Hey guys,

As some of you know, one of the problems I have been having was that when we put my LT1 intake onto my AFR 220 LT4 heads, the fit was bad and we broke a bolt at the back of the intake. Not only that, but we probably damaged several threads near the back of it. I think this caused the big oil leak, which caused the engine fire - therefore it may well be the source of all my problems.

Now you might be asking why the intake didnt fit - well it turns out that the AFR 220 heads have an extra 3/16" of material on them, effectively lifting the intake manifold up off the block! Without a spacer between the intake and the block to keep the intake in position, the intake would line up willingly with the first couple of bolts, but then would be out of position for the others. This is the likely cause of the thread damage.

I am hoping that I can pull the intake off, remove the broken bolt, repair the threads, put the AFR 3/16" block spacer in, and then reinstall the intake without a problem.

Does anyone know how hard it is to tap and die the intake bolt holes in the cylinder heads while they are in the car?

 

Craig, i'm not sure if you remember when I asked if the Intake would fit with those heads, but I did that day, and certinally not to say I told you so, but I bought up the point of if they fit cause I remembered reading ppl having issues with them...

I generally don't keep bugging people about the things I know (or think i know, hehe), as its mostly just from reading here almost every day for the past 5 years... and most of you guys have much more 'real' experience then me...

However, I'm glad that you are narrowing down the issues and I can't wait until you get the beast running its best... Its going to be one monster of car!!

Good luck dude, remember, have fun, and keep smiling, hehehe

forget the urges to sell it or burn it to the ground

jeff

 

I doubt you could tap the bolt holes with the head on the engine in the car... don't they usually put it on a bench and use a bench-mounted machine to tap the holes? I'd imagine it would be kind of hard to get the car on the bench

I once stripped a bolt on my block, one of the water pump bolts. I had to remove the engine and take it directly to a machine shop to get it fixed.

 

Hmm.. .yet someone else ignores practicly eveyrthig I tell them...


Well thats life.

No retaping for you & btw, there is no problem doing it while on car.

 

I have personally witnessed Bunker rethread a stripped area on the block during a header install .

Good luck to ya Craig.

 

Just use grease to catch all the shavings.

A magnet helps too.

 

Well, never mind, the spacers I mentioned before will do nothing to help the fit of the intake.

It turns out the heads are indeed milled (since the combustion chambers are 58cc down from 76cc). This has brought the head bolt-holes for the intake down closer to the block, which means the stock intake will not bolt on without it being milled down as well.

So now I have two options:

1.) Get rid of these 220's and run my 190's
2.) Spend over $300 to buy an LT4 intake, get it machined, and hope this works.

If anyone wants these AFR 220s with valves, springs, retainers, studs, and guideplates for $3600 canadian ($2400 US) they are yours, just email me. They flow 310+ intake and 240+ exhaust at .600 lift.

It would be great if I was able to let the car sit out of action, fiddling around to get these heads to work, but this is starting to get a bit ridiculous for a daily driver.

 

IMHO you need to get the LT4 intake anyway. I feel you need the bigger runner to get the most from the heads.

Also, I'm not sure about the milling issue Craig.

You can buy heads straight from AFR with different chamber sizes but they never make any mention of having to mill the intake as a result. Not to say these heads were not milled AFTER they were purchased.

Indeed, I have LARGER AFR chambers but there was no need to do anything to the intake.

My opinion? Sell the AFR's and put the 190's on.

 

I say just slap the 190's on, the gains you will see from the 220's will be very minimal on your set-up

 

Perhaps the dude that you have your 190's sold too will want the 220's instead?

but good luck man!!

jeff