I'll be making a mostly stock slant with a couple upgrades. I'm using a Holley 390 w/electric choke and a Offy Intake. I'm using the mopar 243 cam. Bearings are Federal Mogal and gaskets are Felpro. The cylinder head was rebuilt, no big valves or anything. Crank was been re-done. The total price is a little bit under a grand. Any idea of the horsepower potential? Its a 72 Dart.I worry about the bigger carb with a weak exhaust. Is this going to be a big problem? If so I do have a 1bbl and intake. But I was hoping to be one of the few people in CA with a 4bbl slant.Doug if I ever win the lotto I will pay you an insane amount of money to hop up my car. heheh

it needs a bit of compression. deck the block, say, .100 or so. as for the federal mogul bearings........check out .com (the "other" site) and search a few of my old posts over there. i have had nothing but trouble from them. ranging from the cam not fitting in the block without honing the bearings to frying 2 new motors with them where acl bearings have worked beautifully.......chad

beardliz@msn.com

Loks like a pretty good set-up, I would spend some time grinding inside the head ports, not a lot but even a fast "clean-up" job helps flow a bunch.
While you have the head apart, "mill" it some for the added compression (as Chad suggested) for your "streeter" maybe take .050 to .060 so you don't mess-up the rocker-arm geometry or the pushrod length. Use a "shim type" (thin) head gasket if you can find one.
DD

The head has already been reworked. I dont know if they shaved any off. How would I port the head? Where exactly do I sand and how much? I was getting about 100 pounds of compression per cylinder I had the head re-done hoping to get some more compression. I'm going broke in this...So I might have to do those modifications later. I'm wondering if the 4bbl will be too much with the stock exhaust. I have a friend who will install the camshaft bearings but I'm worried about installing the cam. Whats the deal with degreeing the cam? Oh and how do I slide the cam in without scratching up the bearings? Jeez I'm a wreck. If I had another 900$ to build another motor I wouldnt care if it got damaged hehehe!

cam bearings are a breeze (i have the $170 cam bearing cadilac) watch them fed mogs, they tend to be on the tight side. the first thing i learned long ago is the cam is the first thing you put in the block. that makes it much easier, use a timing gear for a handle and lots of assembly lube. (i like cleevite red) chad

beardliz@msn.com

Scott, I think your plans are pretty good. I am using the same intake, carb, and cam in my 225 (63 Valiant)and it runs pretty strong. I am also running the Dutra Dual system with twin 2" exhaust. The stock exhaust will definitely limit the power potential when using a 4 bbl, but I would go ahead and install the 4bbl anyway. Later you can upgrade to a single 2.25" exhaust with, say, a turbo muffler. That will make a big difference in power(and slightly more noise). You can always add a Dutra front manifold later and then run twin 2" pipes and Y into your existing 2.5" single muffler. You can go to dual pipes like I did, but that is really overkill (and a lot more noise). Forget headers for the street.

I worried a lot about over carburating my slant before installing the 390 carb, but mine starts, idles, and accelerates better than the 1bbl and 2bbl carbs previously used. The vacuum secondaries help a lot - the secondaries don't kick in until needed, especially with the heavier spring.

I would definitely go with the suggestion to mill the head for added compression. I had mine milled .050. You will need higher octane gas - I use 93 octane.

The MP cam should come with directions on how to degree it. It is not really hard to do, but studying up on the concept ahead of time really helps. Don't install the cam without degreeing it. I used the MP double roller set-up and found that installing it by just lining up the marks was way off.

Take your time -it will pay off in the long haul.


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