progress: quick update

I slapped the valve cover on with only an hour or so to work, today.  I didn't want to risk bugs and bits of crap falling into an open motor - they attract that sort of stuff.  I buttered the cam chain up with some motor oil before closing up the innards, which I hope will help it through those critical few minutes before oil pressure.

Surprise - the gasket kit I had did not contain the correct valve cover gasket.  I am at the point in the project where I am saying to myself with great frequency "screw it, I need to get this thing out of the garage", so I resorted to liquid gasket.  I hate using that stuff, so messy and doesn't work very well, but I knew I'd have to peel the cover off to recheck head bolt torque after a thousand miles or so anyway and I could install the proper gasket then.

I discovered one bolt hole stripped and in need of a helicoil, so the #1 front corner can't be tightened down and will dribble oil.  Then a bolt committed suicide in the most inaccesible hole right next to the breather cover! Crappity crap crrrraaap!  I didn't think of it, but all the valve cover bolts are probably heat stressed and should all be replaced.  This one twisted apart pretty easily before torque value was reached, so I'm def going to replace them all.  After I get it running.  So there will be another oil dribble above the #2 cylinder. The rest of the bolts torqued down just fine, thank goodness.

I feel better now that the motor is closed up.  All to do now is connect all the wiring, replace the spark plug caps and boots, slap the flywheel and stator covers on, install the carbs, and...wow, I'm almost done with this thing.  It would help if I spent more than one hour at a go on this thing, funny how a five minute procedure ALWAYS takes 25 minutes.

Yeah, one of these days I might actually get back to that '69 truck that's on the back burner.  Arrgghh...I want my own shop, my own shade tree in my own back yard so I can store all the projects I collect, dammit!