Pulling the engine for new freeze plugs

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604 said:
Citrus Strip! It is a spray can of tree hugger safe paint stripper. But this stuff stripes the baked on black stuff out of the inside of valve covers like nothing else! Really good stuff!
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I'm going to look for that. That nasty black stuff is what I'm dealing with. Oil pan had like 3/8" to 1/2" of sludge on bottom.
 
Hey,z.I have a set of .030 Trw forged if worse comes to worse.Same blank as your cast,dome milled to flat,you would need one pin.
 
Abodybomber said:
Hey,z.I have a set of .030 Trw forged if worse comes to worse.Same blank as your cast,dome milled to flat,you would need one pin.
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I'm leaning towards just honing and rings but I will see how things measure out at the machine shop. It ran fine before with little to no smoke so I'm thinking it will be fine. But I also hate to do all the work and have to redo it.

Thanks
 
I completely understand.I went through this a year ago with my 408,that is how I ended up here!
 
Both the Hi-Po and regular had floating piston pins. I have never heard that the rods were different, but verify. I have heard that the Hi-Po pistons are 2 types in a set - left bank or right bank. I hope you marked yours. Racers would sometimes swap them left to right to improve something. I assume true of the factory Hi-Po. I have seen a set of 4 after-market Badger Hi-Po pistons on e-bay described as "left bank".

I doubt the rods were cast. I have only heard of forged rods, even in later "make it cheaper" engines. I wonder if it is a crack. Forged metal it tough and usually necks down like Playdough a bit, not a sharp crack like brittle cast metal. Have a machine shop look at it.
 
BillGrissom said:
Both the Hi-Po and regular had floating piston pins. I have never heard that the rods were different, but verify. I have heard that the Hi-Po pistons are 2 types in a set - left bank or right bank. I hope you marked yours. Racers would sometimes swap them left to right to improve something. I assume true of the factory Hi-Po. I have seen a set of 4 after-market Badger Hi-Po pistons on e-bay described as "left bank".


I doubt the rods were cast. I have only heard of forged rods, even in later "make it cheaper" engines. I wonder if it is a crack. Forged metal it tough and usually necks down like Playdough a bit, not a sharp crack like brittle cast metal. Have a machine shop look at it.
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I did mark the pistons and the rods were stamped with numbers.I have a nice set of 340 rods with ARP bolts I will use if I end up boring the block. If I just re-ring I will just get another stock rod. I'm having a hard time with re-ring but my wallet doesn't like the rebuild.

I will have to check out pistons closer to see if there is any difference. I had not heard of the left/right bank unless they are refering to just hanging them on the rod.

The EGGE pistons seen to have increased in price in the last year in a half from $340.00 to $428.00 just my luck .
 
All mopar rods are foraged. All small block piston pins are offset to one side. This is to make them quieter and prevent piston slap. The old hot rod trick, and even recommended by mopar in several race bulletins is to put the LH pistons on the RH side and vise versa. Is said to make more power. Not sure if it is really true or not but ?????

If you go with 340 rods I am pretty sure you will have to have the engine balanced. As they are a much heavier rod than the old 273 and early 318 rods.
 
Strange place to crack......As for floating pins......all the stock 273's I've taken apart, had pressed pins, either 2bbl or 4bbl. You can make a press pin into a floater by machining the small end and having it bushed.
 
cudamark said:
Strange place to crack......As for floating pins......all the stock 273's I've taken apart, had pressed pins, either 2bbl or 4bbl. You can make a press pin into a floater by machining the small end and having it bushed.
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That is odd? All my books show all 273's having floating pins. Should be part number 2406785 forging number 1618699. And 318's up to 72 to early 73 with floating pins also. The set of rods and pistons I have laying around are out of a 68 or 69 318 and are the 273 part number rods with floating pins.

Maybe they made them both ways?
 
604 said:
All mopar rods are foraged. All small block piston pins are offset to one side. This is to make them quieter and prevent piston slap. The old hot rod trick, and even recommended by mopar in several race bulletins is to put the LH pistons on the RH side and vise versa. Is said to make more power. Not sure if it is really true or not but ?????

If you go with 340 rods I am pretty sure you will have to have the engine balanced. As they are a much heavier rod than the old 273 and early 318 rods.
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I check the 340 rods tonight. To my surprise they are more heavy duty. I had though all small block rods were the same. Really want the motor to be like factory equiped so I will have to check the rods in my 273 parts motor and see if they are the same as the HP 273 rods.
 
zhandfull said:
I check the 340 rods tonight. To my surprise they are more heavy duty. I had though all small block rods were the same. Really want the motor to be like factory equiped so I will have to check the rods in my 273 parts motor and see if they are the same as the HP 273 rods.
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Like I said I have that complete set of rods just sitting hear. Just give me a PM if you want them. I would let you have them for next to nothing. Might even do some trading for some 273 parts off of your parts engine.
 
Use the stock rods. As said earlier the 340 rods are heavier and will cause balance problems. You have to add weight to the crank which is very expensive. Egge has HP pistons for you if you need to overbore although they will drop your compression a point which is ok with today's fuels.I don't have the specs handy but if the ridge/taper isn't too bad you can hone and re-ring. Your machine shop will know what's best. toolman
 
604 said:
Like I said I have that complete set of rods just sitting hear. Just give me a PM if you want them. I would let you have them for next to nothing. Might even do some trading for some 273 parts off of your parts engine.
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I might take you up on that offer but need to see what pans out.

toolmanmike said:
Use the stock rods. As said earlier the 340 rods are heavier and will cause balance problems. You have to add weight to the crank which is very expensive. Egge has HP pistons for you if you need to overbore although they will drop your compression a point which is ok with today's fuels.I don't have the specs handy but if the ridge/taper isn't too bad you can hone and re-ring. Your machine shop will know what's best. toolman
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Why do you think it lowers compression? Do you think it is the over bore or how the pistons are made? I did notice they advertise them at 10.25 to 1 in the catalog. Egge is not far from me I had never heard of them before. Called yesterday they raised their prices pistons now $428 rings $70.
 
zhandfull said:
I might take you up on that offer but need to see what pans out.



Why do you think it lowers compression? Do you think it is the over bore or how the pistons are made? I did notice they advertise them at 10.25 to 1 in the catalog. Egge is not far from me I had never heard of them before. Called yesterday they raised their prices pistons now $428 rings $70.
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I ended up with 9.6:1 but you have to remember that a valve grind lowers compression. Also a big difference is todays head gaskets. The originals were steel shim which have a compressed thickness of about .010 The larger bore composite gaskets nowdays will lower compression by almost a full point. I would contact Cometic and have some made. Mike
 
Why does every one call these freeze plugs? They were not put there for freezing. They are actually called expansion plugs. They are used to close the holes in the casted engine block and heads. The holes were there to remove the casting sand and wires. Just a freindly FYI. Could be why you don't see them in any machined aluminum blocks or heads.
Cometic gaskets have a tendency to seep at the center rivet on each side. Mr. gaskets tri-metals do not.
 
Meet-Joe-"Dart";1537012 said:
I had a feeling you would end up rebuilding her after I read your first post :) Hope all goes well!
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Hold on there. I'm on a budget still thinking about putting the old pistons back in with a hone, new rings, and bearings. I have done that once before on a standard 273 and it worked out pretty well.


On that thought here is another question is there any media I can use in my blast cabinet that will clean up the pistons without ruining them? Was thinking soda or walnut might work.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
Why does every one call these freeze plugs? They were not put there for freezing. They are actually called expansion plugs. They are used to close the holes in the casted engine block and heads. The holes were there to remove the casting sand and wires. Just a freindly FYI. Could be why you don't see them in any machined aluminum blocks or heads.
Cometic gaskets have a tendency to seep at the center rivet on each side. Mr. gaskets tri-metals do not.
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People call them freeze plugs do to there origins. If you look in a old tractor or car manual for the 30's or 40's that is what they call them. I even saw an explanation in a manual (I think it was a Farmall) that stated if the block starts to freeze they are soupiest to pop out and help prevent damage to the block. Well we all know that it usually dose not work that way. The block still cracks. But you are absolutely right they are there so they can clean out the block of sand and such.
 
Feels like forever, but it's been a couple months. The new freeze plugs are in. lol... Still waiting for the balancing work and the heads.

My little job turned in to a full on rebuild. Hopefully in a couple more weeks I can wrap up the assembly. Here's to helping the economy:D

Before and after pics.
 

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Not sure about blasting your pistons. I found some stuff at the dollar store called "LA's Totally Awsome". Pour some of this in a bowl and soak your piston for about 5 minutes, then just wipe the crud off.

Two things:

1) wear nitrile gloves or something similar. This stuff will mess up your hands.

2) I would not recommend using on bare aluminum. if you do, keep plenty of water and wd40 near by.
 
Wow looks nice!! I have never noticed those clearance indentations in the side of a 273 block before. But then I have never seen a 273 up close out of the car come to think about it. LOL
 
back in the day,for a 340, a stock 4.040 bore was matched with an aftermarket forged
piston, 4.034 over for a wall clearance of .006...with wear a stock bore could
actually be 4.042/4.043 and you could end up with .008/.009..way too big.
....newer pistons/material now(2011)have smaller clearances.....

whatever piston you use, make sure you get the wall clearance right, it will save you
grief later on....
 
Yeah, you don't want to blast the pistons, nor the insides of the oil pan, valve covers, or intake. Tha abrasive media will get forced into the pores of the material, and then work itself out during the thermal cycling. Use a wire wheel and ring groove cleaner (or and old ring) on the pistons, and just blast the outside surfaces of the other stuff.
 
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