my68barracuda
Well-Known Member
Good progress Don, all this stuff takes time, you are getting it done!
my slant buildup
- Thread starter volaredon
- Start date
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new motor is in and all bolted up. Most accessories in place. main things left is to fix loose mount bracket on the radiator, and flush it out good, as I have it laying on its "normally" front facing side, hose nipples "up" and full of a water + "iron out" mix. Tomorrow I will drain that out and flush it with the garden hose, see what all "crap" gets broken loose. May send it to local radiator shop for a good "going over" to try and help be sure I won't have trouble with that once installed.
The new torque converter fought me regarding wanting to line up on the splines and slide back and engage the pump lugs..... For a minute I thought maybe I had gotten a non lockup version by mistake, but on the 2nd try it went right in.
the main hurdle remaining is to figure out some carb linkage and KD linkage since I took out a 1 bbl setup and in went an NOS BBD 2 barrel. No, not a Chinese repop.... an honest to goodness NOS original carb from back in the day, I'm needing either the bracket that bolts to the manifolds and holds the outer cable casing intact, or some pix/dimensions of something that'll work, that I can copy/fab up. the app is an 85 D150, /6, 727 (no, not 904)
How important is it with my FT solid lifter cam to run something (like) Brad Penn's Break in oil? Ive never run "special" break in oil before. never felt the need.
also still searching for AC bracket setup for the aluminum compressor, mid 80s truck application, preferably not the style with the smog pump provisions.... but will take what I can lay my hands on. Are F body /6 AC brackets, the same?
The new torque converter fought me regarding wanting to line up on the splines and slide back and engage the pump lugs..... For a minute I thought maybe I had gotten a non lockup version by mistake, but on the 2nd try it went right in.
the main hurdle remaining is to figure out some carb linkage and KD linkage since I took out a 1 bbl setup and in went an NOS BBD 2 barrel. No, not a Chinese repop.... an honest to goodness NOS original carb from back in the day, I'm needing either the bracket that bolts to the manifolds and holds the outer cable casing intact, or some pix/dimensions of something that'll work, that I can copy/fab up. the app is an 85 D150, /6, 727 (no, not 904)
How important is it with my FT solid lifter cam to run something (like) Brad Penn's Break in oil? Ive never run "special" break in oil before. never felt the need.
also still searching for AC bracket setup for the aluminum compressor, mid 80s truck application, preferably not the style with the smog pump provisions.... but will take what I can lay my hands on. Are F body /6 AC brackets, the same?
my68barracuda
Well-Known Member
For the initial cam break in, for the three slant motors I have used a generic 10w30 motor oil with a cheap oil filter and a bottle of Comp Cam break in additive. For those engines I had coated the cam during engine assembly with Moroso Moly cam break in paste. After the engine run in and 3 or 4 motor starts to get the engine completely up to temperature then completely cool down I drain the oil and remove the filter and install the kind of oil and filter that I intend to run with 1/2 bottle of Comp Cam break in lube. I will do another oil and filter change and add the remaining 1/2 of break in lube at approximately 500 miles. From there it is my normal oil service schedule.
Prior to the engine initial start, I crank the engine with the sparkplugs out 10 to 15 seconds at a time until oil pressure builds.
A couple of things that are critical for a good cam run in:
1) that you verified that the lifters spin easily in the bores during assembly
2) that the motor when it has the spark plugs in, starts with out delay and excessive cranking. Prime the carb, use ether spray, know that the ignition is ready.
I have the valve cover off and mark a line with a Magic Marker on each pushrod. Makes it easy to see the push rods spinning. If one is not, stop.
Quickly verify the pushrod rotation and with the engine running, slap the valve cover on.
I believe that you are running 318 springs, and a bigger than stock but not a huge cam, even if they were the popular 340 springs that is not huge spring pressures or cam ramp angles.
You don’t need $17.95 a quart oil at break in.
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well, have been busy with other things/ plus dealing with my wife/ whose broken record has switched to "don't be buying any truck or tractor parts" (Joe Biden, the "wanna be" Prez that he is, doing things that result in everything we need in daily life going sky high/ let alone extra stuff for "side projects" has not helped a bit either) finally a long overdue update on this thing;
I did the 1st fire on it today.... IT RUNS!!! Plenty of oil pressure, plenty of oil flow to top end, idles as smooth as the original engine did, (was wondering about that with the parts I either modified or added that weren't "stock") just a slight valve noise, (pretty good guess on valve adjustment, better than I thought it would be) sounds like confined to just a couple.... just enough for that "/6 sound"..... love the whine of the old school Mopar starter too!
Just a few quirks, we can't have a complete engine overhaul without at least a few of those now, can we?
most are a matter of adjustment/tuning, that will come with time.
For break in, I found some conventional Valvoline 10w30 VR1, and added a bottle of COMP break in lube. Amazon was half the price, of any local parts store that showed they could get it. Was looking at "Driven", "Brad Penn", "Summit" and "Schaffer's break in oil. They were even crazier.
Being my springs are nothing more than stock 318 springs, (so, not alot of pressure on the lobes) plus when I built engines in my younger years, we never had to worry about such botique things, and that this is a 1974 original, but reground cam/ rather than a brand new, virgin cam core blank, with the "old stock" lifters I used, I thought (hoped) that would be "plenty good enough"> so far it seems so.
I'm trying to get away from something as popular as "CRS" is, as we get older.... in doing this build// a combo of overthinking jobs, when I used to "just do" them, plus "project creep"/"might as well's" added in/// but I don't want it to turn into a "redo" either.... so when I said "ACTION," it better be right, on "Take 1".
I cranked it a bit, to hopefully see pressure on my remote gauge, before I put the 1st drop of gas to it/ I left the fuel pump inlet unhooked for this. didn't see any on the gauge, but figured I'd better get this thing going on its own, be the quickest way to get it to pump..... it worked. (doesn't help. that battery was a bit low, when I started cranking/ from not being used in a while)
I went a bit overboard, trying to make damn sure I had "static timing" right on..... it was close enough to run, but nowhere close to where it needed to be.
I still need to get my timing light back from the kid, he forgets where the stuff came from sometimes.
Got it running, had to hold carb way farther open than I thought I'd need to, to keep it at a fast idle/ to help break in.
I had it running ~10-12 minutes and knew right when T stat opened, felt the hot blast from downwind of the solid (stock factory) 4 blade fan. It got cooler for a bit, then got hot again..... so I shut it down..... popped the lever on the cap and relieved pressure to the side bottle, got cap off and it was hot enough to gurgle.... I'd filled it with antifreeze a couple of days ago so it had time to "naturally" bleed the air out since then. I had to add very little, once it cooled down and finished its gurgle. Less than I thought I might have to.
I went and got my 36" shop fan and put it in front of the radiator and let it sit and cool..... I was "right there" and shut it down as soon as I felt that hot blast of air thru radiator, so it didn't get to run hot, for very long at all.
Restarted it, and on the high step of fast idle (NOS BBD from mid 70s 318 application) and fast idle speed adjustment screw/spring bottomed, it was idling about 500. kicked the fast idle out, and it died. I gave the distributor a twist towards advance, started again, and idle became more realistic on base idle screw,,,,, let it warm up again, and kept my infra red in my hand, air stream from fan never got as hot as that 1st time, never gurgled again, infra red on back of T stat housing, never got over 180* (I have old NOS TRW brand cast iron T stat housing on it, thicker and transfers less heat than a stock aluminum one will) when it got hot on me it was reading over 210 there, with the infra red. Running a 195* stat.
It never got hot on me again, I have probably an hour to hour and 1/2 of run time on it so far, combined. I let it cool down, and warm up til the T stat opened, 2x more after that, while monitoring temp in many spots with the Infra red. that timing being so far off to begin with, was the biggest issue with the getting hot, initially.
It doesn't help my temp gauge is buried "HOT" as soon as I turn the key on, even stone cold..... I think its a bad sender, the gauge worked fine on old engine and sender. Maybe too much pipe dope on threads, messing with grounding ability? Gas guage and oil pressure reading "believeable", like they always were, before engine swap....gonna see if I still have original sending unit, so I can plop that in, and see what "it" does. It always worked before. ammeter never did work. so I don't think it's anything with gauge cluster voltage regulator. I have a set of Auto Meter gauges that is going on truck, as a supplement to the originals anyways. (regardless if I get that heat gauge problem resolved/ or not)
I still have to fab some linkage/bracketry for the throttle cable and the kickdown on account of conversion to "super 6" along with the engine swap and inability to find original stock super 6 linkage. I also have a Lokar-esque kickdown cable to engineer into the mix. so I was starting with a screwdriver to brown wire off of starter relay straight from the battery, and working throttle from under hood.
it starts easy and idles as it should on "curb idle" screw" now. haven't put a tach on it yet, currently "seat of pants" and "remembering how they used to sound" at given RPM, til I get my timing light w/ built in tach back from my kid.... might be a few days, daughter in law popped out grand kid #2 yesterday..... we have "big brother" here with us. (he's 19 months old)
I did have to crank timing down a bit, it was fighting the starter where it sounded best, while running ( fully advanced against high side of hold down, with how I have 2nd bolt on underside of distributor currently set. I have my NOS 3874876 distributor in at moment) I have another dist of same PN, that I rebuilt/ and played with advance curve on/lighter springs and such) to try a bit later. It's set as high as can be, without fighting the starter.
Speaking of starter, it sounds much better while cranking than with the old engine, since I slipped in a new (reman) converter while engine was out. had some rounded off teeth on ring gear from PO/
The only thing so far that has me a little bit bothered, is that I saw seepage of antifreeze bubbling (although slight) at the block to head seam, right under the T stat and just in front of the front edge of exhaust manifold.
other issue so far, is that I had some smoke coming out of engine breather on the valve cover, but after doing some checking I have NO vacuum at the nipple on base of carb where PCV connects..... I have the PCV hose off at base of carb and there is NO vacuum there, though I pulled brake booster hose and there's PLENTY of vacuum there. that should be an easy thing to figure out.... and should solve the smoke out the breather.
Part of the delay in this "first fire" was the fact that I don't think I'll be doing the title work and getting plates that soon, wasn't sure I wanted to spoil the newness of carb, and have any gas go thru it til I could make it all legal. though I would really like to drive it to work for a bit, while we still have good weather.
I did the 1st fire on it today.... IT RUNS!!! Plenty of oil pressure, plenty of oil flow to top end, idles as smooth as the original engine did, (was wondering about that with the parts I either modified or added that weren't "stock") just a slight valve noise, (pretty good guess on valve adjustment, better than I thought it would be) sounds like confined to just a couple.... just enough for that "/6 sound"..... love the whine of the old school Mopar starter too!
Just a few quirks, we can't have a complete engine overhaul without at least a few of those now, can we?
most are a matter of adjustment/tuning, that will come with time.
For break in, I found some conventional Valvoline 10w30 VR1, and added a bottle of COMP break in lube. Amazon was half the price, of any local parts store that showed they could get it. Was looking at "Driven", "Brad Penn", "Summit" and "Schaffer's break in oil. They were even crazier.
Being my springs are nothing more than stock 318 springs, (so, not alot of pressure on the lobes) plus when I built engines in my younger years, we never had to worry about such botique things, and that this is a 1974 original, but reground cam/ rather than a brand new, virgin cam core blank, with the "old stock" lifters I used, I thought (hoped) that would be "plenty good enough"> so far it seems so.
I'm trying to get away from something as popular as "CRS" is, as we get older.... in doing this build// a combo of overthinking jobs, when I used to "just do" them, plus "project creep"/"might as well's" added in/// but I don't want it to turn into a "redo" either.... so when I said "ACTION," it better be right, on "Take 1".
I cranked it a bit, to hopefully see pressure on my remote gauge, before I put the 1st drop of gas to it/ I left the fuel pump inlet unhooked for this. didn't see any on the gauge, but figured I'd better get this thing going on its own, be the quickest way to get it to pump..... it worked. (doesn't help. that battery was a bit low, when I started cranking/ from not being used in a while)
I went a bit overboard, trying to make damn sure I had "static timing" right on..... it was close enough to run, but nowhere close to where it needed to be.
I still need to get my timing light back from the kid, he forgets where the stuff came from sometimes.
Got it running, had to hold carb way farther open than I thought I'd need to, to keep it at a fast idle/ to help break in.
I had it running ~10-12 minutes and knew right when T stat opened, felt the hot blast from downwind of the solid (stock factory) 4 blade fan. It got cooler for a bit, then got hot again..... so I shut it down..... popped the lever on the cap and relieved pressure to the side bottle, got cap off and it was hot enough to gurgle.... I'd filled it with antifreeze a couple of days ago so it had time to "naturally" bleed the air out since then. I had to add very little, once it cooled down and finished its gurgle. Less than I thought I might have to.
I went and got my 36" shop fan and put it in front of the radiator and let it sit and cool..... I was "right there" and shut it down as soon as I felt that hot blast of air thru radiator, so it didn't get to run hot, for very long at all.
Restarted it, and on the high step of fast idle (NOS BBD from mid 70s 318 application) and fast idle speed adjustment screw/spring bottomed, it was idling about 500. kicked the fast idle out, and it died. I gave the distributor a twist towards advance, started again, and idle became more realistic on base idle screw,,,,, let it warm up again, and kept my infra red in my hand, air stream from fan never got as hot as that 1st time, never gurgled again, infra red on back of T stat housing, never got over 180* (I have old NOS TRW brand cast iron T stat housing on it, thicker and transfers less heat than a stock aluminum one will) when it got hot on me it was reading over 210 there, with the infra red. Running a 195* stat.
It never got hot on me again, I have probably an hour to hour and 1/2 of run time on it so far, combined. I let it cool down, and warm up til the T stat opened, 2x more after that, while monitoring temp in many spots with the Infra red. that timing being so far off to begin with, was the biggest issue with the getting hot, initially.
It doesn't help my temp gauge is buried "HOT" as soon as I turn the key on, even stone cold..... I think its a bad sender, the gauge worked fine on old engine and sender. Maybe too much pipe dope on threads, messing with grounding ability? Gas guage and oil pressure reading "believeable", like they always were, before engine swap....gonna see if I still have original sending unit, so I can plop that in, and see what "it" does. It always worked before. ammeter never did work. so I don't think it's anything with gauge cluster voltage regulator. I have a set of Auto Meter gauges that is going on truck, as a supplement to the originals anyways. (regardless if I get that heat gauge problem resolved/ or not)
I still have to fab some linkage/bracketry for the throttle cable and the kickdown on account of conversion to "super 6" along with the engine swap and inability to find original stock super 6 linkage. I also have a Lokar-esque kickdown cable to engineer into the mix. so I was starting with a screwdriver to brown wire off of starter relay straight from the battery, and working throttle from under hood.
it starts easy and idles as it should on "curb idle" screw" now. haven't put a tach on it yet, currently "seat of pants" and "remembering how they used to sound" at given RPM, til I get my timing light w/ built in tach back from my kid.... might be a few days, daughter in law popped out grand kid #2 yesterday..... we have "big brother" here with us. (he's 19 months old)
I did have to crank timing down a bit, it was fighting the starter where it sounded best, while running ( fully advanced against high side of hold down, with how I have 2nd bolt on underside of distributor currently set. I have my NOS 3874876 distributor in at moment) I have another dist of same PN, that I rebuilt/ and played with advance curve on/lighter springs and such) to try a bit later. It's set as high as can be, without fighting the starter.
Speaking of starter, it sounds much better while cranking than with the old engine, since I slipped in a new (reman) converter while engine was out. had some rounded off teeth on ring gear from PO/
The only thing so far that has me a little bit bothered, is that I saw seepage of antifreeze bubbling (although slight) at the block to head seam, right under the T stat and just in front of the front edge of exhaust manifold.
other issue so far, is that I had some smoke coming out of engine breather on the valve cover, but after doing some checking I have NO vacuum at the nipple on base of carb where PCV connects..... I have the PCV hose off at base of carb and there is NO vacuum there, though I pulled brake booster hose and there's PLENTY of vacuum there. that should be an easy thing to figure out.... and should solve the smoke out the breather.
Part of the delay in this "first fire" was the fact that I don't think I'll be doing the title work and getting plates that soon, wasn't sure I wanted to spoil the newness of carb, and have any gas go thru it til I could make it all legal. though I would really like to drive it to work for a bit, while we still have good weather.
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I wish I'd have had a 2nd set of eyes here for this 1st fire, to help with things like cranking up that timing sooner (I couldn't let go of throttle on carb, and have it stay running, before I cranked the timing up) and distributor is on other side of block/ as we all know) it also prevented me from being able to get over and watch for spin, on pushrods.... though on assembly, I gave all the pushrods a red stripe of paint just for that purpose. valve cover all bolted on now..... Now that it runs on its own without having to hold throttle any farther open than curb idle, and I can "walk away" from it, and have it stay running on its own, I will soon be taking VC back off and rechecking the valves running/"HOT" like I used to do, and how you're "supposed to," I'll be able to check on those pushrods spinning....
my68barracuda
Well-Known Member
Getting the motor running makes it all worthwhile. Good update.
Well got most of the bugs mentioned above fixed.
I put the original temp sending unit (from the original engine) in this engine and it now reads like it used to, before I swapped engines. No more "buried temp gauge" as soon as I hit the key from dead cold
More proof today's parts suck.
I redid the thermostat gasket, put another new one in and no more bubbles at the head/block seam
I replaced the lower hose, the new (older stock though) one has more of a crook in it away from the belt travel. So good there. The "old" one was not that old though.
I cut out the center divider in the phenolic spacer I have, between the carb and intake/ so now it's an open oval" and got vacuum for the PCV.
I got my timing light back from my kid and seems I hit right on 10* btc "by ear" which I think is a good starting spot til I can actually drive it to tweak it from there. Got lucky on that Guess.
New development thou, I discovered a puddle of ATF under it that wasn't there before I ran it, I'm guessing either the converter drained back and it came out the vent (don't think so as the bell housing area is dry, wet spot on trans concentrated on pan. Shift linkage seal or dipstick I ring probably. I checked the level (yeah hot and in neutral) and even with the "overflow" it's right in the middle of the "good" range.
I put the original temp sending unit (from the original engine) in this engine and it now reads like it used to, before I swapped engines. No more "buried temp gauge" as soon as I hit the key from dead cold
More proof today's parts suck.
I redid the thermostat gasket, put another new one in and no more bubbles at the head/block seam
I replaced the lower hose, the new (older stock though) one has more of a crook in it away from the belt travel. So good there. The "old" one was not that old though.
I cut out the center divider in the phenolic spacer I have, between the carb and intake/ so now it's an open oval" and got vacuum for the PCV.
I got my timing light back from my kid and seems I hit right on 10* btc "by ear" which I think is a good starting spot til I can actually drive it to tweak it from there. Got lucky on that Guess.
New development thou, I discovered a puddle of ATF under it that wasn't there before I ran it, I'm guessing either the converter drained back and it came out the vent (don't think so as the bell housing area is dry, wet spot on trans concentrated on pan. Shift linkage seal or dipstick I ring probably. I checked the level (yeah hot and in neutral) and even with the "overflow" it's right in the middle of the "good" range.
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