Too late... decided to tear it down. Already have the hood off......

That was the right thing to do....now you can sleep at night and not worry about the engine having problems.

I've had too many things that indicated the job wasn't done properly. Wrong bolts, leaks, etc. so I decided this would be a great learning experience for me and a way to make sure everything is the way it should be when I start it back up. I wanted to go to that next level of restoring the condition of the truck anyway and this will give me a chance to clean up the doghouse and put in the power brakes. Doesn't look to me to be enough room to install a booster under the truck with the headers and exhaust so I think I'll go with the firewall install. This will be a good time to get that stuff done while the engine is out.
Dave

Hi Dave
If you want to keep your brakes under the truck you might want to check a hydroboost system. They dont take up much room and are suppossed to work real well. Their is also an electric booster that will fit in tight spots also.
Good luck.
Kim

Cool, I"ll check them out. I'd like to keep the brakes where they are. Just a quick assessment from laying on my back under the truck but it didn't look like much room under there with the exhaust where it is. Talked to the guy that built the engine today and he had talked to the manufacturer of the heads I have and seems there is a problem with the guides leaving the heads a little tall on the block. Didn't understand it fully because I'm new at the engine thing ( but learning fast.... maybe too fast ) but I've agreed to pull the engine and take it back down to Georgia. I started thinking that if a small piece of this rod gets in the wrong place I could have a real expensive learning class. I'll take it back to him and let him deal with it. If it blows after that, it will be in his lap. I'll learn enough this trip just taking the engine out.
Dave

By the way Kim... how is the 57 coming?

Good choice to take the motor back to the builder.Peace of mind never comes cheap or easy.

Its coming real slow. I try to do a little each day but life just gets in the way sometimes.
Kim

Just about ready to bring it all out. Started a journal today. Gonna have the trans rebuilt and a shift kit put in it. I'm trying to do everything I can think of that needs done while the motor is out. I think I'm going to try a high torque starter. The speed shop said the compression on the motor is about 10 to 1 so my cranking problen could be in the stock starter.
Dave

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Dave if it is not a lock up transmission don't go too high on the stall of the converter.You don't want a higher stall converter than the rpm you cruise around at.I run a 2300 stall converter in mine.That is what Expert transmission recommended for the weight of the truck.

I think they told me this one had a 2500 in it. Seemed to work fine for the driving I was doing. I'm not sure what gears are in the rear end. I think I'm going to change them to high 3s or maybe 4. I'm not going to run this truck over 80 miles an hour and the low gears are just too much fun.

I have had 390,373 and 456 gears.I run 31x10.5 tires and a overdrive transmission.With the 373 I was geared to tall for in town and my trans didn't want to shift to second till 30mph just feather footing it around and on the highway I found myself driving at 90mph every were I went.390 were still a little tall in town.I live in a little town and the in town limit is 25 to 35 depending on were.456 is to low without overdrive but it is great for in town.With .70 over drive I am at 2500 rpm at 70 so I get 14 mpg on the highway and the lower gears brought my in town mileage up to 10 from the 7 I was getting.If you go to a 4x4 website you can get gear ratios for what size tire and what rpm the engine will run to help you decide what is right for your transmission and driving application.If you don't have overdrive the 2500 stall converter and 373 gears would put you were you want to be and still turn low 16's in a 1/4 mile if you run a 30 inch tire.

That sounds like a good place to start. Tires are about 31X 16. I don't have an overdrive and not planning on putting one in. The 52 had 4.10 rear and running stock tires and it would shift into second before you could make a turn from the stop sign. Little too much. I'll check out one of the sites you suggested.
Dave

Dave I went to the rearend category and typed in gear ratio charts in the search function and on the first post if you scroll down about 6 posts there is a link to a chart to do just what we are talking about

Cool. Thanks. Been checking it out. I'll have to get out a calculator to figure out the difference with the tires. I'm running 31 x 18.5 x 15. I'll crawl under it tomorrow and see what rear end gears I'm running now. If the tire calculator is right, I've been running a lot faster than I thought. If I read it right, the 31s will be pushing me almost 20 mph faster at 60. Not sure how this translates to the speedo.
Dave