400 cubic inch Pontiac buildup: Part 3

   Its on to the oiling system. I started out by installing the pickup tube on the Speed pro high volume oil pump. Some people weld the pickup to the pump,but I hedged my bets and used safety wire to keep everything in place

 Next I installed the windage tray. It's a cleaned up stocker.the oil pump was installed with the proper gasket and torqued to 30 ft lbs.

Instead of cleaning a beat up stock oil pan thats probably seen the business end of one too many floor jacks,I opted for a stock replacement from Milodon. It has a few extra baffles that the stock one doesn't have. I haven't decided whether to paint it or leave it the anodized gold

I painted and installed the oil filter adapter and torqued the bolts to 30 ft lbs

  I took a huge leap of faith and purchased some rebuilt #62 heads off ebay. The guy I got them from claims less than 2000 miles on them and I believe him because everything looked fresh. The #62 heads have 2.11 intake valves and 1.77 exhaust and have 75cc combustion chambers. With a .042 crush head gasket this should give me a pump gas friendly 9.5:1 compression ratio.

 I slammed the heads down on the block. The ARP head bolts require 30 weight oil on the threads and a torque spec of 135  ft lbs. Sadly,I self sabotaged this project once again by dropping the cam sprocket on the floor and breaking a few teeth off of it. So I'll be patiently waiting for the UPS guy to deliver a replacement.So stay tuned for the 4th and hopefully final installment.







1973 Dodge Dart underhood rehab

Last weekend I  thrashed on my friends 73 Dodge Dart. Although it ran well there was several things happening under the hood on the 318 that really bugged me. The ancient Weiand intake manifold was a piece of junk,It didn't fit well and it needed a carb spacer for the Holley 570 street Avenger carb to work. Which caused a ton of problems making the carb linkage and Auto trans kickdown work properly, And caused hood clearance problems.The cheap Taiwan chrome valve covers were warped and were constantly leaking.

The previous owner rigged up this train wreck carb linkage, The Auto trans kickdown linkage wasn't even working properly. Torqueflite transmissions need the kickdown function to work otherwise it will greatly shorten the lifespan of the trans. The Weiand intake was a pain to install,several bolt holes were hard to get at with a socket and the carb spacer probably killed a little low end torque on this 318 which it really can't afford to lose.

We replaced the Weiand intake with an Edelbrock performer. The Edelbrock is basically a stock replacement manifold, It will allow us to ditch the carb spacer and use stock carb and kickdown linkage. The only hassle was finding all the right pipe plugs to get the Edelbrock ready for installation.



The Edelbrock manifold installed easy and solved all of our linkage and hood clearance issues. Mopar Performance cast aluminum valve covers (made in USA) with cork gaskets replaced the leaky Taiwan chrome junkers,Cast aluminum valve covers don't warp like the stamped steel stockers and have superior sealing ability. We also recurved the distributor for good measure and did some additional tuning. The engine now pulls 20 inches of vacuum to keep the power brakes happy. This probably isn't the end of the 73 dart saga but thats all for now.





Chrysler 400 big block spray can rebuild update.

  Last June I scraped 30 years of crud off this Chrysler 400 and made it pretty. I also replaced some key mechanical components which will hopefully help it make a few more horsepower. Within the next few weeks hopefully It'll be off my garage floor and in my 73 plymouth Fury. The only thing holding me back is finding the correct pulleys and brackets. I'm hoping the weather and life cooperate to make this happen because I've always wanted a big block Fury.

400 cubic inch Pontiac buildup Part 2

 The crankshaft is a factory nodular iron piece. It's been turned .010 under on the main journals and .020 on the rod journals. The oil passages have been chamfered on the journals to increase oil flow. The crank will be spinning in grooved Clevite bearings.

It doesn't get any more old school than this. TRW forged aluminum pistons P/N: L2262F-30 on reconditioned stock rods with ARP rod bolts. For rings I used Speed Pro moly rings.

  I carefully set the crank into the block making sure not to nick the journals. With the ARP main studs the factory torque specs are no longer used. After installing the cumbersome rope rear main seal (rubber ones are available) I torqued the rear main 120 ft lbs and the rest 90 ft lbs with the supplied ARP moly lube on the bolt threads. The machine shop checked the bearing clearances for me but I still re-checked them with plastigauge.

 I'm doing this a little bit backwards. It's easier to install the camshaft before the crank because it's easier to navigate it through the block without nicking the cam bearings. So the cam in question is a dual pattern Crane cam with .467 lift and 222 degrees duration @ .050 on the intake and .494 lift and 234 degrees duration @ .050 on the exhaust. Pontiacs,especially ones with stock type heads like dual pattern cams due to weak flowing cylinder heads on the exhaust side. I used some of the sticky Comp cams assembly lube on the cam.

  After checking ring endgap and installing the rings,It was time to slam in the slugs. I used an adjustable tapered ring compressor. All was going well until I broke a piston ring which halted all forward progress on the engine. Since it's an engine thats been out of production for 30 years It's gonna be at least 3 to 5 business days before the replacements are in. What a huge letdown.

When installing the pistons I used these cool Clevite "bolt booties" to prevent any crank damage. The cheap alternative is to use some spare fuel line on the bolts. As soon as my replacement piston rings comes in I'll be back with part 3 cylinder heads and valvetrain

How to assemble AN fittings

  AN fittings are like bling for hot rods. Besides the fact they look cool,they also serve a purpose. Most racing sanctioning bodies frown upon rubber fuel lines since it's kind of a fire hazard. That leaves fuel delivery options to either AN tubing and fittings or metal hardline. AN fittings are of military lineage,They date back to the World War II era when the Army and Navy (hence AN) agreed on a standard size for tubing used. Sizes range from -2 (dash 2 or about 1/8) to -32 ( about 2"). Many parts stores carry cheap sleeving that fits over regular rubber hose to look like AN fittings. Don't be a poser,get the real thing. Follow along as we assemble -8 (1/2) AN fitting and tubing.

  Braided steel hose is a little spendy (about $5 a foot) so the old adage "measure twice cut once" has never been more relevant. When cutting braided steel line it's important to wrap it with electrical tape to prevent fraying. Use a hacksaw or cutoff tool, Although I've never tried it some people use a really sharp chisel and a sharp hammer blow.

After removing the tape, slide the nut over the hose until it is flush with the inner lip.

 Aeroquip makes these aluminum vise inserts that are really handy to prevent scuffing the fittings.
Place the Hose/nut in the vise. To begin threading the inner fitting onto the nut/hose coat the threads with some light oil. I use a special AN wrench to further prevent scuffing the fittings,you can also use a crescent wrench wrapped in tape. Remember these fittings are aluminum so it's easy to cross-thread.

                                            The finished product!