New heads on, finally

It's a good thing that we're familiar with planning because this job has needed a lot of it. Sourcing the parts was fairly easy. Bolts, gaskets, heads, manifolds and sealant were all ordered and delivered, but getting all the heavy stuff (heads, exhaust manifolds) from our house the the boatyard and then getting it all up onto the boat was a new problem.

That last lift from the ground to the swim platform was, frankly, beyond us.

We asked our boating friend, Stu Noelte, (who no longer has a boat but is the art teacher for nearby Portland High School) to give us a hand. He showed up right on time and we lugged the parts from our station wagon to the boat. Amazing how easy it can be for two people.

Now it was time to begin assembling everything.

The last thing to come off was the first to go back on, quite naturally, and that was the heads. We struggled with getting the outboard head in place but eventually did it. The inboard head was a lot easier and we were able to bolt them both down. Torque for each bolt (according the Chrysler) was first, finger tight, then 50 ft.lbs. in a particular sequence, then a final 105 ft.lbs on each of the 20 bolts. (We said 120 ft.lbs on the video but that was wrong).

I think we've forgotten what 105 ft. lbs. really means. That, at least for us, was a big pull, and we'll be sending out for new underwear soon. But, we got it done.

On Sunday, we mounted the rocker arm assemblies. We followed the exact sequence we used in disassembly and every pushrod, rocker arm and bolt is back in its original position. We added Permatex Assembly Lube to every friction point. We also vacuumed out the valley under the intake manifold and soaked up all the oil that was trapped in there. That removed a lot of sediment that we'd just as soon not get into our new heads.

Next up is reinstalling the intake manifold, the last big, heavy engine component, and we'll take a whack at that next weekend.

Good Advice

Before we left our summer slip and knowing that we were going to do this head replacement project over the winter, we asked a good friend if he had any advice. Our dockmate, Ron, took the time to tell us about some things that we'd want to pay careful attention to because he knew a lot about Mopar engines.

Ron crossed the bar in early December and he is missed.

Every time we set a gasket (be careful with certain of them, he told us) or turn in a new bolt (you need all new bolts, just do it, he said) we think of him.

Don't know how much more we can say except thanks. We think of you often, Ron, and will continue to do so for as long as we're around.