Zachd91

So as the title states, through building these engines i have acquired several sets of the LSVTEC stepped dowel pins used to mate the vtec head to non vtec block. My issue is i have noticed that some of the pairs of dowel pins are different heights. some were smaller altogether and others, obviously larger. Has anyone ran into this issue? Would it be better to run taller ones or would this cause sealing issues? If you need precise measurements i would be happy to get them, but i was more curious than anything. Has anyone seen this?

JRCivic1

I have seen a few sets of stepped dowels fit poorly and actually cause sealing/head gasket issues. So, because of this... I prefer to drill the opposite side of the cylinder head with a 14mm bit to allow a factory dowel to fit properly.

Zachd91

yea i had assembled an lsvtec and had a sealing issue before, i think it was due to this. So you are saying you drill the head and make it accept stock ls dowel and location. do you need to resurface the head after that?

JRCivic1

No resurfacing should be necessary as long as you don't bulge the hole by drilling too fast or heating it excessively. Usually, you drill the hole and then use a flat file to clean up the surface around the hole. Easy-Peasy.