Captain Obvious

Is that coming out of the carb mount hole?

Uhhhh.... Hard to tell from the lower res pics, but it looks to me like it's not coming out of the carb mount hole. That looks like a completely unintended hole formed by accident. Probably corrosion through the head wall itself into the water jacket? Can you take a close-up of the hole?

It's a little late to be doing this, but I'd like to drop back a little... We've all been treating your cold start difficulties as a lack of fuel situation, and I would like to investigate that a little more. You've mentioned a couple times that the injectors don't seem to be firing when you're trying to start the cold car. Can you provide some more details as to how are you coming to that conclusion?

I think it depends on the year 280. 77-78 shoes are different than previous years, but I believe everything from 70 through 76 are the same.

The situation where you're getting +12 on both sides of the injectors is normal. It only takes a small amount of current to light up the test light and you'll pull that small amount through the injector on the floating side. It's not enough current to click the injector, but it'll pull enough to light the test light, In fact, you'll see that same situation even if you pull the connector off the injector completely. You'll pull current through one of the other injectors. Like this:

Yeah, I wouldn't want to have to crank twenty seconds every day, but just once to see if it will eventually start without the ether could potentially be a helpful data point.

Yes, I would agree that 15+ seconds of continuous cranking is disconcerting and not something that you would want to be necessary. But I'm trying to make sure I have an accurate handle on the problem. You said that the engine refuses to start on it's own when it's cold, but with a quick spray of starting fluid it starts up and RUNS instantly. I'm wondering if the problem is more accurately described as "when the engine is cold, it takes a lot of continuous cranking (like fifteen seconds) to get it to light off. But once it does start, it runs fine". I would apply a different approach to troubleshoot those two different scenarios.

Dave, I was thinking the same thing, but the OP said this: So it sounds like he already confirmed that the check valve is holding and the fuel pressure is OK even while the problem is occurring.

About the rod bolts... It seems that you should have the rod big end checked and potentially resized if you change the rod bolts. I had previously discounted this claim, but after seeing @madkaw's engine failure, I give it some credence. After reviewing the geometry, I understand the concern. So add that cost to the list too if you are going with new bolts. That said... As for me? I'm planning to re-use my old rod bolts. I'm even going to replace one of them that galled when I took it off. Threads are messed up and I'm going to replace just that one. I suspect there was a little metal chip in there when they did the original install at the factory and it smeared a couple threads when I took it off.

The cold start spray is in addition to the normal injector squirting. Both the regular injectors and the CSV will spray at the same time if the engine is cold enough. So, I got a question.... When you say it won't start without a spray of starter fluid, how long are you cranking it for before saying it "won't start"? Reason I ask is that I removed my cold start valve completely and it definitely takes longer to start without it than it did before I took it off. Maybe five seconds of cranking? I'm wondering if you just are giving up too soon. What happens if you crank the engine for fifteen seconds straight? Sounds like a short amount of cranking, but with your hand on the key, it doesn't feel like a short time.

That's cool! Thanks for sharing.

RIP Mr. George. I'm sure he's sipping a drink at the Commodore Hotel on the other side.

I don't know off the top of my head, but I'll check when I get a chance. I can tell you that it's a straight thread, and not a taper thread. I suspect that will complicate your project a little.

You mean like Feats Don't Fail Me Now?

I'm no pro, but I'll weigh in anyway and say "Wow". That is definitely in the same league as my busted cam tower alignment. I'm wondering if the last guy tried to press the seat in with the head cold and that's all the farther he could get it in. Gave up and just dug the grinding in extra deep to account for it. That's pretty bad. So it looks like the thin lip around the edge broke off along the side opposite the companion valve? Is that the case? Sure hoping it broke off during the seat cutting operation and not after the head was put into service!! Any dents on the piston top from pieces getting knocked around in there? If that's the only issue, your machinist should be able to take care of that pretty easy. If he says the rest of the head is good, then I'd stick with it. If he skims the head clean, you'll be at .010 to .015 (ten to fifteen thousandths) off stock. I don't think any of the other components (like the timing chain) will care about that small of a change.

I think you're going to love it. We should all wear our Foose dew rags to the next event. Bunch of nerds....

@Av8ferg, Last page you were talking about rod bolt positioning... I was messing around with my pistons a little today and I came up with what I believe is a reliable witness mark for the rod bolts rotational position. During installation of the rod bolts and nuts, it's the oval shaped head of the bolt that keeps the bolt from turning while you tighten the nut on the other side of the bearing cap. Because of this feature, the oval bolt head contacts the rod in one spot as the night is tightened, and (on my pistons at least), this resulted in clean spot witness marks where the two were in contact with each other. Here's some pics. During tightening, the bolt head will rotate in the recess in the bore in the direction of the tightening torque applied. Looks like this: And because of this, there's a little clean spot on the connecting rod where the bolt oval made contact: And a corresponding clean spot on the oval bolt head: It's pretty small and you might need some magnification to find it, but if yours look like mine, you should be able to use these marks to determine the original rotational position of the bolts. Assuming you've got the original bolts in the original holes, this should allow for positive ID for original rotation.

Woof. That amount of consumption ought to be pretty easy to find. Have you run a compression test? We talked about it a little before and I mentioned that I'm getting a little oil burning and blue smoke on my broken cam engine, but it's at nuisance level... I've got a thousand miles on it and the smell is annoying, but the consumption rate isn't high enough for me to do anything about it. One quart in 150 miles would have more of my attention. Stuck or broken ring?

Hoover FTW!!

I'm here! Thanks for covering for me!

Oh no! I guess when it rains, huh? I'm sorry to hear about the multiple calamities. I don't know how to estimate what the change will be to chamber volume with a .015 shave. Are you going to measure the volume, or just guess a reduction amount?

You sure are "lucky"! Hope that's the last issue!!

Wow. Down to the tendons pulling a valve cover!! Glad you got it all stitched up! You didn't have to drive yourself to the ER did you? I'm assuming you got a bunch of dirty "You idiot, not again!!??" looks at home, didn't you? I know I would.

Based on some prior super-secret discussions with @wheee!, I'm running a Denso 150-2066. I've switched pretty much everything over to Denso now.

I think that timing cover is fine. Those little lines are just imperfections from the original casting. I see you already sanded them off. Good... Non-problem. As for the hex plugs in the intake manifold... As mentioned above, they cast a cavity that runs the length of the manifold to distribute the recirculated gasses from the exhaust (EGR). But that cavity does not have any connection up to the intake runners because it was impossible to cast that way. So those plugged holes are the access holes they used to add in the holes between the shared EGR log and the individual intake runners. I haven't pulled those plugs or sectioned a manifold to see for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if the holes they drilled up into the runners are different lengths depending on how far they are from the EGR valve. Just a guess on my part. In any event, they drilled small access holes up into the runners and then tapped and plugged the access holes below. And they thread-locked the steel hex plugs in place. I tried to take one out as well and couldn't get it out. I suspect a bunch of heat would make them easier to get out, but I was doing this on the car. Next to the fuel rail.