Hey guys, gonna give a bit of info on my 225 in the hopes of getting some advice on where to go from here. Thanks in advance!

Goal: Daily driver
Notes: Have a NOS 1920 Economaster waiting patiently along with a new water pump and a full gasket set.
Issues: Garbage fuel economy, rough idle
Don’t know what condition the block is in, surface might be warped?

‘72 Scamp P/S, Manual drums, No A/C, A904

Overheated engine about 7 years ago and lost compression. Replaced cylinder head with junkyard head that I did a quick valve lapping on. Ran again after that. I also replaced the timing chain for some reason I can’t remember.

I just had the original head checked, milled .080 and lapped in some new valves. Valve guides and seats are in pretty good condition. Combustion chamber volume is now approximately 48cc.

Oil pressure in P is around 40 PSI, in gear at idle about 35 PSI.
Vacuum reads 18” Hg at 2000 RPM and jumps to 23” Hg when throttle is released.
Vacuum at idle has intermittent flicks of 1-2” Hg.
Current compression test reads Cylinders 3,4,5 at 130 PSI, #2,6 at 125 PSI and #1 is the lowest at 115 PSI.
Wife has followed me in another car and says sometimes there is very little blue smoke, never noticeable when I’m working on the car.

Exhaust manifold: When I worked on it years ago I noticed the flapper/valve/plate in the manifold is gone. Not sure if that’s a replaceable thing. The weight is still there, lol.

Question 1) Should I go out and spend money on a leak down tester or does it seem ok to just slap the refurbished head on?

2)Should I replace the stock exh. manifold, block off the heat riser, or replace with aftermarket of some sort? I’m in southern CA so I don’t experience to much cold weather.

3) Should I check cam lift and or pull the lifters to check their condition?

4) Should I leave everything alone and wait till I can afford a complete rebuild?

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'72 Dart & '72 Scamp

I say 4.5) check your valve lash but leave everything else alone. What you are seeing is fine for a daily driver. Cylinder 1 is getting a bit tired, but i ran a slant for years that had 110-115 PSI compression in all cylinders. If you have the urge to tinker, get a second motor and build it how you like. Then spend a weekend swapping the engines with minimal downtime.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Hey Reed, thanks for the input. I recently did a valve lash adjustment, maybe a month ago or so. Along with tuning the Idle Air mixture using the tool Dan recommends on here, I think it’s color tune or something. I want to redo it though since I’ve been tinkering a lot with the car lately. Just got it aligned for the first time in at least a decade after completely rebuilding/replacing the suspension and steering.
As for the second engine, I like that idea and it’s a possibility. But keeping the original engine in there is attractive to me too, guess I might have to get over it.

I forgot, I also rebuilt the carb before the valve adjustment.

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'72 Dart & '72 Scamp

Well, your readings indicate the motor is starting to get a little tired, but isn't totally dead yet. If you don't need the car as a daily driver, you could pull the engine and have your way with it.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Did you take wet and dry readings? the tinge of blue smoke could be valve guides or valve guide seals (seals are cheap and easy to change on the car without pulling the head) can you do a leakdown test? the refurb'd old head would wake it up a bit with increased compression but it "could" (emphasize "could") cause more oil burning as you tighten up the sealing on top end with the idea of swapping that original but refurb'd head on there..... or it could even out the compression and run like a million bux.....
Id really look into a super 6 swap. and that freshened up head. How many miles on the bottom end? Been rebuilt before? To what extent?

Didn’t take “wet” readings, do you mean putting oil in the chamber? Never done that before. Valve guide seals were replaced when I swapped the head, but it has been 7 years or so. From what I remember the valves and guides on the junkyard head weren’t in the greatest condition. It was my daily driver at the time and I had to get it back on the road in a weekends time. I don’t know the condition of the block at all or miles/rebuilds on it. Based on the original head and current tests, It shouldn’t be too bad. Not sure if I wanna spring for a leakdown tester since it’s money that can go towards rebuild parts, but if it means I can check the rings and they’re good it might be worth it. That’s part of what I need help deciding. The only thing really keeping me from pulling the engine is the $300 for a new cam and lifters, and $hundreds for whatever machine work needs to be done.

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'72 Dart & '72 Scamp

This thread keeps giving me flashbacks to the Alan Parsons Project...

Yeah now that you mention it......
Along with the thread title how bout "Games people play"?

Had to look that one up.

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'72 Dart & '72 Scamp