New SIM head pics. Use or send back?

[miliman13]

Have you installed yet? If not take the opportunity to measure piston to valve clearance just to make sure you don't bend a valve later.

 

[boost97gst]

I'd bring it to another machinist for a second opinion if I were you. Just a thought. When you get it back, take an hour out of your day and flip it over with spark plugs installed and just top the chambers off with some sort of liquid. I used ATF. If it leaks out the ports, it's not sealing. When I had my own machinist return my head back to me, he said the valves were never seated. And I did the same test after my machinist handed it back to me and not a single drop went past. If my head can do that, so can yours.

Use atf huh? Ok, i will do that. Im gonna do that first, take a video of before and after, then going to lightly torque down my old Cometic and post a vid. The head comes in tomorrow!! If my lower back decides to play nice then i'll have some videos up this weekend.
I still have to put my stub shaft in the rear bs and do a million other things. The biggest fear i have at this point, aside from the valves sealing, is putting the front case, seals, etc on properly so nothing leaks.
I have OEM complete gasket kit(cost is insane, btw) and have heard some people use copper spray on the front case, some use that heavy duty gray silicone very lightly and some say just use nothing at all and make sure its torqued perfectly. That would suck so fn bad to have everything together, complete the awd swap only to leak from somewhere down there. I'm veering off topic but i'd like to hear what others say about mainly the front case gasket or any other tricky seals i might run in to. First time assembling a block from scratch(minus rotating assembly). Want to take my time and do it right
Thanks to all for support and knowledge, i really appreciate it guys

 

[lasthope05]

I like to use Permatex High Tack spray sealant on all paper gaskets. It dries tacky so it sticks to the surface of parts instead of falling off. It also seals the gasket as it is oil/coolant resistant so seepage cant occur.

I only use copper spray on metal gaskets( IE MLS, manifold gaskets...) and rtv is only for oil pans, valvecover corners, transmission rebuilds, diff cover.

 

[crimsondragon]

The block I have in there now is a first time assembly. I used copper gasket spray, 15 minute wait, then sandwiched it in with the proper torque on the front case. I did develop an oil leak and had to take apart the timing belt area to find it but it was not from the case gasket itself. It's not hard once you assemble it and realize what you would need to take apart to troubleshoot. It helps to have the splash cover that lines the wheel wheel off. I think the hardest part for me redoing the timing side of everything is the water pump pulleys.

 

[boost97gst]

Jafro was the one who recommended a very light coat of the gray trv on the front case. Fwiw. The permatex tack spray seems good though. I wont have much free time this weekend it turns out but maybe enough to get in and start assembly at least.

 

[boost97gst]

Well, things finally got going. Hired a local dsm guru and thank god he took my job. My back was far too blown out and in fact i was on an operating table 20 days after my last post in this thread.
Decided to let a skilled hand do the hard work of the AWD swap and the MT to AT swap.
He's rapidly completing it. Today i take the THIRD SIM head and bolt it up. I never tested it after sending it back twice. I was so disgusted with them that it really took the wind outta my sails.
So Yea, i'm assembling the longblock today and after everything is wrapped up i'm going to hope they finally got it right the 3rd time. I'm long past the time where i could rail these guys in small claims just for fun.
No big deal, what's a grand when the entire build is rapidly approaching 30k? I'll ship it off for the 4th time to JAM.
I will post again, probably pretty soon.

*By the way: SIM changed their name. They are a supporting vendor so i'm gonna bite my tongue. Their reputation for the quality of their work is WELL deserved.........i'll leave it at that. I reached out to several experienced members here during that struggle last year and heard from every single one that i made a terrible decision with sending them my head. So SIM or whatever they call themselves now? Parts? Great
Customer service? Really amazing. machine work? You make the call