I just got around to cleaning off the cylinder head and the valve cover. I will have to have another go at the cyliner head because it's still a little greasy and I didn't get the valve train clean enough. From what it looks like, the other 292 was pushing oil. The head gasket was in good condition. Perhaps the valve seals were gone. All of the combustion chambers were black. Number 3, 4, and 6 combustion chambers were greasy. They probably blew the engine and junked the truck afterwards. After I got the head home, my father and I pulled the intake and exhaust manifolds apart. We mocked up one of the headers (two pieces) and to our surprise, the flanges on the headers and intake were the same thickness. So at least making spacers to compensate for any difference won't be a problem. We also took the dowel pins (actually they look like studs that were cut off in the middle) out of each end of the head because we think that we'll need to bolt the headers in those locations because the the steel headers will probably move a lot more than the cast iron exhaust manifolds and will need more support. We're also thinking about using the work bench as the cylinder head stand. We'll bolt the head down to the work bench and then hang the intake, headers, alternator bracket, and the power steering pump bracket to the cylinder head to see how everything is going to fit. For now, the plan is to set up the headers on his running 292 and run them with the stock engine. Then we will send the other cylinder head down to the machine shop if the header installation presents no problems. It seems like it's twice the work, but in the end, we believe it will be easier to track down problems if they should occur.
Chickenbone
