[DeTomaso] CHI heads - valve guides

[Justin Greisberg]

I have the CHI 3v heads.  i assembled the engine myself after Dave Storlein in Wisconsin assembled the heads.  have them running for over a year now, but not many miles.  still fighting with electronic fuel injection system from powerjection/retrotek.  When the weather clears, I will provide a summary for this group of my experience with "self-tuning" EFI -- right now I am not thrilled (sometimes furious about lack of customer support), but I recognize some of it might be my fault, and I have more work to do.
 
Anyhow, regarding the heads, first question -- do you mean valve guides, or pushrod guides?  The comp cams cleveland pushrod guides DO NOT fit this combo.  Dave Storlein who does this for a living told me that after I asked him what I was doing wrong.  Wish someone told us that a while ago.  I threw all 16 away.  
 
The valvetrain alignment on these heads is a real pain.  I got good comp or crane screw in studs, with harland sharp roller rockers, and crane roller linked lifters.  I got a pushrod measuring tool, and found the rocker had best run over the top of the valve when it was at quite an angle.  In fact, I am using small block chevy 3/8" pushrods (coioncidentally exactly the right size), A LOT smaller than stock (even accounting for longer lifters).  the rockers are not sitting level at all.  I think my valves will be OK like this, but it just looks funny.  A smaller rocker arm (not as long - lower ratio) would probably sit more level.  no one seems to have any answers for me, which is surprising because there are more than a few people using these heads.  I wonder if the valves/springs are too long, or maybe that is why a lot of cleveland builders use big block chevy rocker arms, which I think are just a bit shorter than true clevelands?
 
the trouble with a "custom" build, is that, even after you spend all the time thinking and planning for everything to work well together, nothing ever seems to.  examples -- rocker geometry on CHI head; self-tuning EFI that seems schizophrenic - runs different every day; brake system that is sometimes soft, sometimes hard, but never consistent; electronic temp sensor that is supposed to turn fans on when engine is 190, yet engine runs to 220 and no fans; custom fuel cell which fits perfect, only to find out needs to be discarded after 5 years because the liner deteriorates (and it spent 3 of those years waiting to be installed); fancy dropped air cleaner base that is designed to fit over normal carburetor and drop down 1 inch, but actually hits my polished throttle body because it is about 1/16" bigger than a holley.
 
And the piece de resistance ---- fancy air cleaner with filter top for almost $200 that looks great, but hits the rear decklid first time I close it.  i can't repeat exactly what I said when that happened, this being a family web site...   justin