5.9 Magnum Street Build - with dyno numbers

[DMC_78]

Hi everyone.

Haven’t posted in an awhile but still read here on a regular basis. I built an engine over the last while after reading a lot of information on this site even through I am a truck guy. This forum is definitely the best for small block information.

Anyway finally got time to test the engine this weekend. Test went well at the start, and ended poorly but it could have been much worse.

Build is a 94 magnum block, stock bottom end all freshened up with a hone, new rings and bearings, deck cut 0.008 just to square it up. With the 0.028 head gaskets it worked out to around 9.3 static compression.

I have the OG NZ EQ heads with 2.02 valves, bowl blended and port matched to an Eddy LA air gap intake and a Holley VS 750 carb.

Cam is a Hughes SER1822ALN-10 with their premium roller rockers (purchased before the price went up) just to make me feel better about the fast ramps the cam has. Cam is installed at 105 ICL.

Goal was a nice street cruiser that had lots of pull for a 78 Warlock that will have 3.91SG and a A500 OD transmission with 28.5” tall tires and 2500 SMR stall.

We made 3 or 4 dyno pulls and the results started repeating so the rings were seated. We then took the RPM range up and things were going great. For the test we had a 1 inch open spacer during the pulls. We wanted to see what taking the timing from 34 all in to 36 did, but when the engine was at idle something sounded off all of a sudden so the dyno operator shut it down right away.

Long story short I had an intake valve stuck and bent a push rod. Piston has a little mark but hopefully I got lucky. The EQ heads did not have bronze guides, but the heads had been reamed by the person who did the valve job. Needless to say the heads will get guides as part of the repair.

See below for the one of the runs we did. No jetting or adjustments had been done at this point and we felt it had more left. I know these types of builds are posted a lot on here, so I wanted to share some numbers anyway.

Hope these help others.

 

[DMC_78]

More pics

 

[MidnightSwinger]

Is that Canadian HP or US HP?

Should be a great truck motor, pulling stumps with those 3.91’s

 

[Illahe]

Nice flat numbers. Pretty mild on the cam. Smaller than the Mopar 380 crate motor, but you out did it.

Nice build.

 

[DMC_78]

Is that Canadian HP or US HP?

Should be a great truck motor, pulling stumps with those 3.91’s

I am Canadian but use imperial, not metric.

I found the 3.91 chunk after the engine build started, and it made me always wish I went one step up on the cam. Happy I didn’t chase that now.

Hopefully my repair is minor. Going pull the heads tomorrow to take to the shop.

 

[DMC_78]

Nice flat numbers. Pretty mild on the cam. Smaller than the Mopar 380 crate motor, but you out did it.

Nice build.

Thanks! The reading on this site paid off forsure.

 

[PRH]

Yeh, EQ heads without guides are a pretty risky proposition.
I refreshed a set of used ones several years ago.
No stuck valves, but someone had reamed the guides so they had excessive clearance.
I put bronze liners in them.

Looking at the fuel flow disparity between A & B, it would appear a weaker secondary spring might yield a few extra ponies.
The secondaries don’t look to be open enough to contribute anything till after 4k.

Back to the dyno after the repair?

 

[DMC_78]

Yeh, EQ heads without guides are a pretty risky proposition.

Looking at the fuel flow disparity between A & B, it would appear a weaker secondary spring might yield a few extra ponies.
The secondaries a don’t look to be open enough to contribute anything till after 4k.

Back to the dyno after the repair?

Yes, I will definitely be heading back to the dyno after the repair. We were just getting to the fun part lol. Glad the valve hung up at idle or things likely could be going a totally different direction.

Getting more timing and the secondaries sorted out was what we were about to get into. All my pulls were only at 34 degrees. Hopefully have some more refined results next time!

 

[xLURKxDOGx]

I had a similar build with those heads and that thing was a series ripper. Have fun with that setup.

 

[496 polara]

Very nice numbers! Tell everyone it is a 318 and smile.

 

[jbc426]

Very nice numbers! Tell everyone it is a 318 and smile.

Weeeell, I'm your huckel berry, so here's the dyno sheet from my 5.2.....It's in it's prime.

 

[Bobzilla]

Hi everyone.

Haven’t posted in an awhile but still read here on a regular basis. I built an engine over the last while after reading a lot of information on this site even through I am a truck guy. This forum is definitely the best for small block information.

Anyway finally got time to test the engine this weekend. Test went well at the start, and ended poorly but it could have been much worse.

Build is a 94 magnum block, stock bottom end all freshened up with a hone, new rings and bearings, deck cut 0.008 just to square it up. With the 0.028 head gaskets it worked out to around 9.3 static compression.

I have the OG NZ EQ heads with 2.02 valves, bowl blended and port matched to an Eddy LA air gap intake and a Holley VS 750 carb.

Cam is a Hughes SER1822ALN-10 with their premium roller rockers (purchased before the price went up) just to make me feel better about the fast ramps the cam has. Cam is installed at 105 ICL.

Goal was a nice street cruiser that had lots of pull for a 78 Warlock that will have 3.91SG and a A500 OD transmission with 28.5” tall tires and 2500 SMR stall.

We made 3 or 4 dyno pulls and the results started repeating so the rings were seated. We then took the RPM range up and things were going great. For the test we had a 1 inch open spacer during the pulls. We wanted to see what taking the timing from 34 all in to 36 did, but when the engine was at idle something sounded off all of a sudden so the dyno operator shut it down right away.

Long story short I had an intake valve stuck and bent a push rod. Piston has a little mark but hopefully I got lucky. The EQ heads did not have bronze guides, but the heads had been reamed by the person who did the valve job. Needless to say the heads will get guides as part of the repair.

See below for the one of the runs we did. No jetting or adjustments had been done at this point and we felt it had more left. I know these types of builds are posted a lot on here, so I wanted to share some numbers anyway.

Hope these help others.

View attachment 1716481375

View attachment 1716481376

View attachment 1716481377

Do you know what the valve guide clearance was set at when the heads were built?
What valves are in these heads? Were the valves purchased separately from bare heads or were these the valves that came in the assembled version from EQ?

 

[DMC_78]

Do you know what the valve guide clearance was set at when the heads were built?
What valves are in these heads? Were the valves purchased separately from bare heads or were these the valves that came in the assembled version from EQ?

I can’t remember the exact clearance when I measured them. I have it in my notes, I can check later when I get home.

I bought the heads used from someone that got them from Valley Performance in Michigan and never ran them. I called the shop, and the owner was great. Told me what springs he used (Hughes 1110 and hardware), and said the guides had been reamed since they are tight from EQ. They are 2.02 valves and stainless, so assuming ordered bare and the shop built them.

When I talked to Hughes, they said I was gambling not running guides. I figured the factory didn’t so would be ok knowing the guides were fit. I do know stainless picks up on other metal easily so maybe that is why.

Engine did run on an engine stand for like 3 heat cycles and likely did 10 pulls on the dyno plus idle time. It was idling after we bumped the timing up a couple degrees for more testing when the valve stuck.

I can check the clearance notes later tonight.

 

[Bobzilla]

I can’t remember the exact clearance when I measured them. I have it in my notes, I can check later when I get home.

I bought the heads used from someone that got them from Valley Performance in Michigan and never ran them. I called the shop, and the owner was great. Told me what springs he used (Hughes 1110 and hardware), and said the guides had been reamed since they are tight from EQ. They are 2.02 valves and stainless, so assuming ordered bare and the shop built them.

When I talked to Hughes, they said I was gambling not running guides. I figured the factory didn’t so would be ok knowing the guides were fit. I do know stainless picks up on other metal easily so maybe that is why.

Engine did run on an engine stand for like 3 heat cycles and likely did 10 pulls on the dyno plus idle time. It was idling after we bumped the timing up a couple degrees for more testing when the valve stuck.

I can check the clearance notes later tonight.

It can't be "just" the stainless steel unless those particular valves are some kind of weird alloy. Plenty of factory and aftermarket cast iron heads were upgraded to stainless valves over the years and were not really prone to sticking the valves. At least not that I remember. So if clearance was adequate, either the alloy of these particular valves or the alloy of these particular heads is causing the issue. Yours caught my attention because the guides were supposed to have been sized by the shop.

Now I have no choice but to go back and install bronze liners in mine too before I run them. Been worried about that for some time and its the reason I have not used my heads yet. Same as yours; New Zealand castings.

 

[PRH]

I thought Hughes had stopped selling them assembled without the bronze guides.

PIE also installs them as standard practice.

 

[Bobzilla]

PRH, I am pretty sure you are correct. They even had an article on one with stuck valves and that it needed to be fixed with bronze liners, but then at the end of the article they say something like "oh, and it had an intake air temp sensor reading wrong so we replaced that too." Fuel injected truck.


Mine were bought bare and were new from Jeg's before they were discontinued. I had them finished off locally with parts I supplied, but wishing I had also added the bronze liners at that time. My fault.

 

[PRH]

I’m not sure it was with EQ heads(I think it was), but I recall “volaredon” had one stick a valve in pretty short order after putting them into service.

 

[TT5.9mag]

@DMC_78 you should be proud of that build. It’s mild and makes excellent torque and good power. 1.205 lb/ft per cube makes for a fun truck engine. Sucks that it hung a valve but at least you caught it early and didn’t destroy it. Go shake the dyno operators hand and thank him.

 

[RAMM]

Pretty sure its the alloy of the heads that absolutely demand bronze liners. I just went through this with some EQ Chev variants. Looks Like your testing @ Daryls place. Seems like a good operator. Good luck. J.Rob

 

[DMC_78]

@DMC_78 you should be proud of that build. It’s mild and makes excellent torque and good power. 1.205 lb/ft per cube makes for a fun truck engine. Sucks that it hung a valve but at least you caught it early and didn’t destroy it. Go shake the dyno operators hand and thank him.

Thanks! This is my first build, and it wouldn’t have turned out like it did without all the information on this site.

The dyno operator definitely saved my engine with his quick action and attention to detail. I was very thankful. He’s a die hard Mopar guy too, so we were having fun. Looking forward to going back for more testing.

 

[DMC_78]

Pretty sure it’s the alloy of the heads that absolutely demand bronze liners. I just went through this with some EQ Chev variants. Looks Like your testing @ Daryls place. Seems like a good operator. Good luck. J.Rob

I will be dropping the heads off at the machine shop in London tomorrow for repair and guides. Will I need another valve job because of the guide work?

I was testing with Darrell, he’s great and has a ton of experience. Huge Mopar guy with some nice rides of his own. Very cool experience and I learned a lot from him. Glad he had a good ear and fast reaction when the valve stuck.

Piston got dinged and some minor damage to the lifter and rocker arm. Push rod was toast too. Hoping to reuse the piston and rocker arm. Will need a new lifter and push rod, maybe the dog bone too.

 

[PRH]

New guides = recut seats

 

[DMC_78]

New guides = recut seats

Thanks I wondered about that. The valve job was nice on these heads but the shop I am going to send the heads too is well respected. I am sure the can do a nice performance valve job.

 

[DMC_78]

Do you know what the valve guide clearance was set at when the heads were built?
What valves are in these heads? Were the valves purchased separately from bare heads or were these the valves that came in the assembled version from EQ?

Looks like from my notes most of the intake valve clearances were 0.0012 to 0.00145 range. I painted over the markings so I don’t know which head is which now unfortunately.

I measured each stem and then used snap gauges for the valve guide. Not sure if this is the standard way but it’s the tools I had already from being a Millwright so I went with it.

 

[DMC_78]

Picture of the guilty party. Valve is pretty bent so I have not removed it.