360/410 Stroker Questions

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Back in the 90's, I had broken a bunch of bones and couldn't move that well. I was putting together a Challenger and decided to 'let' Richardson Auto Machine put the engine together to keep my project on track. He was a PITA to deal with but eventually I got the engine. It was a mint 66 Street Hemi block and heads with all the usual work, and I ordered a Crower lightweight 4.125" crank and matching Crower rods, JE Pistons, etc.

Bill Richardson - Fat Fool (FF) for the sake of brevity - was adamant that he half-fill the block, so I gave in on that. He also painted the lifter valley, against my preference.

So anyway, I first found out FF ordered the crank with a Top Fuel flange and I couldn't mate it to an auto trans. I had to make a special adapter. I had a mysterious oil leak, too, which only would leak at higher RPM. turns out FF had used a gasket and an o-ring on the oil pump-to-block fit and it would squirt out at high PRM. Then, after about 700 mile, a big blob of the orange silicone FF used dislodged and ate two rods, bearings, and galled the crank journal.

On pulling it all apart, I found a crack about 9" long right along the Hard Block line on the passenger side of the block. The oil was deep red due to all of FF's lifter valley paint coming off, too.

Oh, by the way, prior to my getting the engine, when Fat Fool was running the engine on his dyno, he had dropped a valve which heavily dinged up the chamber and required a new piston, too.

Never again.
 
Back in the 90's, I had broken a bunch of bones and couldn't move that well. I was putting together a Challenger and decided to 'let' Richardson Auto Machine put the engine together to keep my project on track. He was a PITA to deal with but eventually I got the engine. It was a mint 66 Street Hemi block and heads with all the usual work, and I ordered a Crower lightweight 4.125" crank and matching Crower rods, JE Pistons, etc.

Bill Richardson - Fat Fool (FF) for the sake of brevity - was adamant that he half-fill the block, so I gave in on that. He also painted the lifter valley, against my preference.

So anyway, I first found out FF ordered the crank with a Top Fuel flange and I couldn't mate it to an auto trans. I had to make a special adapter. I had a mysterious oil leak, too, which only would leak at higher RPM. turns out FF had used a gasket and an o-ring on the oil pump-to-block fit and it would squirt out at high PRM. Then, after about 700 mile, a big blob of the orange silicone FF used dislodged and ate two rods, bearings, and galled the crank journal.

On pulling it all apart, I found a crack about 9" long right along the Hard Block line on the passenger side of the block. The oil was deep red due to all of FF's lifter valley paint coming off, too.

Oh, by the way, prior to my getting the engine, when Fat Fool was running the engine on his dyno, he had dropped a valve which heavily dinged up the chamber and required a new piston, too.

Never again.


Damn. That sucks. Can’t say I’ve ever heard that name before though.
 
Yeah, that deal trashed his wallet bad. That’s truly sickening to see this. It just makes me ill, knowing this guy got screwed, and knowing that when most guys get hammered that hard, they quit and never return.
unfortunately I've seen to much **** like that and worse .
 
FF used to advertise in all the Mopar Mags in the mid-late 90's, RAM was the name of the business.
 
Cast 4" crank broke, rod bearings that weren't narrowed, line bore wrong, cylinders tapered, etc........ Lot's of little things... J.Rob

The Kings rod bearings that came with my Scat kit didn't clear the rod journal radii. I order a set of Clevites, which fit perfect. However, my 1st set of Clevite mains were so loose, they would barely stay in the block - I sent them back to Summit & got a replacement set that fit correctly. I've wondered about the folks that just assume all this stuff is going to work as-is & screw it all together without checking. Maybe that was your "guru".

My cylinders are round, straight, & consistent within my bore gauge's ability to measure, so I think I'm Ok there. Always on the lookout for the next thing to bite me in the butt, though.
 
"" I've wondered about the folks that just assume all this stuff is going to work as-is & screw it all together without checking. Maybe that was your "guru".""
they get engine guru stew in the oil pan
 
You can check your block for "square" by taking one assembled rod/piston and sticking it, one atta time, into the four-corners, and checking the deckheights. But if you have had the crank machined or the block line-honed; it may not tell you the whole truth.
>What I did was to take that one assembled piston/rod and measure every hole. and compare them one to another from deepest to most shallow, numbering them not by location, but be deck heights.
>Then I put every piston on the same rod, and using the same hole, I measured the deck height of each piston. I must say, with the KB107s using this method, they were all as good as the same.
> then, since I had had the rods resized and new bushings installed; I next installed, one atta time, every rod with the same piston, in a specific hole, measuring the deck heights as I went. What I found was, you guessed it; 8 different deck heights, indicating 8 different lengths. I again numbered them from longest to shortest.
> next, I put the longest rod in the deepest hole with an appropriate for the location,piston. And so on.
> lastly,I oriented the squirters and re-numbered the rods for future RnRs.
then measured the clearances,then measured the sideplay, but just recorded it not really caring what it was.
What I ended up with, was one high piston, one low piston, and the rest were plus/minus about .0015; pretty darn nice I thought...

It took a really loooong time

Then it was time for the file-fit rings.........
 
...take that one assembled piston/rod and measure every hole and compare them one to another from deepest to most shallow, numbering them... by deck heights.
>Then I put every piston on the same rod, and using the same hole, I measured the deck height of each piston...
> then, since I had had the rods resized and new bushings installed; I next installed, one atta time, every rod with the same piston, in a specific hole, measuring the deck heights as I went...

Makes sense - I plan to do this. Thanks.
 
This is what happens to an early Hemi when it drops a valve, breaks open the cylinder wall and takes in more water than the Titanic.

This rod/piston is one reason I trust Ma Mopar's metallurgy.

IMG_20200217_065102734.jpg


IMG_20200217_065035793.jpg
 
Getting back to this engine...been trying to decide what cam to put in it....

Trying to use something I already have.....OK...MP557 cam.......got a few MP cams...and a few are not marked...so i measure one that and I got .557....the second try...ok

put in it....advanced it 4 degrees...and I get 104,,,,,figued it should be 106....ok.......check lift at the cam...and multiply by 1.5......bingo.....590,,,,,,LOL

well...so much for that....gotta go back to the pile again....lol
 
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