i was thinking for ease of retrofitting. not really interested in going above 3 very far for the gear ratio. I'd keep the 2.93 7-1/4 if it was big bolt pattern. i suppose i could check and see what the actual ratio is under the dart sport and maybe take that if it's a good ratio. i was under the impression that the 8.8 out of an explorer will just about bolt right up, is this not true? edit:this is not true. search functions exist to help us save money, thx Richard for the heads up

_________________
-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

Mr Engnbldr's valves have arrived in the mail, and if I do say so myself they are very suave looking. they will be part of my intended engine build for driveability/mild performance.

at this point the build looks like this:
ford 2100 350cfm carburetor on a super six manifold
OCG #346
pocket ported heads w/Engnbldr valves
GM HEI upgrade
bored one step up to make pretty
appropriate pistons and rings, probably from rockauto
stock crank/connecting rods
DI's dizzy service set me up with a distributer
Felpro gasket set
as high a compression as i can get away with and still run 87 octane
2-1/4 inch exhaust (would i benefit from 2-1/2 on this build?)
cold air intake, very likely to go to an electric fan.

hmm, that's all I can think of for the engine, as it gets stripped down we shall see if that plan is feasible. what are some thoughts on that build? does anyone see any red flags?

_________________
-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

This all looks straight forward, a couple mods I would make to the plan:

If the engine is "stock" bore, go .030 instead of .020 on the step up, that will allow you a small bit of room to unshroud the valves if needed (in case the head has some core shift when lining up the chambers and bores).

If daily driving go for moly rings and appropriate bore finish. Once you have your deck height measurments on tearing down the engine run your cam and build through a DCR calculator to determine "how much" compression you can get with 87 (I can do that with 10:1SCR and the ERson 280/270...).

2 1/4" single pipe from manifold to muffler and 2" out would make it nice for daily driving...if wanting more drone and 'rev' then 2 1/4" all the way through would work...2 1/2" will be somewhat wasted at this point unless you think you might be going dutra duals to a Y pipe in the very near future.

-D.Idiot

good points rob, as much as i would like to use dutra duals, adding that to the cost just makes the job take longer, i may switch to them later, in fact i want to, but they are not in my plan right now. so 2-1/4 it is. it seems to me that .030 over pistons are much more available than .020 anyways, and i haven't seen any .010 pistons in stock anywhere, am i just looking in the wrong places? also, what exactly is meant by "appropriate bore finish" with moly rings?

_________________
-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

Mopar only offered .005 as a 'step up' before the .020 overbore...I figure that Mopar had thought that a high miler engine could just be checked and quick honed for that kind of bore and have the slightly larger than stock pistons stuffed back in the holes. Since that isn't much over stock, piston providers just skipped that option and just produce stock and .020 (most are in need of the .020 after 300K miles...)

When you use a moly ring over a standard iron ring the machinist has to use a finer stone on the bore on clean up, if you run a moly ring in a bore finished for chrome or iron rings they don't last long. Moly rings supposedly hold oil a bit longer and are considered the better choice with today's technology for street/strip engines.

-D.Idiot

okay, longish post:
i have been generously offered some components at a good price, this changes my build a little, but the results should be similar:

ford 2100 350cfm carburetor on a super six manifold
OCG #791 instead of 346
pocket ported heads w/Engnbldr valves
GM HEI upgrade
bored to .06 over
appropriate pistons and moly rings
stock cast crank/connecting rods
DI's dizzy service set me up with a distributer
Felpro gasket set
as high a compression as i can get away with and still run 87 octane
2-1/4 inch exhaust
cold air intake, very likely to go to an electric fan.

changes are underlined

Took some parts off of a 74 dart sport on its way to the crusher:

remote driver's mirror (for trade or sale if anyone wants it)
v8 k-frame with power steering box, but no pump
disc brakes, proportioning valve, v8 904 transmission, torsion bars,
and a starter motor.

obviously i'm psyched about the discs.
except now i need a big bolt pattern tail. went to the yard, found a whole bunch of "not the right one" type rear ends.
went to the antique shop, bought a Johnny Cash LP. 1 out of 2 ain't bad.

_________________
-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.