The Other 68 Dart Resto Project

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Lask week I took my rods down to the engine shop to get the pistons and pins pressed on and the big ends resized and arp bolts installed, that was Monday.

I got bad news from the machine shop today, all but one of my rods are bad. The small ends where the pin presses in is too large for an interference fit. Luckily I have that 400 engine sitting in the garage, I am going to pull the pistons and rods and take them down to him today.
 
check with 440 Source before you do all that work. You may be able to get rods from them cheaper then having the others rebuilt.
 
Not a lot to report, i had Lasik surgery last friday, so I have not had much time to work on the Dart. I did get the crank polished with 400 emery cloth last week, I started to clean oit the oil passages on the block, but I decided to do the DeTar oil mods, where you open up the main jornal feeds to 9/32 with a reamer and open up the oil feed from the pickup to the pump with a 5/8 bit.
 
I finally got all the pieces to mock up the short block. I picked up my pistons and rods from the machine shop today, I could not wait until the weekend, I mocked it up tonight.

These are the specs:
71 383 block
4.28 bore (.030 over)
.043 piston to deck, flat top pistons
.035 felpro gasket
82cc chambers

This makes the compression ratio come out a bit lower than I planned, 8.90:1.

Even though the parts and math were supposed to add up to .024 down the hole, it came out to .043 instead, so I am guessing the the decks are slightly taller (common from what I heard). I was planning to have the decks cut .040 (9.71) to get things back to where they should be, or should go absolute zero to .043 (9.73)? The difference is small I am not sure if there is a safety factor in that extra .003? I am also have very small clearance notches cut in the pistons, so the comp should go down a little and give me the 9.59 that I wanted.
 
just curious, what pistons did you go with?

we're putting a 383 in the barracuda, and im getting the motor this weekend.

i need to start finding parts for it.

ill be paying close attention to your buildup!
 
SealockRacing said:
just curious, what pistons did you go with?

we're putting a 383 in the barracuda, and im getting the motor this weekend.

i need to start finding parts for it.

ill be paying close attention to your buildup!
Click to expand...

Its a flat top that was made about 30 years ago, no name on it. I think it possibly might be a badger, but not sure, the box said 1977 when it was shipped.
 
Pictures to go along with the previous posts.

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More pics.

I checked cam timing and piston to valve clearance this week, took a bunch of measurements, next I need to pull the crank and cam to ream out the main oil passages to 9/32, which gives about an extra 10% oil flow to the mains. I am also using full groove main bearings, which allow constant instead of pulsed oil flow to the rods, which should aleveiate the common #4 main oil starvation problem. After that, the block goes to the machin shop for a final machining (.045 off the decks).

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flyboy just checking your progress since i recovered from the stroke a little, looks awesome, cant wait to see the black, it,s giong to look bitchin'!! Keep it up!!
 
Its good to see you are felling better, my buddy John had a stroke when he was 28 and my Dad had one when he was 70, so I know what you are going through.
 
I played a little dress-up with the engine today. Took some pics with my new VC and Air cleaner.

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flyboy i am coming along pretty good, long ways to go yet i am still in a wheel chair, but your awesome progress picture inspire me greatly keep it up!!
 
Friday:

I started doing the oil mods Friday night, and I ran into an issue, I started reaming #1 main with a 9/32 reaming bit and it went just fine, then I moved onto #2 and about 80% of the way through, it would not go any farther. I thought I broke the tip off the reamer, but it turns out that the metal just compacted down in the hole. I could not get a bristle brush down, brakleen did not help, i did not have any drill bits long enough, I finally fould a coat hanger and got a small hole pushed through, then I used a brush to clean it out. I figured I pressed my luck enough for one night, I will do the other three later and stop more often to clean the crud out.

Saturday:

I finished up the reaming out the rest of the oil passages in the mains today, the rest went smoothly, I think that having the drill stop rod in there kept the shavings from falling through, I also stopped about 1/2 way through and sprayed brakleen down the holes to flush them out. I also drilled the lifter galley for better drainback, I used a 5/32 drill bit and hit the holes with a countersink bit.

Now the block and heads are going back for a final trip to the machine shop to have the decks milled and the valve guides cut down for higher lift.

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I also spent a good part of the day on Sat cleaning up and painting a bunch of components and brackets, most parts were either degreased or blasted with glass bead. I was a little sloppy with the starter because I plan on replacing it with a mini starter.

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I got my pypes system today, I took it out of the box and took some pics. It looks really nice, but the tail pipes seem to line up odd, I am going to have to test fit them to see how they fit. Any one else have them yet? How did the tailpipes fit?

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man you are just big bunch of ambition, just awesome. How did the lasik go? When things hopefully get back to normal i would like to have that done someday!
 
The Lasik went OK, I had a high prescription, about the max they will do the Lasik with (7.75). The main issue I was having was with reading because of the astigmatism that got bad the past few years. My eyes are still healing and will continue to do so for a few months, so my vision keeps getting better. I may still get a correction done on the left eye in 6 months to fine tune it.
 
What I did today, with the help of my buddy Sam. For the second time in my Dart's 40 year life, it spat forth its smaller engine in trade for a bigger lung, last time it was for a small block, this time it will be for a big block. Today was a good day, every bolt came out easily with hand tools, except for a small phillips screw that got chopped with a cutoff wheel. We probably spent as much time taking out the old non-functioning a/c system as we spent pulling the engine. I was glad I slid in a huge piece of cardboard which kept the trans spillage contained.

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Of course there were a couple of casualties. I forgot to disconnect the column linkage before we got the engine up about 10 inches, and as you know, there is not 10 inches of play in the linkage. Good thinjg there is a floor shifter going in!
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Also, my collapsable tire chock got collapsed permanently when I was backing the car out of the garage.
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I just read this whole thread from the beginning....again. It's very cool!

Your garage is about the same size as mine. I always feel like it's too small to do any serious work on my car (although my friend and I did change my motor in it last year), but you're proving me wrong, which is a good thing. Thanks.
 
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