1966 Dart GT 225

Well, I posted some pictures of the car on my introduction thread but I suppose its time to start one to document my progress and resto-modification. The title situation is resolved and its now in my name.

The car is a 66 GT 225, 3 speed auto column shift. At some point I'm told the previous owner(s?) had the top end swapped out for a newer hydraulic roller valve train. The entire engine is painted blue (not that paint means beans) and a 5 freeze plug block, so its not original.

I drove the car around 35 miles home and have been going through it. Its been parked, in running condition for a couple of years so its accumulated a lot of Pacific Northwest flora (and some fauna to boot).

The thermostatic choke was disconnected by the PO and replaced with a manual style. While investigating the choke situation, I noticed a broken exhaust stud at the top rear of the head which isn't good. There is a pretty gnarly exhaust leak and it looks like its coming from the bottom of every runner on the exhaust manifold.

I wasn't able to remove the stud on the head in the car so I decided to remove the head in order to create more room to work. As I pulled the valve cover, I discovered a lot, and I mean a LOT of oil coking on the head and valve train. Underneath the head, the lifter cavities are also coated in a very thick layer of coking (.100-.200" on every surface).

I know that some opinions are "throw it back together and drive it", but I've been there in the past and it really sucks the fun out of a vehicle when you know its a time bomb and you're just waiting for it to happen. I had a Pontiac motor in about the same shape that I went through this same issue with, and I'm not feeling it with the Dart.

I'm also questioning the hydraulic cam swap at this point. It makes me wonder what cam is in it and what the innards of the short block look like. The engine is coming out, this much I know.

I'm determined to stick with the slant. The sliver lining is I can address the black engine bay.

Oh, I should have also mentioned that I should have the block pulled today. My cam is on order, as well as a number of other parts. The balancer rubber is falling apart so I'll have to find a replacement for that, as well.

Any recommendations for a timing set? I only see a couple on Summit, with one crappy review between the two.

I've got the block apart, here's the damage:
#1 piston had a broken top ring.

The camshaft wasn't swapped with the valve train - still the solid lifter camshaft.

Really bad oil coking throughout the inside of the motor.

I can't find any marks on most of the rod bearings except for ".001 u/s" on a few of them.

The only markings I see on the main bearings are "70" on all of them. I don't have a mic to inspect the journal diameter.

The main and rod bearings are shot, but I really don't see any scratching on the crank journals.

Moral of the story is make sure you do your research before swapping parts, eh? And change your oil, kiddies!





Edit: now I've got a big mixed up pile of junk regarding the valve train and I need to figure out where to go from here. I'll need to source correct parts to go either hydraulic or solid, right now I have half of each setup.