When I bought the 428, it looked pretty
good, but unfortunately the flange on the #1 exhaust cylinder was
broken. I had to take the head off and get the flange welded. So both
heads came off, the engine was good, but not perfect. I figured that I
would repair the minor things which were wrong. Get it all running,
and then some time in the not too distant future, perhaps rebuild the
engine.
There appeared to be a noticeable about of oil fouling on the
plugs, for some cylinders, and possibly a head gasket leak. When I
took off the intake manifold, it did not look like the intake gasket
was sealing properly. This could have been where the oil fouling on
the plugs was coming from,
Before I re assembled the engine I was careful to clean all of the
gasket mating surfaces well, using a scraper, scotch-brite pad, then
paint thinner to degrease, and finally acetone, just before applying
the gaskets.
The intake was sandblasted and cleared. I spun the oil pump drive
to redistribute the oil prior to dropping the distributor back on. The
carb was de-grimed, and the paint was touched up on the block.
I have a nice set of Lemans valve covers which will replace the M/T
valve covers that came with the engine.
A few things remain to do on the engine. I hope to have it ready to
start (out of the car) by next weekend.
