Hi Everyone:

Well, the engine shop had good news for me today. The rebuild is complete! I'm making arrangements to go pick it up and transfer it to the lads at the transmission shop/MOPAR club that are going to help me proceed. It turned out great! Bored .40 over to clean up some ring damage, new pistons, water pump, oil pump, rings, pins, mechanical lifters, bearings, timing chain, etc. Cleaned up and used the original crankshaft, connecting rods and rocker assemblies. Main journal showed some wear, so we went with .010 for the rods and .020 for the mains. Swapped out the original cam (.378 lift) for a slightly more aggressive .411 lift. New electronic distributor, valves reground, bit of porting and away we go. I have opted for the Super Six 2-bbl intake and a new (rebuilt) Carter BBD. Kept the original exhaust manifold for now. Thought you might like to see it. Oh, and I should mention that it's the original engine for, and going to be reinstalled in, my 1973 Dodge Dart 4-Door Custom Sedan.

Cheers, Shawn

Looks good, but some questions...
I'm not sure where that came from 1972+ OEM camshaft should be .406 Intake and .414 Exhaust... an aggressive
lift for a stocker style engine would have been about .435 @1.5 ratio on a 244/244/26 grind, anything over that is kind of a waste...
but that lift makes good use of a good port and blend job...

I think the .398 was a melling grind that they gave for Pre-67 vehicles or is similar to the 1981+ hydro cam...
Did you get an OEM unit from old car parts.com (3755042 or 043 or 082)? If so, you will need to clean it out and relube.
If this is a 'NEW' manufactured distributor from the various places that get them from China, you will have to map the distributor
using a tach and timing light to see what they gave you for a curve... they don't provide the same unit to the year your car
is, you get what they pull out of the bin, and whatever curve it comes out to be.

Just sayin'

Looks Great,
always a good day when a motor comes together.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Good Morning:

We used an OEM unit for the distributor, and the shop refurbished it. I wanted to stay away from foreign parts, as much as possible. The cam was a last-minute decision, and I wanted to stay pretty mild, as this was my first foray into the world of camshaft upgrades. I didn't want to go too crazy, but wanted a bit of an improvement. I decided that the minimal cam upgrade, coupled with the transmission rebuild upgrades (and future rear-end work), would be sufficient for my project goals. I could have gone with at different cam, but wanted to keep it simple.

I appreciate the hints and advice... I always learn something when I'm on the site!

Cheers,
Shawn

She's a beauty!

_________________
If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Very nice!!

_________________
Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Excellent. Are you dyno'ing it?

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I'm curious to know........ with all this talk of oil pump gear failure, are you not concerned about the new cam and new oil pump meshing properly?

Hey:

Once she's all installed, it will be dyno tested. I don't think the minor cam upgrade will affect normal operation too much, or at least enough so that the oil pump will fail. More to follow on that once I've chatted more with the builder.

Cheers,
Shawn

You're misunderstanding the issue/question. It's not a performance or stress threshold, it's that recent-production cams and oil pumps have problems playing nicely together, and the results can be pretty catastrophic.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Exactly what I was eluding to. I am on the fence right now as to stay with my 225 rebuild for my street rod as planned, or head in an entirely different direction becuase of the gear problem. I just can't see spending the money only to have a 10 cent peice of steel fail and ruin a $5,000 motor. It seems to me the only practical solution is to somehow use and externaly belt driven oil pump. but of course the only way I can figure to do that is with a motor plate to which you can mount the pump, thus opening up another can of worms. Hmmmmmmm???????????

Just use an old stock pump and maybe shim up the pressure relief spring a little. Problems avoided for no cost.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

And then spend the rest of your time worrying about a pump that's close to 50 years old in your brand new engine? That's like going to a party and throwing a turd into the punch bowl, and telling everyone to just put some more sugar in the bottom of their cup. I'm sorry there has to be a better way around this problem.

Hello, new poster. Welcome to the board. Rather than guess and assume when you don't actually know, try asking the people who do know. Try questions like "Why is that recommended? What makes the old pumps better?". Or at least, since you're in a mode of guessing and assuming, you could maybe guess and assume that one doesn't just throw an old pump on the engine, one goes through that pump and reconditions it before using it. Or one buys a new old stock pump rather than a current-production item. Maybe one even checks the oil pump/cam worm mesh in the process of building the engine!
Uh…no. People manage to build durable Slant-6 engines without oil pump/cam worm problems, and without external belt-driven oil pumps (which have their own problems…lose a belt or a hose connection, lose your engine!). It just takes knowing what to do. Knowing is not the same thing as guessing or assuming.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Easy does it, folks.

Personally, I usually worry more about brand new parts from the parts store than I do about stuff that has been demonstrated to work on a running engine. Everyone has a different comfort level...

If I can run 12s and get 25 MPG with my 180k engine rebuilt in 1989, why should I rebuild it? I may build another engine anyway, but just to try something new.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988