Got the cams back from Delta, they looked great all serviced up, wasted no time installing them in the heads, installed the valve seals and springs then checked the lapping job I did.
The combustion chambers sealed up very well, no leaky valve seats so I did something right there.
After thet I installed the cams and plates. Those valve retainers are a bitch! I had to modify my cheap valve tool to let the valve stem fit between the fingers holing the spring tension and then use a pick and tweezers to get them in there. It took me all afternoon but I got them. Then I set the gaps at .06 and .08 but I'll probably re-gap them to 8-10 before I install the heads. I think most guys are happy with the gaps a little loose after the Delta cams go in. The adjusters had to go a lonnnng way down. Tells me they took a more than little meat of the cams for the regrind. I measured them expecting them to be taller like my HO cams on my Dakota, then when I found they were shorter I remembered they had to grind the entire lobe.
After that I painted the heads with aluminum engine paint and painted the valve covers with the remaining crinkle red I used on the intake, Then I baked the covers.
I bought a used EJ253 block and oil pan from a guy in Calgary (neverLift) and it should be here next week sometime. Also bought some ACL bearings and a gasket kit with rings from 42 Autosports. All the new parts should be here within a few weeks. After that I can assemble the short block and have a running engine again!
I want to bring the car on my holiday road trip this July and waiting for TWE to build me a short block has aged me. I'll still pick one up from them when/if they find me some forged pistons but I might be moving this August or September and I want to have the car running this summer. The cost to build a second block from the parts I already have is pretty cheap so I decided to go for it in case I'm waiting alot longer for TWE. plus I can break in these new cams/heads on a less than perfect rebuild and see if I gained any power with them before I put them on a built EJ257..
Still waiting on a spare ECU from another user on here to send out for a Delicious reflash when it gets here. Can anyone recommend a specific JEC reflash? I wanted the second ECU in case something doesnt work well with the new one that way I can go back to an OEM ECU and know it will work.
Dying to get my car back on the road again, the nice weather doesn't last long up here.
