I re-assembled the engine (except for the headers) today. However, I decided to make one small modification to the lower intake manifold. I noticed when I disassembled the engine that the sealant in the center sections of the lower intake (where it touches the engine block) was "walking" out of the seam between the intake and engine block. The stresses from heating and cooling (aluminum and iron expand and contract at different rates) must have broken it loose. I decided to cut grooves in the bottom of the intake to help hold the sealant in place. I used a Dremel tool with a rotary file to cut the groove. See photo below.



I've seen people do this before, and apparently it works pretty well.

Tomorrow, I plan to do some work on the headers.

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 10-02-2017).]

Yeah, looks like I'm barely going to make the deadline. I'll probably have the car back on the road Thursday. I just hope everything works right, or things could get pretty stressful.

Anyway, it took 2 full days to clean up the headers. After an acid bath, lots of scrubbing and grinding, more chemicals, and more grinding and scrubbing, the headers are finally clean enough to paint. The rust on the firewall-side manifold and Y-pipe was pretty stubborn. But I'm stubborn too.

Here you see the headers ready to paint:



The first coat of POR-20 is drying as I type this. Tomorrow, I'll put on a second coat. And hopefully, I'll be able to re-install the headers (and the drivetrain) on Wednesday.

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 10-02-2017).]

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 03-26-2009).]

[This message has been edited by FierociousGT (edited 04-16-2009).]