This is the 400 before I yanked it out of a 1975 dodge truck. as you can see it's pretty crusty and greasy. It's factory rated at 185 HP which really sucks so the scheme is to clean it up and try to squeeze some more power out of it and hope it doesn't blow up.
After I got it on the stand I pulled everything I wasn't gonna use,like the factory two barrel intake,truck oil pan,exhaust manifolds etc. and started scrubbing and scrubbing for what seemed like forever!
This thing still had the factory timing chain! It was pretty loose and the plastic teeth were cracked so it wasn't gonna last for long. I replaced it with a double roller timing chain from Mancini Racing. At this point I was really tempted to swap cams for more power.But in the end I decided to leave in the stock cam for smooth idling and trouble free cruising whenever this engine makes it back into a car.
I'm planning on installing this engine in my '73 Fury so I had to change oil pans. while I had the oil pan off I checked the bearings and added a windage tray from Milodon. I also changed oil pumps.
Finally after all the cleaning paint begins to flow! It's best to spray several light coats instead of one heavy coat.I used Depli-Color Chrysler Blue spray paint,It's a close match and a bunch cheaper than ordering it from Chrysler.
The Intake manifold is a Mopar Performance M-1 dual plane fogged engine color. The exhaust manifolds are 1970 HP which flow a little better than the 1975 units.The vintage Cal Custom valve covers are probably too "Hollywood" for the Fury so I'll probably end up using some cleaned up stockers.I still need to scrounge up the proper pulleys and brackets,But next time you see this engine It'll be between the fenders of the Fury.
