First off, we love our Hemis… right? and the problems they come with… right? Just like a puppy they grow on us.
You’ve already got a lot of good advice from other members.
Lucas didn’t cause your misfire.
If you haven’t already taken the heads to the machine shop ask if they can vacuum test them and check valve seats. I’m in the middle of this process as well and my shop offered that as part of the jet cleaning. They are also doing new seals and putting the new springs that I’m supplying on the heads after cleaning. $340 for the pair. I’m in cali so your prices might be even cheaper.
Whoever said don’t use OEM is crazy. In my case it wasn’t an MDS lifter that failed but a standard lifter. Comp cams, summit ect.. is all re-boxed cheap chinese crap. (Some people may get lucky every once in awhile) I know the price points is tempting but stray away.
Your doing great and I commend you for tackling this project because there’s a few people on here that seem to give advice on the topic that have never actually done it on their own.
Keep us all updated on your progress and first start up! We’re rooting for you!
another thing, I’m going to do this and it may just make me feel better but when you have the timing cover off you’ll have access to the front of the pan, dump the cheapest oil you can find with the drain plug off and try an flush that pan out, same with lifter journals and any oil jackets. Just becareful you don’t dump oil in your water jackets. Lol
Also worth noting… put your old lifters back in before cleaning your block mating surface. No reason to introduce more crap than already is floating around. Not a lot of people mention that but it’s an other piece of mind and relevant aspect. Most people use an sos pad or 3M roloc disc both those are impregnated with silica, that dust will eat bearings. Just be mindful when cleaning. Stuffing jackets with paper towels ect…
All solid advise! That’s amazing! Yes, the people here have given me the best advice. But since I’m not a mechanic by trade, I agree that there’s a lot of stuff you just “have to know”. For instance; I’ve tinkered with cars enough to have heard the words “resurface cylinder heads”, so that was a decision for me. Do I just do what I was told in all the how-tos for this project, which did not really mention that it’s vital to get that part done? Well, fortunately the heads just got dropped off to the shop yesterday! They mentioned doing everything you just said, including seals! Price is $400, maybe they took me for a ride there, but it’s a dude with a shop in a no-A/C shed in his backyard, so I’m happy to support local!
But yes, I’m finding there’s a lot more to this than “take it off, put new cam in, put it back on”. Respect for that trade, for sure. I struggled trying to figure out the deck cleaning too. Green scotchbrite? Someone says no bc it will get into all the oil passages….i say, “wait I have to cover all the oil passages? Won’t an oil change just flush it out”. Yea….use some sense. I ultimately went with brass brush and purple power! But that’s a great idea, putting the old lifters back in! Wish I would’ve known that 2 days ago, while I was stuffing paper towels everywhere!!
I’ve always been big on OEM stuff. I work in the automotive industry, specifically a metrology engineer. In previous places, we used to do a lot of failure testing/measuring on OEM vs aftermarket, on bearings, rocker arms, tappers, internals etc. and the reality was, OEM was far superior. People are very quick to call the heavy hitters (Ford, Fiat, GM) penny pinching companies, but they are far superior to the alternatives in my complete experience.
I often wonder why everyone here actually cares to take their own downtime to answer my dumb questions on this forum, instead of telling me to “take it to a mechanic if you don’t know”. So the support is incredibly appreciated here! I plan to see this project through, even if it takes me the next 6 weekends, and I’m far from done. For instance; I don’t know how tf to seat a cylinder head gasket….but guess I’m gonna find out! Fortunately everyone here is very supportive so thank you all!!
So I'm okay with the manifolds warping again. I really wanted to put headers on to avoid any question, but that's just more money than I'm willing to put in.
