Took my 97 Formula out last night on its maiden voyage. What a beast, LE2 setup is very impressive, no traction at all, i can roast the tires, in first, second, or third. Its like driving on ice. I am going to have to do a 12 bolt, and suspension mods later this summer, but for now i am happy. Thanks to LLoyd, Shoebox, and Engineer, i read a lot of your posts, and you guys made it much easier for me to do. I had that thing in a million pieces, everything is new, and except for the Shortblock, i did it all myself. This is a great forum, when i figure out how to do a video, i will post one. Thanks again guys!

 

congrats - getting it running is a great feeling.

 

Did you also do the cam? What did you torque the heads down to?

 

Yes the cam also, i torqed the heads to factory specs, i believe it was 75-80ftlbs, i used the Impala head gaskets

 

Why not the head gaskets that Lloyd recommends?

 

There was a factory defect in those gaskets,when i was putting my long block together. You couldnt get them out of the package without damaging them, i PMed Lloyd, he said use the Impala gaskets. If you are planning on using them, do a search here to see if thats fixed.

 

Wow, I didn't know that. I used the ones Lloyd told me to use. They were a little hard to remove. What would get damaged on the gasket? I did look them over, but I might have missed it.

 

No, you probably would have seen it, parts of the gasket coating would have came off, and stuck to the plastic package, you would have seen the metal part of the gasket, with no coating. You are probably good, about 6 months ago, this was an issue, i didnt want problems, so i went with the Impala gaskets, a lot of people have used them here with success.

 

Nice to see one go back together.

 

Congrats. You plan on having it put on the dyno soon to see what it is making?

 

If these were the one made by mr. gasket which are .026 thick there have been many reports of packaging problems which causes the the gaskets to peel when removing them from the pack. There is also the Victor Rienz gasket which is also .026 thick but package much better and does not have this problem. I beleive that many NAPA stores carry them.

 

Yes it was the MR Gasket, Lloyd said dont use Victor Reinz, but Karl Elwein sells them, ans uses them, without a problem.

 

i am going to do a le2 h/c this next winter. you will have to get to the track and tell us how she does!!!!

 

The victor reinz is the mr. Gasket . It is packaged better. This was an issue 4 years ago when I did my motor. Next time, I will use the Victor Reinz gasket.

 

Before i take it to the track, i will need a 12 bolt,LCA's, and an aftermarket torque arm, i dont want to be embarassed there with a 2.9 60 ft time, and i dont want to drop the rear, i worked all winter on this thing, and now i am going to enjoy it for a while.