Reached a pretty big milestone here folks - the engine is in the car. Finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
First though, there's a couple things to detail on how we got here.
As all my three faithful readers are aware, back in October the 2nd iteration of my 416" small block engine was dynoed and made surprisingly good power. However, as I mentioned in the previous post, there were some small oil leaks. The excitement of making over 600hp was dampened because it appeared the leak was coming from the rear main seal. Grrr...
I wasn't 100% sure of where the leak was coming from so before taking it apart I bought a
smoke machine to pinpoint and confirm the source. Turned out to be the right move as the tool worked as advertised - definitely the rear main and a small spot in the the front pan seal. I recommend getting one of these things to check for leaks of any kind. It's pretty cool to be able to buy one for $60. The ones we had at the dealership where I used to work and in most professional shops are thousands of dollars.
The pan came off pretty easily as the RTV from the first install wasn't even fully cured. I think the seal leaked because it was 10 years old. It was only run on the dyno but it sat for many years before being pressed into service again. There was nothing visibly wrong with it but I replaced it anyway. This time I staggered the ends 3/8" where last time it was a bit less than 1/8". I also put gray sealer between the cap and block which wasn't done last time. No RTV on the seal ends.
Then I did something dumb (what else is new) - I put the pan on but forgot to put the paper gaskets down. Doh! I didn't even realize it until the next day when I saw them sitting on the bench. I couldn't believe it. So off came the pan again. The end seals didn't fare too well this time so I had to order
another set of pan gaskets. (set #3) This time I went with the
Milodon 'crushproof' gasket set and employed some slightly different applications of RTV. After the install I performed the smoke test again and saw no leaks. Phew! It does seem good now, I just have a better feeling about it.
After the oil pan debacle the next task was to change the distributor from the Mopar tach drive unit that was used on the dyno to the Holley Hypserspark for when it's in the car running off the EFI. I had to time the motor again and hopefully I did that correctly. On these distributors (hall effect trigger) it makes no difference where #1 is but I wanted it where it usually is on the driver's side facing the #1 cylinder which involved a bit of finagling the gear. Once the EFI is running it's easy to adjust the timing as needed.
After that, the spark plug wires were reconfigured to match the male terminals. It took a lot of time to get the wires where I liked them. There's always firing order crossovers which never seem quite right to me but that's the way it is. The wires are now a bit shorter than they were previously which is a good thing. I'm happy with the way they came out. I was able to avoid using loom organizers that attach to the valve covers - one less thing to go wrong and less clutter.
After some hemming and hawing about what else needed to be done before the engine could go in, I came to the conclusion that it just had to go in and I would deal with any details afterwards. Yesterday it just kind of happened - I didn't really even plan on doing it but once I started I wasn't going to stop.
To be honest, getting the engine in the car was a bit of a hassle. To get the headers in, the steering linkage has to come apart - irritating but not a huge deal. I had moving blankets and towels draped over the sides to protect stuff but still managed to scratch the **** out of one of the tubes on the driver's side. I tried finessing it 17 ways to Sunday but just couldn't get it home. The air-oil separator had to come off the back of the head because it was getting wedged against things protruding off the firewall. I figured that would have to be relocated from on the back of the cylinder head anyway since there isn't a lot of room in that immediate area when in the car.
After about 30 minutes of aggravation, it occurred to me that the engine mount isolators should be flipped. I'm not sure doing that accomplished anything except raising the bottom bolt to the higher position in the slot. Most of the difficulty was caused by driver's side header being sort of wedged in a couple spots making it impossible to force the engine into the bellhousing. Conversely, the passenger side header went in relatively easily. After a couple rounds of getting it closer and closer and then suddenly freeing up the driver's side header, eventually it fell into place and the bell bolts threaded in by hand.
Again though, despite the moving blanket, the #3 tube got pretty roughed up on the corner of the steering box. The K frame powder coating also got destroyed but it's under the isolator now so out of sight out of mind. The big win is that the header bolts are at least threaded. I'll put it back up in the air and get the lower bell bolt and starter in and reconnect the steering linkage.
With the Super Victor intake and 1" spacer, the engine is way taller than my old combination which fit under the flat hood so I'm definitely going to need to cut a hole in the hood and add a scoop. I am wanting a 4" tall 6 pack scoop but it seems like the only place that offered them was AAR. After emailing them about availability, they told me it's no longer available. I don't like the 5" tall ones and the 3" ones seem a bit too short. Hopefully I can find something that works.
The next steps are basically just to start putting whatever is left back together. The engine bay wiring harnesses (including the lights, charging system and horn) and the cooling system can be configured now. The rest of the exhaust system can go in and the brakes and suspension systems can be finalized. Once those things are done I can order a driveshaft and then finish the interior, get the front and rear glass put back in and eventually fire it up and start dialing it in.
More to come.
