Howdy:

This is probably easy for you guys but has me stumped. Bought a plain Jane '64 Dodge 440 4-door about 5 years ago. The prev. owner had replaced the orig. red 225 with a '75 blue second-generation engine from a junkyard. Car had a vibration that rises and falls with engine speed. Drove it gently that way for about 4 years and 4000 miles and finally the blue engine got to where it was burning some oil and had two low cylinders. Found a reman 225 on eBay and got it shipped in. My mechanic thinks this is a marine engine, as it has ports in the head front and rear that he thought were for external water flow. But no problem - put threaded plugs in there and dropped the engine in. Odd critter, as it is black (3rd generation color) and the valve cover gasket is 3rd generation also ('81-'87) but it has solid lifters, not hydraulic. Puzzling but it runs excellent - it broke in just the way it should - but the vibration is still there.

I've had suggestions all the way from wrong flexplate to bad torque converter, but before I start throwing parts at it, I thought I'd see what you guys think.

If no way to solve this, one of my friends has a '66 builder engine he'll sell me.

Whaddya think?

Ron

It's my understanding that the index hole in the crank of a late ( '67+) slant is a little larger than the early ones. If someone mounted up an early tranny and converter there would be a little play where the pilot of the converter mates to the end of the crank. I believe there's an adapter ring available to take up that excess space.

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

Is that just a normal pilot bushing, or something special? If special, where might I buy one of those?

Thanks!

www.wildcatmopars.com

there may be other sources, but that is where i got mine.

sb

Thanks! I'll give Wildcat a call.

_________________
Ron

The ex- said I had too many cars.
I still have the cars.
Good choice!

it's not a pilot bushing; that would be for a manual transmission. It's a machined ring that fits inside the crank pocket to adapt the later crank to the earlier torque converter.

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

The fact that you believe its a marine engine may suggest there is a different camshaft and valve set (head porting even?) designed exclusively for that purpose aside from what was more common of the emission regulated street slant? I dunno it would be interesting to know what the differences were between the two. Thats my guess.

No different head porting on the marine slant-6.
Camshaft was very similar to the street '71-'80 244° item.
But even if the cam and head porting were different...how is it you're thinking this could cause a vibration problem???

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

The adaptor ring is also available from Pat "Torqueflite Patty" Blais, tflitepatty@verizon.net . When you pull things apart to put it in, inspect your transmission's front bushing and seal carefully; running a '68-up engine in front of a '67-down automatic trans without the adaptor ring can cause heavy wear of those two parts.

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

Also, inspect the flexplate for cracks, and "walloed" out bolt holes. The flex plat should be the one to match the engine, and fit over the flange on the crank. The early flexplate will sit on top of the flange. The bolt hole locations are the same, however.

_________________
Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Because he thought it was strange that a later engine would still employ solid lifters I offered a possible reason for that only -interested myself if anyone could clarify the reasons for that also. Since the vibration question is something i'm not qualified to guess at, I made no attempt to include it.

_________________
I have a '72 Duster with a 225 in it and an auto tranny. It has 60k on it , but has been in the weather for a lot of years.

The best thing to do is go back to the engine vendor and ask them to give you one with the correct crank for your model car. If that isn't possible for whatever reason you can have the nose of the converter machined or you can have a special converter made with the early pilot nose and the late input shaft splining. If you ordered the engine for a 72 and got one with a small crank hole then it was the vendor's fault - don't let them off the hook.

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

_________________
I have a '72 Duster with a 225 in it and an auto tranny. It has 60k on it , but has been in the weather for a lot of years.

You may or may not be able to machine the converter snout. Some are solid, some are hollow. All depends on the converter.

Most any converter company will make you a converter with the small pilot.

_________________
Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.