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Looking for 1965 skylark 300 (355) head gaskets and machining advice

Discussion in 'Small Block Tech' started by andym22, Apr 22, 2024.

  1. andym22

    andym22 Well-Known Member

    Need to pull the heads off my 1965 skylark 300 (355) . Looking for advice on the best head and intake gaskets.

    I'm pulling heads off to be able to remove stubborn broken exhaust manifold bolts, of which I tried soaking, heating, extractors, and finally welding on nuts with no luck.

    Should I get the heads machined while off, new valves, etc...? I believe I read somewhere I should not put harden seats in since they are hardened already. Should I have the exhaust manifold mating surface trued up as well?

    Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
     
  2. philbquick

    philbquick Founders Club Member

    Now you have the bolt fairly flush with the head with a hole from the easy-out (extractor) you used. Heres what I would do: continue drilling the hole bigger until you start grazing the threads. Since your hole was not perfectly on-center, you should now have a crescent shaped section of the bolt remaining in the hole. Use a cove chisel to tap the remaining piece of bolt sideways to knock it loose and pick it out with needle nose or tweezers. Clean-up the threads with a tap.

    They say Buick have enough nickel in them that hardened seats are not necessary, so, I wouldn't bother with hardened seats. If your engine has anywhere near 100K mles on it, I would have the valves reground and maybe resurfeced.

    Stamped tin head gaskets , which is what the factory used, will give you higher compression than the layered Fel-Pro will. I know there are still gasket kits still out there, a friend just bought one a few weeks ago.

    Hope it all works out.
     
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  3. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    Yes to all the above.
     
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  4. andym22

    andym22 Well-Known Member

    Thank you for the help, I'll get started working on those bolts as you outlined.

    I found two types of metal gaskets - stated as first type only for 1965 and second type for 65-67. Should I go with second type?

    I see it's recommended to use a spray type permanent on the metal gaskets would you agree.

    Last question should I go metal or fiber gaskets for the intake?
     
  5. Jim Nichols

    Jim Nichols Well-Known Member

    First type should be for 64 only with aluminum heads. 65-67 have cast iron heads. Only the intake gaskets are different. 64 has water ports where 65-67 have exhaust for warming the intake. Find a shop that has EDM(electric discharge machining) for removing bolts without damaging threads.

    Eric's Laz-R-Out: EDM METHOD (boltguy.com)
     
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  6. Jim Nichols

    Jim Nichols Well-Known Member

    Use this for the steel shim head gaskets:

    41OlTG631WL._SL500_.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2024
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