Rapido Assembly

[FreeBeeTony]

While waiting for the correct heads to arrive, I began the assembly of everything else: tiing chain cover, harm balancer, oil pump/pan, windage tray, p/s pump, alternator, fuel pump, new starter, new circ pump, harness.........

 

[KaGee]

Re: Rapido Assembly

Looking good!

 

[Daddy5295]

Re: Rapido Assembly

Hey Tony don't some of those brackets bolt to the heads? Looks like it in the pics.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Rapido Assembly

Yes........but only (2) bolts right now.........will be easy enough to reove when the right heads arrive.

 

[thrasher]

Re: Rapido Assembly

Can I ask what the small unit on the bottom left of picture 3 is? It is driven by the belt on the middle groove of the crankshaft pulley?I can see the power steering pump up at the top right, so just wondering what the other pump/unit is?

Gary

 

[John_S]

Re: Rapido Assembly

Looking good, Tony.

Might as well pull and label the pushrods and rocker arms, and remove the heads. Surfaces should clean up easy, given it wasn't run. Headbolts will need cleaning (sealant), and run tap through threads.

Or are you waiting to confirm the right heads were shipped?

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Rapido Assembly

That is the raw water pump you see in the lower left..........

Yes John...........I am waiting to recv the "correct" heads before I take these off. Why do I need to label the push rods and rockers?

 

[John_S]

Re: Rapido Assembly

It is not as important as flat hyd lifters, but it is better to keep the pushrods and rocker arms matched, being it is a rebuilt, vs new. It is recommended in the service manuals, though. Rapido might have polished the rods and sockets so there wouldn't be any concern. It is easy enough to keep them labeled and put back the same, so why risk it?

 

[redjmp]

Re: Rapido Assembly

Looking good!
Any possibility you can do a compression test before pulling off the heads?
Would go a long way to clearing up the confusion as to whether or not those are 64 or 58 cc chambers on the '059's. We do know that the 062's are 64 cc's so a decrease in compression when you bolt them on would mean that the 059's are indeed 58 cc's.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Rapido Assembly

No plans on doind a compression test at this time............Raul says he is sending me "906" heads out today...........

 

[redjmp]

Re: Rapido Assembly

So you don't really care if your compression ratio changes?
How will you know if you have the right type of pistons in that motor?
Depending on what is what you could end up with anywhere from 8 to 1 all the way to 10.5 to 1.
If that engine is built with the right pistons for a 58 cc chamber, then bolting on new heads with a 64 cc chamber will lower your compression quite a bit.
That would result in a noticeable loss of power.
Maybe you'd even be losing more power than you would leaving those 059's on.
The 906's are the same as the 062's. 64 cc's.
I would never trust a guy who would try to pull the wool over my eyes like that! Trying to pawn off 305 heads on a 350 is not very cool.
Make sure you have the right pistons for those heads.And the right thickness of head gasket.
That is my delema right now, what pistons and gaskets to build my motor with.

 

[John_S]

Re: Rapido Assembly

He will know what pistons he has once he takes the heads off. I imagine they will be standard GM -12cc ones, but don't know for sure. Visual inspection will be much more reliable than a PSI reading. Hard to believe Raipido would match specific pistons to a 305 head on a 350. Now if he has flat top pistons, I image the engine will have to go back!

As far as the heads, it would be hard to tell 58 from 64cc from visual. Would need to do liquid test, but Tony doesn't need it, because the heads he is getting are 64cc.

 

[Buttanic]

Re: Rapido Assembly

That GM crate engine deal sounds mighty good now. All new and all the right parts

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Rapido Assembly

That's what I was thinking John..........I told Raul that I wanted "dished" pistons when I placed the order............will know when I take the heads off.

And yes Buttanic............maybe I should have went with a crate motor.......but this came in a crate too!!!

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Rapido Assembly

Recv'd the 350 (906 castings) heads today..........they look good..........

Plan on installing these heads and the intake this w/e.........might even attempt to install on Sunday!

Here is a question......if I prime the oil pump and maybe turn the engine over a few times by hand and prime some more and install the distributor and then don't start it until next w/e..........will I need to re-prime before the initial start???

 

[delsol]

Re: Rapido Assembly

looks like my rapido...nice. looking good
bob

 

[Buttanic]

Re: Rapido Assembly

It's not going to be any different than not running it for a week or more once it's in the boat. All you are doing is filling the filter and all the oil passages so it doesn't have to run as long before oil pressure builds up. Pour some oil over the rocker arms too.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Rapido Assembly

Tony -

For mine I used a long screwdriver bit cut off and stuck in a drill to turn the oil pump just prior to start, just to be sure lots of oil was in circulation. I ran it until I could see oil cascading back through the engine into the oil sump.

Then I started the engine maybe a few minutes later.

Erik

 

[Bondo]

Re: Rapido Assembly

For mine I used a long screwdriver bit cut off and stuck in a drill to turn the oil pump just prior to start, just to be sure lots of oil was in circulation. I ran it until I could see oil cascading back through the engine into the oil sump.

That Helps,......... But it only Oils the very bottom end of the motor......

Without the Distributer Body in it's Hole,......
The Cam oil galley sees No oil or oil pressure,+ of course, No oil will get to the top end of the motor.......

You'd probably be farther ahead by just turning it over on the Starter, with the coil wire grounded out......
With the Sparkplugs Out would be even Better........

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Rapido Assembly

Swapped the heads out on Saturday and installed on Sunday..........hope to finish the install during the week and start it over next w/e.

I did notice that the 305 Vortec heads do not have the heart shaped combustion chamber...........does this mean that these heads do not have the same benefit as the 350 heads do, i.e. a gain of 30+ HP by installing the vortecs?

I'm glad I swapped them out after noticing the difference......