The POS 408 progress pics....

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POS Dakota

POS Dakota

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It's finally looking like an engine and I have all the tough stuff worked out.
It's really a unique deal so there were lots of things I had to figure out and take my time to avoid half-assing anything.

Anyway, thought I would share some pics.
I am extremely happy with what I am ending up with.
Thanks to everyone who helped me so far. I mean that.
Without you guys it wouldnt be as cool as it is...

withintakeinred.jpg


.600 lift.

LIFT.jpg


After all the crap I went through with headgaskets, decking, milling...a factory length magnum pushrod fits perfectly!!!!!! That blew my mind!

perfectadjustmentandpushrodlength.jpg


Shot of the rockers.

rollerrockersandbeehivesprings.jpg


Roller position at lift....

rolleronopenvalve.jpg


Roller position open....

rolleronclosedvalve.jpg


Cat geardrive. Cam currently installed dead nuts at 106. using two keyways over from the little cat thingy which is straight up. Straight up was something like 111 or 112...something like that. That wouldnt have worked so well IMO. Just something you have to figure out. This geardrive takes a bit of work to get it right in many ways. but worth it! Hughes cam bolt and washer with long shout cam fits fine behind magnum timing cover. So if you were interested in this with the serpentine setup which is way better than v pulleys, then go with your bad self. I was told it wouldnt work, but it does! You just need to use an electric fuel pump as the eccentric and provision for a mech pump isnt there.

geardrive2-1.jpg
deck2.jpg


Piston is .017 out of the hole. Used a .054 felpro gasket for a .037 quench and a 10.3:1 static compression ratio and 9.3:1 dynamic. It really screwed with me when I realized I was out of the hole, but the quench worked out great in the end. should run great on 93 pump gas, or even 89.

deck1.jpg


shortblock with it's recipient in the background.

shortblock.jpg


I really like it! I am trying to make sure it's as tastefully done as possible too. Looks are important to me. I dig the red, aluminum and black accent pieces. Worked out just the way I want it.

I am extremely happy so far. It took a lot of work to get everything right, but the clerances are great, quench is perfect, valve geometry is as good as a 59 degree can be.

I think it's really gonna run good!

Tomorrow the oil pan, timing cover, oil pump, pickup and intake will all be bolted down. I'll take more pics when it's more of a complete motor.

Special thanks to all of you who helped me so I could make this happen.
Without you this wouldnt be anywhere near what I envisioned when i was sitting here with a pile of parts in boxes.

So whattya think so far?:cheers:
 
Looks good except for those iron doorstops! LOL

Nice work.
 
1wild&crazyguy said:
what cam? specs that is.

nice motor
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I'll have to grab the card out of the garage so I know for sure... IIRC it's a 242/250something. I'll let you know. Bullet spec'd it after listening to my combo specs and what I wanted it to do.

It's a custom billet roller designed to give me a .600 lift to match my magnum rhs heads, and work with my 1.65 rocker ratio for quick opening. It's a mopar specific lobe which I think is why the duration came out to be a little lower on paper since I believe the typical chevy lobe cams have to be higher to do the same thing???

I couldnt find an off the shelf offering that would accomodate what I wanted to do so I went that route. Most of what was offered would give me too much lift with my rocker ratio.

I was originally going to use a comp 286 hydraulic roller which was 236/242 on a 110 and would give me the lift I wanted, but After thinking it over and doing some talking to people I came to the conclusion it was too mild in duration...gonna use that one in my wife's engine with 9.5:1 static.

I think it will work good without being too mild, or going too far over the edge since I didnt want too high a stall either. Strong torque was more important than anything.

We'll see!
 
Lookin' good, POS.

Get her buttoned up, take some more pics for us, throw her in the truck and it's vid time. :cheers:

Now you're making me feel guilty for not having mine completed. =P~
 
POS Dakota said:
I'll have to grab the card out of the garage so I know for sure... IIRC it's a 242/250something. I'll let you know. Bullet spec'd it
Click to expand...


Do you know the duration @200 and what centerlines did they put on it.

any reason why you didn't give Engle a try ?
 
comoxian said:
Lookin' good, POS.

Get her buttoned up, take some more pics for us, throw her in the truck and it's vid time. :cheers:

Now you're making me feel guilty for not having mine completed. =P~
Click to expand...

Take your time.
I changed my mind on a bunch of stuff, ran into a bunch of issues, and when I got pissed off, I backed off. It'll always be there waiting for the next step.

I'm honestly not sure when mine will be fired up.

I have to yank the fuel tank and efi crap out, put in a fuel cell, lines and electric pump, then wire up some stuff still...

probably would have been running already had it not been such a shitty summer. Most of the time it's been too hot to do anything.
 
I would run a timing chain. Heard too many problems with gear drives. A chain is easier on the cam, gear drives connect the crank to the cam and all the piston pounding travels up to the cam.
 
POS Dakota said:
Take your time.
I changed my mind on a bunch of stuff, ran into a bunch of issues, and when I got pissed off, I backed off. It'll always be there waiting for the next step.

I'm honestly not sure when mine will be fired up.

I have to yank the fuel tank and efi crap out, put in a fuel cell, lines and electric pump, then wire up some stuff still...

probably would have been running already had it not been such a shitty summer. Most of the time it's been too hot to do anything.
Click to expand...

Ya, that's me in a nutshell.

Got frustrated trying to install the cam and the gear drive. Switched to the double roller, still couldn't set up the cam right.

That's how she sits. And the heat sure has something to do with it. I'm more of a cold weather guy.

Maybe if more guys piped up about not running a gear drive, they just might change our minds. :bootysha:
 
Looks Great!!!! I hope she runs like you want.
 
Mad Dart said:
Looks really good! Is that a 750 Mighty Demon on top?
Click to expand...

Yes sir. It's the annular booster version.
I tested this carb on a friend's 406 and it worked a lot better than his drop leg holley with very little tweaking. The part throttle seemed to be stronger and more responsive which is exactly what I was hoping for.

750annularmightydemon.jpg



IIRC I think it cost me about 630-670 bucks...something like that.
I forget. But it's a nice carb for the money regardless of what some people say. It works well and there were no shavings or problems with it like some like to repeat over and over. I guess they had some problems a while back, but this is no longer the case.
 
comoxian said:
Ya, that's me in a nutshell.

Got frustrated trying to install the cam and the gear drive. Switched to the double roller, still couldn't set up the cam right.

That's how she sits. And the heat sure has something to do with it. I'm more of a cold weather guy.

Maybe if more guys piped up about not running a gear drive, they just might change our minds. :bootysha:
Click to expand...

I can help you with whatever questions you have about the geardrive. Don't let anything or anyone dissuade you. It's a good piece. It's just not a direct bolt on. It is a test of patience, but believe me when I say this whole motor has been a test of my patience. I'm happy I stuck with all my plans though since in the end it's kind of unique. Anything you do on an engine that not many others have or that was difficult to do will give more pride of ownership in the end....

If you need any help with the geardrive, just let me know.
I was very frustrated with it too. It took me over a week of screwing with it here and there to get it right, but it made the cut.

I can help with degreeing it, and all the necessary tweaks.

I degreed it with crane's preferred method. It's more accurate than trying to find the ICL like comp does. Reason being, a lot of the newer lobes are non-symmetrical meaning the opening and closing ramps are different.

I took a cam sprocket from a chain set and put the alignment dot on it in the same spot to get a ballpark idea to start with. I used the straight up keyway on the crank gear which is the one with the little cat logo over it. Then I set up the wheel and dial using a pushrod. Like this...

dialsetup.jpg


It took me a little bit to get it all as straight as can be so it was accurate, but by doing it this way, while not getting such an accurate lobe lift number (which doesnt matter so much), you CAN compare the valve timing at how many degrees on the cam card to get the cam dialed in where it needs to be. As long as you set it up with the dial zero'd on the base circle you'll be able to tell what keyway you need. You;ll be pulling the gear off a couple times or so until you get it right. Takes some screwing around, but then you'll see what you need.

Read crane's method for degreeing the cam and you'll understand what I mean.

I needed to go two keyways to the left of the little cat mark keyway to get it right. I didnt need any offset keys either! I installed mine at 106. Using comp's method was inaccurate in my case.
Hope that makes sense.
 
POS Dakota said:
Yes sir. It's the annular booster version.
I tested this carb on a friend's 406 and it worked a lot better than his drop leg holley with very little tweaking. The part throttle seemed to be stronger and more responsive which is exactly what I was hoping for.

750annularmightydemon.jpg



IIRC I think it cost me about 630-670 bucks...something like that.
I forget. But it's a nice carb for the money regardless of what some people say. It works well and there were no shavings or problems with it like some like to repeat over and over. I guess they had some problems a while back, but this is no longer the case.
Click to expand...

I have the same one on my 410. It also has the V Floats, Jet Extensions, bottom feeder needle and seats and Non Stick Cometic Gaskets. FWIW it did run lean on Brian's Dyno and there wasn't enough time to mess with it that day cause we ran out of daylight. I have rejetted the carb since and it runs really nice and crisp with absolutely no lag when you stomp on it!
 
Yep! There definitely isnt any lag.
Part of that is properly sizing the carb to the motor.
Yeah, a 950 might make a higher peak power, but it's gonna suck driving around town.

I'll take solid response for 1000 Alex! ;)
 
So.....does POS mean what I think it does? If so, why in the world did you pick that name when clearly your dakota ain't a POS. LOL
 
StrokerScamp said:
So.....does POS mean what I think it does? If so, why in the world did you pick that name when clearly your dakota ain't a POS. LOL
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Thanks!

It's a love/hate relationship and when I hate it, Damn!!! I HATE IT!!!!!
So whenever me and it have had a bad day and they have been many, I of course call it a POS. After all, it's always the truck's fault, not mine! lol
Thus the name!

But yeah, names can be deceiving.

I've had it for a long time and we've been through superchargers, blown pistons, three blown transmissions, a broken rear leaf, a broken axle, 2 nitrous explosions, total loss of oil pressure and bearings, and the list goes on and on. We've been through a lot!

No matter what I do, I just can't get myself to sell it, so every year or two, we do something a bit different.

This time, a nice carbed 408 with all the efi and computer controls evicted and a manually shifted overdrive auto trans for some oldschool flavor. here in Michigan and inn florida where my other place is, there are no emmission laws or inspections so I can run it however I like.:cheers:

it should be pretty badass this time around....I'm hoping anyway.
 
POS Dakota said:
. here in Michigan and inn florida where my other place is, there are no emmission laws or inspections so I can run it however I like.:cheers:

it should be pretty badass this time around....I'm hoping anyway.
Click to expand...


Yep, I worry with Michigan getting a new governor if things might change! All the near by states have inspections. Our state isn't doing too great ha ha but our driving laws are pretty cool compare to some other places. Expect the helmet law for motorcycles, Ohio has none, our governor stopped or help stop lifting the helmet law. (now sure in an accident you are better off wearing helmet--but only in an accident, otherwise it takes the fun out of bike riding, imo)
 
Sweet looking engine. Gotta be happy with that rocker arm geometry, looks great! Good luck with it and have fun boiling the tires.
 
340sFastback said:
Sweet looking engine. Gotta be happy with that rocker arm geometry, looks great! Good luck with it and have fun boiling the tires.
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Thank you and yes I'm very happy with that geometry.
Like I said earlier, between the milling of the head, the block being decked a min. of .010, the rockers having to be shimmed to correct the roller scrub etc, It blows my mind that a 6.91 inch pushrod works perfectly...that's the factory length of a magnum pushrod!!!! lol

I had a set of pushrods that were too long and before I took a fit, I figured "why not" and tried an old mag pushrod I had laying around.

it fit perfect! If you look at the pics of the adjusters on the rocker there is maybe 1.5 threads of the adjuster sticking out the bottom, and as you see the scrub on teh stem is perfect.

It doesnt get any better than that, and I will definitely take it!

The valvetrain geometry was one of the main apprehensions I had since I was unsure what I was getting into with these rockers, heads I am unfamiliar with, decked block, pistons out of the hole and .054 headgaskets...kind of funny how with a tiny bit of tweakig it all fell innto place like that. I hit the lotto. lol

Another thing that is funny is that so far from what i can see, the intake fits perfectly too. I could probably use the factory end seals, but will use a thick bead of RTV and let it partially cure before torquing it down.

I expect to have an oil pan, oil pump/pickup installed tomorrow and throw some oil in it to see how it all primes up. I'll get oil to both heads and if that happens I'll call it good and seal it up. Balancer is on the way too. Damn PRW taking their time....hope I don't get one of their duds. LOL
 
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