I’m preparing to put heads on block , and I’ve noticed one of my 4 dowel pins is pushed all the way in to the block , the rest of them are half in half out like they are supposed to be . Am I fine to go ahead and put the heads on like this , or do I need to try to extract that thing and leave half out ?

also , the heads I have already have the cams installed and torqued down , if I set the engine to top dead center as well as the cams can I just install them right onto the block with the cams already installed ? Really not wanting to reinstall a bunch of roller followers and all that crap .

 

If it was mine I would try to pull that hollow dowel back up. It's nice to have it hold the head gasket in the right spot and help align the head for you until you can drop bolts in.
As for installing the heads, yes as long as you can properly clock the cams close enough to where they would line up at TDC I don't see why not install them that way, and you should go back over them with a torque wrench and make sure that everything is properly torqued down.

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Ok I may pull them anyway to soak the lash adjusters in oil . I bought these heads a year ago and they’ve been sitting in my office in my house . They had cams and everything installed and oiled to a degree, and ready to install . Of course I’m going to oil up the cams and dump some oil over the valve train and hand crank it several times before I seal her up and reinstall motor and then make sure to prime everything before I start her . I’m assuming the lash adjusters are probably fine considering they were selling it as ready to install and it’s been in my office , but just to be sure I’ll probably pull them and soak em . I hope it will be the last time I ever take a cam off and reinstall and deal with roller followers and lash adjusters .


also I noticed last time I took my timing chain components off one of my either tensioner or chain guides had a loose bolt working it’s way out . I know I torqued it to spec . What do you think about using a lock washer or loctite on those bolts ?

 

I don't trust lock washers, blue loctite would probably be my choice if you are worried about them coming loose.

 

Okay, even though I agree that dowel would make it easier to install, If i can't get that thing back out, do you think it would hurt anything not being pulled out?