Just logging some things here, don't mind me.
Spoke to the machine shop the other day, the Bloomer Performance crank showed up there. I have not seen it yet but the machinist said it appears to be a quality piece, even if it is Chi-neezy. He actually spoke with Rod Bloomer to confirm some questions which was cool.
We discussed a few things on the phone. The mains in the block will need to be honed, they were a little too tight with the studs torqued down. Not sure how much it will take to clean up, hopefully just a wee bit to make 'em true.
He suggested using King bearings for the mains and rods to which I said OK. He found that they were superior to Clevite (more expensive) because they were of more consistent thicknesses. He had several experiences where the other brands were off by .002-.003" measured in various places and had to sort through boxes of bearings to find a good set. Sold me.
So apparently the block had been honed at one point and the bores were about .005" over stock which means it will need to be bored and finish honed to 4.070". He will be using a torque plate, I gave him the head studs to use with it when I dropped off the block. Obviously the goal is to get things as true as possible and using a torque plate is the way to go. Wish I could have kept it stock bore but oh well. Can't imagine there are many factory 4.040" bore 340 blocks out there in 2015.
Deck height is still up in the air until he has the pistons and rods on hand. Compression ratio with the Diamond pistons is based on the nominal .018" @ 9.6" d.h spec., the hope is to achieve zero deck to get around 10.3:1 C.R. The machinist said he generally measures deck height at the 4 corners unless asked to do all 8. We decided it was probably not necessary unless it was really out of whack at the corners. This is a pump gasser for sure though.
My initial plan was to get the block back home, measure deck height myself and bring it back to be surface cut. I decided it would be better to have him do the measurements and make whatever cuts are necessary. He's got the experience and tools to do the job correctly the first time, I can't really afford to screw that up. I'll tackle that on the next build up. Will also save me some money not having to buy tools and save the hassle of carting the block back and forth. There will be plenty of other measurements to take and verify during assembly.
The pistons and rods are on order. I spoke to Brian at IMM just to confirm the pistons I chose would work with his heads and he said they would be great. I let the machinist order them but I will probably end up paying a little markup. Everyone is entitled to make money I suppose. Things are moving along for sure though and there is plenty of money moving out of my wallet.
The Kevko oil pan and pickup I ordered two weeks ago showed up yesterday as well. I had read a few things about watching for welding slag left over from manufacturing in their parts. So I took the pickup out of the wrapping and casually looked it over. Sure enough, I noticed a piece of welding wire still lightly stuck to the edge of the pickup screen. Guarantee that would have ended up badly. Glad I happened to notice it but I will be going over that stuff with a high-powered microscope before I cinch it down. Nice parts otherwise. The baffles, swinging door and built-in crank scraper in the pan are great. There is also a sight plug to establish correct fill level. Good stuff.
So depending on when the rest of the parts arrive, the block work should be completed within the next two weeks. Brian said the heads were delayed at the CNC shop. He expected to have them back late next week for final assembly. I hope to have all the components done and back in my possession by the end of February.
Sorry for the text-heavy updates gang, not much to document with imagery at the moment. It's all planning/parts ordering right now. Too cold to be out in an un-heated garage anyway.
More to come.
