I recently bought a set of the Olds heads with upgraded springs, a fuel pump and machine work for pump clearance. I am looking at the heads and
am wondering if there is enough clearance between the bottom portion of the spring and the rocker stud pedestal. I can slide a piece of paper between the spring and the pedestal so they are not touching, my concern is they flexing etc under load, and, from directly above it looks like the spring overlaps the pedestal. Thoughts??????

 

have any thoughts on these pic and the clearance?

 

I would be concerned about the pedestal clearance for sure. Looks as if there is plenty of meat there to clearance, but I would contact ProComp or whomever you bought them from and let them know your concerns before proceeding further.

 

There shouldn't be any side to side motion with the valve springs but like you say under heavy loads would have me concerned.

 

The springs set in a pocket on the heads. They can't really move over up against those boses. Now, I really don't know what the need is for that meat in that area of the head, but I don't think you will have problems with the springs. If you are worried take your die grinder to them, but, unfortunately you will most liely have to disassemble the heads to get to the area, and of course clean them up good after all the grinding.

Let us know if the car picks up with the heads!!

One more note, be sure to use the multilayer head gaskets with your new aluminum heads, or you will be losing the head seal fairly quickly.

 

Thanks for the input. I got them from Mondello and finally got a hold of him- he says they are fine and he has sold a number of these heads as well as used them in builds he does with no issues. Care to elaborate on your head gasket statement? I have not heard that before.

 

Sure, I put a set of Ebrocks on my 455 a couple of years ago and used the Felpro blue head gaskets, just like I have done since the old steel shim gaskets got to be unavailable. I almost immediately had blown head gasket sealing issues. I believe I got advice off ROP that you should not use the single layer gaskets with aluminum heads because they can't deal with the differences in the expansion and contraction rates of the aluminum head and the cast iron block. As I remember, I also found information on Edelbrock's website. BTW, I was using ARP 7'16" head studs on that motor at the time, so it was NOT a bolt issue, nor a flatness of the block or head issue. I would suggest talking to Mondello if that is where you got the heads, but be warned MLS gaskets, like Cometic are not cheap. Through Summit they are over $100 each, not per pair!!

Best of Luck!!

 

Thanks, I'll check with Bernard and see what he uses and sells.........at this point in my build, what the heck is another 100$

 

Well actually $200, but a set of blue Felpros is about $40 now, so its only another $160. I have read in a couple places that the Cometics can be reused if you clean them up good, but I haven't tried that to date.

We'll find out how well the Cometics can do pretty soon. The new "bullet" we're putting in the '65 is knocking on the door of 14 to 1 compr. so, hopefully they are worth their price!!