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I got the head off and there are no marks or indents of any kind. The new gaskets are a complete kit from Fel-pro and they look a lot better the the OEM ones so I'm gonna re-do both sides.

I still need to figure out if the head will need to be re-surfaced. With aluminum heads and block will a new head gasket seal if the are marks from last gasket ?

I didn't even think It was possible to put a HG in wrong. Well all My experience is AMC V-8's so I'll take it apart and try again.

Priming the oil filter is what slowed pressure in My case. I removed the primed filter and the pressure from pick-up to pump was 2 ten second cranks. Put full filter back on and 2 cranks later oil was everywhere. Literally everywhere.

I think I found the issue. I think I put the head gasket in wrong. A .003 feeler gauge goes easily between block and head at the oil passage. Do I need to re-surface that head again?

I did get heads re-surfaed. I had the wife crank the engine after removing A/C pump and ALT. I was able to see oil come up from the oil passage between block and head. It seeps right from the mating surface. I found the trick to pressurizing oil system was remove oil filter and put a pan under the threads. 2 cranks and the oil pump primes much quicker, put pre-filled filter back on and pressure instant. Found that at Flat Irons tuning website. I hope it's just a bad gasket. I looked them over for kinks bends etc. and saw nothing.

Will a retorque fix this or do I take it all apart ?

Fixed oil pressure issue only to discover oil coming out of driver side , front where head meets block. Bizarre. So while I remove the engine does anybody have any ideas ? Warped head? Bad gasket? Bad torque job?

Can't get oil pressure. cranked for 10 seconds about 10 times and light still on. Gauge I added shows nothing but I can"t verify it even works.

It appears that the 2 plastic "fins" that click against the flare have lost their gumption so I get no "click" Also looking down into the fitting the O-ring looks pretty beat up, maybe I got too aggressive with the quick disconnect tool. 8$ worth of 5/16 injector line and a specific clamp from NAPA fixed it.

OK tomorrow is start up day. It's raining too hard here now to try it.

Soooo close. Fuel line from tank to TB will not stay attached to the metal feed hose. Gotta rig up something quick.

OK sorted out the bell housing bolt issue. Spent 5 hours trying to figure out why driver side engine mount stud won't line up with cross member slot. Finally discovered the axle shaft was wedged in the CV joint and pushing the motor to the side. Took off the upper camber bolt from strut and clunk , engine mount in. Tested half shaft everything moving smooth put in all back together. Now for re-assembly of everything else.

Sweet, that's the way it went in took very little effort with a short box wrench and only enough room for about 1/8th of a turn.

OK long bolts are for starter so I'll clean threads and try again. I went back through the removal procedure and see that I forgot to remove the clutch slave hence the last little bit of resistance. Hopefully I didn't screw up the pilot bearing.

of all the bolts for bell housing to block 2 are longer. I thought they were for the starter but the lower one bottoms out before getting to starter flange. So which holes do the 2 longer bolts go into? The last 1\4 inch of gap between bell and block I had to pull together with the bolts. There wasn't a lot of resistance so I'm guessing that was throw out fingers from pressure plate pushing back?

Yes I always do that anyway. Thanks again for all the tips. I don't wanna screw this up it turned out to be about 20% more expensive than I thought.

Yeah I figure 15-20 second bursts til pressured.

I though about the coil packs but in an Outback the driver side is really hard to get to. I have the fuel pump fuse out and lines drained. I also picked this opportunity to add an oil pressure gauge so I can see when it gets primed. The motor mounts are here so tomorrow the dance begins. Hopefully get the initial start Sunday.

OK that's pretty close to the V8 break-in I've used in the past. Only difference of course is hydraulic lifters vs. cams on top of the valves. Thanks again for posting this, it will be easy to follow. Question , what's the best way to disable spark? I can't remember if the cam position sensor is reachable with the alternator in place.

Cool, Thanks a ton. Trying to research it and there are about 5 different approaches. My rebuild / break-in experience is limited to AMC V -8's. IAG has some info on their website but that seems more geared to new cams and forged pistons.

So if I am not breaking in new cams just rings, is break-in oil that needed? I am thinking start it on Dino oil , run for 30 secs or so. Turn it off and fix leaks then run it to operating temp say 10-15 mins, turn it of and change oil and filter with Dino again. Then drive it 1000 miles of below 3500 rpm and changing speeds to seat rings fully. Then Motul synthetic. I have a break in tune in the Cobb AP ready to go.

Update # 483 The motor mounts are crap so I sent them back and ordered Group "N" mounts. Gave Me time to check everything for the 5th time. If anybody is interested the I.D. of the ACT throw out bearing where it slides on the tranny snout is 1.312 in. The OEM beaing is 1.306 in. I'll take less play for 30$ Alex.

ok motor mounts here. Time to put it back under the hood.

Awesome info. The AOS will be on ebay by next week. Lol. Obviously I did too much reading. My build is stricly fun / medium distance hauler/ DD.