360-1 Casting better?

The first pour from a ladle is always the hottest and the best pour. They will pour so many from each ladle. By me having a -11 that must have been the end of the ladle. i never saw one higher or worse the lifter bore was missing a large piece. What I am telling you having so many motors over the years. I have seen with my own eyes the difference in the blocks from 1's to 11's.

Anything past a 7 you start seeing bigger flashings and more porosity. It is well known that the -1's are highly sought after by motor builders that know. Out of all the 1970 340's I have "71 model years only" there are 7 total here right now. The lowest number I have is a 340-5 Its the block I'm using unless I find a lower number 1970 casting. Having a numbers matching motor isn't as important as having a good casting . I can mill the pad and put any numbers on it. You cannot change the casting order . Sprint car guys that know mopars would pay big dollars for 340-1's standard bore.

Core shift is what it is called. But it is thin spots in the cylinders that do not sonic test consistent. A hot ladle will pour like water. As it starts getting to the bottom of the ladle after time it starts getting cooler , Thicker , and not as clean. The last one usually gets a little slag.

How do I know? I use to be the guy that scraped the the slag off the top of ladle at a foundry with a 15 ft pine wooden paddle that would burn up as your using it. Then we would have to hold the ladle from swinging with two other guys on the other side of the pit. You would pour parts until it didn't flow. The faster you worked the more parts you would get . Pour until it comes out the weep hole. When you see the molten metal getting thick your done. dump the ladle in a scrap mold. Throw the last part back in the furnace with the next ingot.

The best metal is always at the top right under the slag when the hottest. The **** is at the bottom when it gets cooler and the parts never get completely filled . Plus there is always slag left in the ladle that usually is at the back opposite end of the spout. Hence the porosity in the blocks you see in High numbered blocks.

The hottest job I ever had which reminds me. I was there when a guy was pushed into a waiting ladle in a 40 ft. pit behind us. three of us were holding the pour ladle and he put the stick on his waist to light a cigarette . The crane moved and he was gone. All there was was a flash when he fell in . We didn't even know where he went at first until the crane guy yelled down. "He fell in the waiting ladle" then laid on the crane horn. We were all around 18 yrs old. There was nothing left of him or his gear. We all would get jobs there in 73 after the war was over. I worked at the Bethlehem Steel. We were pouring rutter pins and gun barrels for Navy ships. worked there until 1981

Wow what a memory that came back from posting .