First Engine Build

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FJRdoc

FJRdoc

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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I am motoring along on my 1970 Duster 340 restoration (see my thread: Finally getting to it!! 1970 Duster 340). http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=225784
I will be doing the steering column and dash assemblies next.

I'm trying to do as much of the resto as I can. I get satisfaction and bragging rights from doing it myself. I've never done a complete motor rebuild but would like to try my hand at working on the 340.

This build is primarily a restoration and I really don't intend to take the car down the strip. On the other hand, I'm not going to drive her like an old man. I am going to try for the best combo for streetability and dependabilty. I'm not opposed to performance upgrades internally but intend to keep the engine bay stock appearing.

The car is numbers matching with about 135,000 on the odometer. It is an automatic with a 3.55 SureGrip. I will keep the Carter AVS carb.

Once I tear the engine down and mic the components I will have a better idea what machine work I will need. I will probably post the results of the disassembly here. I would love to hear some input from FABO members about engine building recommendations for my situation. Anybody have a recommendation for a Mopar A engine rebuild book?
 
Car looks great . I kept my 340 build basic stock , just a bit of work on the heads to increase flow and a better cam . Pistons I used Mahle forged10.5 .40 over , so far 10,00 miles and no problems . Burns no oil , great compression and pistons are lighter than stock . Stock forged crank . High volume oil pump . On the dyno had 396 HP 413 TQ , not bad for a basically stock build .
Good luck with yours , so far you have done a really nice job restoring the car .
 
If your not going to try to set the streets on fire, keep it basic and strong. If you want it to look stock but run a little harder there are plenty of mods you can do without giving it away. First locate a reputable machine shop to do the work. Its the little thigs that add up. You really wont need to use forged pistons for what you are looking to do. Go with a .030 overbore and have it honed with torque plates. Order your rings .035 and gap them yourself. Have him square up the deck and resize the rods with good bolts. He will also check the crank and balance the rotating assembly. Put together a good solid shortblock*then move on to the heads, cam and intake. This is where you can make some good power. I dont know what your budget is but a little bowl work and a quality valve job (multi angle/back cut valves, etc) can really wake up your engine. The stock intake is not too bad a piece, just match port match it to the heads and go with it. Cam choices are vast but more than anything you dont want to go too big, which is the quickest way to kill all your other mods. I would stay around a comp or voodoo 268 type grind. I would use the voodoo 403 if it was my engine. Two things you need to discuss with your machinest is compression ratio and set up clearances for your heads/cam combo. With your small cam/iron head combo I would try to stay around 9.75-1. With a little tweaking you should have a stock appearing high thirteen second a body.
 
I spent the last weekend getting my 340 disassembled. Everything came apart without problems. I've been following the "How to Rebuild the Small Block Mopar" book. The internals look pretty good to me. I will be measuring up the crank, pistons, bores and rods and comparing them to spec in my FSM. I'm talking to folks in the area about competent machine shops in the Lancaster/ York PA area.
I plan to use the original heads which have 2.02/1.60 valve sizes and have some work done to them as suggested by BigWilson. I'm trying to figure out a general game plan for the rebuild ahead of time. I understand that I won't be able to fully crunch numbers until components have been machined.
I have read quite a few posts about quench and how it can improve engine function. Is it possible for me to build this engine with quench and still use the open chambered heads? I'm an engine building newbie. Any imput from the experts here on FABO is greatly appreciated.
 
BigWilson87 said:
If your not going to try to set the streets on fire, keep it basic and strong.

If you want it to look stock but run a little harder there are plenty of mods you can do without giving it away.

First locate a reputable machine shop to do the work. Its the little thigs that add up.
You really wont need to use forged pistons for what you are looking to do. Go with a .030 overbore and have it honed with torque plates. Order your rings .035 and gap them yourself.

Have him square up the deck and resize the rods with good bolts. He will also check the crank and balance the rotating assembly.
Put together a good solid shortblock*then move on to the heads, cam and intake. This is where you can make some good power.

I dont know what your budget is but a little bowl work and a quality valve job (multi angle/back cut valves, etc) can really wake up your engine. The stock intake is not too bad a piece, just match port match it to the heads and go with it.

Cam choices are vast but more than anything you dont want to go too big, which is the quickest way to kill all your other mods. I would stay around a comp or voodoo 268 type grind.

I would use the voodoo 403 if it was my engine. Two things you need to discuss with your machinest is compression ratio and set up clearances for your heads/cam combo.

With your small cam/iron head combo I would try to stay around 9.75-1. With a little tweaking you should have a stock appearing high thirteen second a body.
Click to expand...

Fixed
 
Dropped the engine components off to the machine shop last weekend. Waiting to hear how things spec out after everything is cleaned up. Rods are going to be resized and ARP bolts installed. Block will be decked, bored and honed with plates.
It seems that the 268 cam grinds get good reviews from what I've read. I've been toying with the idea of a hydraulic roller cam for the rebuild. My lifter bores look good with no major chamfer. I have a set of 273 adjustable rockers that I plan on using. I understand that I probably will have to modify the pushrod holes for clearance.
I intend to drive this car regularly. Do you think it's worth pursuing a roller or just stay with flat tappets?
 
Got pics of my block back from the machine shop after a thorough cleaning. The bore is going to be .030 over and the mains are going to be line honed. I have not had machine work done to this extent in the past. I have no idea how these prices compare to other shops. Any thought on a cost of $1800 to have the following done?

Hot tank block
Bore and hone with torque plates
Deck cylinder block
Grind crank, chamfer oil holes, magnaflux and polish
Resize rods
Competition valve grind, set spring height
Mill heads
Install hardened valve seats
Balance crank
Line hone.
Install cam bearings
 
Things slowed down considerably with progress on my engine. Here's where things stand at this point.
Met with the machinist last weekend and reviewed where I want to go with my engine. The block needed a .030 overbore and the crank needed .010 off the mains. Connecting rods have been refurbished with ARP bolts.
I will be going with Keith Black hypereutectic pistons and plan to keep compression around 9.5:1. Hardened valve seats are installed. Heads will get a multiangle grind along with new stainless valves. I will talk to him about port matching the heads.
I'm still trying to decide what direction to go regarding flat hydraulic lifters versus hydraulic roller lifters. I certainly appreciate benefits of going with a roller but wonder how much additional work will need to be done to the engine to go that route. I am interested in durability and longevity in this build.
I would appreciate any opinions, pros and cons, about going with a roller setup using stock heads with 273 rocker arms. How much of an issue will I have with pushrod clearance using stock heads?
 
You will need to measure for pushrod length after its all together.. A roller cam would be the way to go.

I have a set of crane gold rockers for sale if interested.. And $1800 seems a little high for the machine work
 
Just use the Lunati Voodoo 268 flat tappet cam and take the money you save from the rollers and put it into the torque converter.
 
It's easy to rack up a lot of money in an engine build. I'm just trying to get a feel for the cost vs benefit ratio.
 
C130 Chief said:
Just use the Lunati Voodoo 268 flat tappet cam and take the money you save from the rollers and put it into the torque converter.
Click to expand...


No keep the stock converter and put the money into a set of Rhoades lifters to accent the Lunati Voodoo cam. Part number 2018.


Here's how they work, read the second article on this page:

http://www.rhoadslifters.com/Pages/Articles.html


You can get them here:

http://www.summitracing.com/search?...tOrder=Ascending&keyword=Rhoades lifters 2018
 
How much work is involved in opening up the cylinder heads to clearance the pushrods for a hydraulic roller lifter?
 
It's getting closer to time for me to pick out a cam for my build. I have decided not to go with hydraulic rollers as I think that it would require to much modification of my original heads. I am going to go with a flat tappet hydraulic cam.
I know that the Comp 268 and Voodoo 268 have been suggested. I'm not looking for a choppy idle but would like to increase performance over the factory grind. Any other cam selcetions to think about?
 
FJRdoc said:
Anybody have a recommendation for a Mopar A engine rebuild book?
Click to expand...
This book has alot of good basic rebuild info & I still refer back to it after decades & it has dist rebuild info that I ain't never seen anyplace else. It's a worthwhile addition
 

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Thanks RR I appreciate the book recommendation and value your opinion. Any imput on cam selection?
 
Choose a Hughes Engine cam. Price is negligible, considering how angry you would be if you got the wrong cam. Talk to Hughes, tell them what you got, what you want to do, and they will hook you up.

Going cheap through summit can cost you in many ways
 
This isn't a crazy race engine, you want a cruiser. Go with the choices you have in your first posts. Could even go a step smaller if you wanted. Neither of those 268 cams are going to be very aggressive at idle.

I have a video that I've posted of a friends Demon with a 360 and an XE268H. Car is very streetable and not annoying. In a car that hooks with a decent converter, mid 12's at 105ish aren't out of the norm.
 
crackedback said:
This isn't a crazy race engine, you want a cruiser. Go with the choices you have in your first posts. Could even go a step smaller if you wanted. Neither of those 268 cams are going to be very aggressive at idle.

I have a video that I've posted of a friends Demon with a 360 and an XE268H. Car is very streetable and not annoying. In a car that hooks with a decent converter, mid 12's at 105ish aren't out of the norm.
Click to expand...
Yes , good street manners , and some good times at the track if you get traction
 
I checked with Lunati today and they said that the Voodoo 268 would be a good grind for me. The cylinder heads would require additional machining to accommodate dual springs.
The Comp cam tech felt that the EX268 would be too much cam for my build and recommended the EX262. No additional head machining would nee to be done for the single coil valve springs.
I have a nice set of 273 rocker arms that I was intending to use on this build Will they be adequate for my set-up?
 
Yes, the adjustables will work fine.

The XE262 or XE268 will work fine in your engine. The nice thing with both those cams, no additional head machining. They both use the 901 single spring, IIRC.

Call comp again, get a different person and the recommendation will change. The 262 is more conservative.
 
I bought these
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81d8Ei5JTNL.jpg
 
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