No Denny, it wasn't signs of impending failure on the top end like you are thinking, it was (and still is) a complete, new rebuild, I had installed positive type seal on the valves, now I don't know if it was the seals or the fella didn't give me the proper clearance on the exhaust valves. Whatever the case, I had 3 or 4 valves seize causing a lot of strain on the cam, it hadn't actually lost any metal, just a couple of spots that were obviously the beginnings of spalling, barely noticeable on two of the lobes. Which if I had left it in would have failed spectacularly somewhere soon down the road. I like Sweets' take on it, you have the OPTION of removing the cover without removing the pan. And as I don't have shims, I will never need to adjust them. If you are assembling your engine with shims, it might pay to leave them alone. I still think the valve seals should have worked though......
Last edited by brokenhead; 09/06/2014 4:41 PM.
