Been awhile since I've posted. I've been working full time at my summer job and my daily driver required some attention in between. Now my summer job is over and I have next week to myself until school starts. I did pick away at some things in the past couple weeks so this will catch you up:
I've scrapped the baffle I poorly welded into the valve cover and made a new one that bolts to the rocker studs:
I am also upgrading all the lines on the engine. I've been using a rip-off tygon that was actually yellow PVC tubing and it doesn't like the hot engine or the ethenol in pump gas. Now I am making new lines with real tygon and stainless steel braid. Here's how I make it:
First obviously you need to find how long the tube needs to be:
Then cut the braid about a 1/4" shorter than the tube on each side:
Side note-they say to cut this braid with sheet metal snips but I could never get them to cut. The way I do it is to mark the braid with a marker, shove a piece of rebar in it, and use a dremel with a cutoff disk and work your way around the cut.
Next, cut two 1-inch pieces of the thick heat shrink with adhesive on the inside, slide them onto the braid, THEN slide the braid over the tube:
Finally, slide the heat shrink over the slightly frayed ends of the braid while pulling it tight over the tube and put a heat gun to it:
The braid protects the tubing from abrasions and heat while making it look snazzy. They also make a copper braid if you want that look. All of the material was purchased from McMasterCarr.
ARC finally got their 25mm valves back in stock so I was able to get the missing piece of my valvetrain puzzle. I got the 25/24 valves, split keepers, lash caps, and 26lb springs to go with my Burris rockers. I test-fit the components and it seems I need to mill the bosses for the rocker studs to get correct geometry with the new rockers. That's the plan for today!