More Engine Assembly

I bought a pair of mounts for the engine buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut something doesn't look right. The boxes have a left and right part number.

Ok the last part of the part number matches the box.

Well the other mounts last digits match its box.

Good grief here we go again with aftermarket parts. They both are left hand side mounts even though one has the right hand part number on it. I can understand misboxing, but this takes the cake.

During this debacle I remembered I had new mounts I bought for the bare FE block I used to model the exhaust system. Sure enough I dug out that block and they were still bolted on. Those are left and right mounts (lower ones).

Lower block hardware.

Everything assembled fine except for the block drains. When I removed them I thought they were going to break. They were really rusted in the block.

As a result they seated far lower than I'd like.

I ended up using the plugs in the Dorman core plug kit for these as the allen driver made much better contact and depth wasn't a problem.

Other side.

I found this bolt kit on E-Bay. It was 50 dollars and I thought it would save me some time cleaning and prepping engine bolts. So I thought I would try it.

Oil filter adapter bits.

Before I go any further, given the quality of aftermarket parts I had better check the camshaft.

I checked the lobes in the front of the cam and the rear.

The Z-390 uses the same cam as the Q-428. Now after checking the camshaft in two locations I have confirmed the intake valve opens and closes to specs. The exhaust valve opens as advertised, but closes 2˚ earlier. I'm surprised it came out that well. I am not too concerned over that. One thing to keep in mind in these measurements is that it tells you nothing about the slope of the lobe ramp. At least if you measure at 0.050" you are more on the slope and it's a better measurement. Granted it still takes two points to calculate slope, but if you measure on the slope and the measurement matches there's a higher probability of the slope being accurate.

Timing set

I have yet to see an FE that doesn't need a sleeve on the snout spacer, although it's hard to see, there is a small groove where the seal rides.

Painted and ready to go.

So far so good.