biting you in the ass

[zoideraserb]

Well i got the Beretta apart and found out what the most likely cause of the problems are/were.. First off, the fuel lines were both loose. And the only intake bolts that were tightened to what they should be were the upper intakes. The lower ones were not very tight at all, and there was actually 3 head bolts that i could turn with my fingers. So despite my plans to just replace the intake gasket set i am now going to be pulling the heads off tomorrow and putting new gaskets in there and torquing them down to specs, and then the same with the lower and upper intakes. The only progress I actually made today was pulling the Distributor Plug/Oil pump drive out and putting a new o-ring on to replace the crumbled one on it. Hopefully that was the only cause of the oil leak. So does anyone have any advice for me? I'm debating on whether I should take the heads in and have them checked for straight.

[55trucker]

Given that you've been troubled with this problem for ....how long?.....Yeah...get the heads checked for straightness (better safe than sorry)...loose head bolts is not a happy situation for the heads (possible warping)...don't forget to get a new set of bolts as well as they are TTY bolts. A service manual is good to have within reach.

[zoideraserb]

Given that you've been troubled with this problem for ....how long?.....Yeah...get the heads checked for straightness (better safe than sorry)...loose head bolts is not a happy situation for the heads (possible warping)...don't forget to get a new set of bolts as well as they are TTY bolts. A service manual is good to have within reach.

Well i have a straight edge available to me but i'm still up in the air as to just put them on the edge or if i should have them checked out. and as far as the tty head bolts, yea i already bought a new set and they are awaiting to go in tomorrow with the hg's after i pull the heads and check them out one way or another. But do you or anyone have any advice as what to run through the oil to help clean out the old gunk and any possible water in the system? Seafoam? ATF? Or just run it for a few hundred miles and then do a oil change? This is my first hg replacement on a 60* motor. Not to horrible really to be honest

[60dgrzbelow0]

Well i have a straight edge available to me but i'm still up in the air as to just put them on the edge or if i should have them checked out. and as far as the tty head bolts, yea i already bought a new set and they are awaiting to go in tomorrow with the hg's after i pull the heads and check them out one way or another. But do you or anyone have any advice as what to run through the oil to help clean out the old gunk and any possible water in the system? Seafoam? ATF? Or just run it for a few hundred miles and then do a oil change? This is my first hg replacement on a 60* motor. Not to horrible really to be honest

The popular method is to place a sturdy Mechanic's Rule or Straight Edge on it very thin edge...from both opposing corners ...and then straight down the center-line. The tolerances here are a bit unforgiving... .00015 for Iron Heads ...and .00012 for Aluminum. Best to have them checked and Magna-Fluxed for cracks by a competent Machine Shop...and take all the guess work out of the equation... and made Cast Iron Skillet Flat as soon as possible.

[60dgrzbelow0]

"Search" string = Seafoam

[55trucker]

If you do decide to run them over to a machine shop don't be afraid to pick the shop foremans brain for info. Ask him if when he looks at them (besides checking for straightness) if he feels they should have a flycut (this could be as little as .001") done to put on a good smooth microfinish on the surface. Alloy heads need to slide on the gasket as they heat up at a different rate than cast iron does and if the surface is rough this can hinder that process. I've never owned an engine that was so filthy inside as to need a Seafoam (follow the suggestion above for Seafoam). Any engine work I've been involved with where possibly coolant has got into the oil before or after the heads came off I've dumped the old oil (obviously), I've pre-oiled the engine with fresh oil/filter and spun up the oil pump for about 10 mins with a 1/2" drill, a long 1/4" drive extension with a socket on the end and a distributor casing with the shaft assembly removed (I keep one of these around always). This will circulate the clean oil throughout the engine without starting it up. Afterwards drop the oil and pour in fresh oil when the engine is finished.

[robertisaar]

ATF in the motor oil has been an old hot-rodders trick for a LONG time... i wouldn't want it in there for too long though.

[zoideraserb]

Well i got her all done. The only snags were that cylinder #3's bottom exhaust bolt was stripped and i had to unbolt the downpipe and the cross pipe and then pound a 7/16th on it to get it out. I took them in to the machine shop and had them checked. They cam out good, but he recommended that they clean them up a little and he only charged me like 20bux to clean them all up nice and to clean up the gasket surface. Putting it all back together was like a hellish erector set though, working over 2 days time I tend to forget what goes where. But i got it all done .. And never trust autozone.com for the firing pattern on the coil packs... They had me all screwed up and eventually i just looked up a haynes manual on google and got it done.