold bolts, tightened to 35 ft-lbs, per Dart’s specs.
The Profiler tunnel ram intake manifold features cast-in bosses for those who plan to tap the runners for nitrous injectors.
Tags: ARP, ASSEMBLY, CYLINDER HEAD FASTENER TORQUE, CYLINDER HEADS, DART, GOODSON, INTAKE MANIFOLD, PROFILER, VALVE GUIDES, VALVE SPRINGS
