Well It Finally Happened

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Great write-up. Just finished with the whole thread. Very helpful as I know I want a stroker under the hood, just not sure how much motor I want to start with: crate, long block, short... get a kit for my 340. I enjoyed your build, thanks for sharing!
 
Geo4K said:
Great write-up. Just finished with the whole thread. Very helpful as I know I want a stroker under the hood, just not sure how much motor I want to start with: crate, long block, short... get a kit for my 340. I enjoyed your build, thanks for sharing!
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Well I have to say that I think that I got a better engine than I would have if I'd ordered a crate short block but it costs a lot more. Keep in mind that I didn't have a lot of the stuff I needed sitting around. I had to buy the the heads, intake, oil pan and a lot of other pieces and parts. It seems that all of the "little things" are what get you in the end. But that being said I have about $12,000 into this engine. The machine work certainly added up and of course the dyno time ($500.00). If you order Edlebrock heads I suggest you get the bare as the valve guides need to be checked by your machinist (mine were too tight) and it will give you the opportunity to pick the springs and valves you want (my machinist put in 2.08 intakes). Al lot of guys on here are ordering the Blueprint short block and adding the top end, it will certainly be cheaper (I feel a little light in the a$$ right now). I guess time will tell if they made a good decision. If you have any questions or I can help in any way just ask
 
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So here I sit on another Sunday morning with the Dart still not started. Ya know, it's all of the "little things" that are chewing up GOBBS of time. We are down to just a few annoying items. The shifter cable is way close to the headers as is the starter solenoid wire that comes out of the starter. I wrapped the header with insulation for the starter and I put Velcro attached insulating wrap around the shifter cable. Not sure how it's gonna work out. We were in the garage until 3;30 this morning and my *** is dragging. Looks like another week for me as I'm heading to Texas for work on Monday. Should be started next Saturday as we only have a few more items to go. Fluids and shifter cable, I will keep you guys posted.
 
superchargeddrt said:
So here I sit on another Sunday morning with the Dart still not started. Ya know, it's all of the "little things" that are chewing up GOBBS of time. We are down to just a few annoying items. The shifter cable is way close to the headers as is the starter solenoid wire that comes out of the starter. I wrapped the header with insulation for the starter and I put Velcro attached insulating wrap around the shifter cable. Not sure how it's gonna work out. We were in the garage until 3;30 this morning and my *** is dragging. Looks like another week for me as I'm heading to Texas for work on Monday. Should be started next Saturday as we only have a few more items to go. Fluids and shifter cable, I will keep you guys posted.
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It is ALWAYS the little stuff that chews the time and money. Looking forward to a road report! Had mine out first time of season the other night, great fun was had.
 
cpearce said:
It is ALWAYS the little stuff that chews the time and money. Looking forward to a road report! Had mine out first time of season the other night, great fun was had.
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the road
Count on the road report (with video and pics). I can't wait. That first ride of the season is always a good one. It's almost like the first time you ever drove your car and the looks on the faces of people as you pass by is priceless. I had mine out driving down the road a few years ago and there was a couple of young teens in a Honda hanging out the window taking pictures LOL. HOPEFULLY I will have good things to report next Saturday.
 
Okay Guys,
So disaster may have finally knocked at my door. We finally got the engine started and wound up with 3 psi of oil pressure. I allowed it to run for about 30 seconds but no oil pressure (I have a remote oil filter and cooler so I figured it might take a while for the lines to fill. I did pre fill the filter). After troubleshooting a bit we found out that we had the in and out lines reversed at the filter. We reversed them and decided that we wouldnt chance it so we used a priming shaft on a drill and wound up with 70 PSI on the gauge. I didn't feel comfortable without checking so we pulled valve covers. We are not getting any oil to the rockers (yes we tried rotating the crank but we weren't able to get any oil flow. There was some oil puddling towards the back of the head but I didn't see any oil flow like when my engine builder primed the pump at the dyno session. I am very disillusioned at this point. It's been a long hard road and I am getting tired of all of the setbacks. Any ideas guys? Any help and encouragement would be appreciated. I just hope I didn't do any damage when the oil pressure diddnd come up. Thanks
 
Hello Glenn,

I imagine that caused unease for sure. While I don't have first hand experience with this happening I know others who have had this or similar occur. In 30 seconds I would not think huge damage would have occurred, without heat built up clearances should have been at there largest so hopefully there was a safety buffer there.

Troubling is the lack of oil to the top end while using a priming rod. Is it possible the system has air pockets in it now? I have worked with gas compression equipment for years and often our packing lubricators would get an air pocket in the system after a filter changer. If this happens we have to bleed the entire system of air or oil just will not pump, much like bleeding brakes. Perhaps this is your issue, since you had great oil pressure and flow on dyno I can't imagine much has changed in that regard.

I too know the frustrations, my build had many obstacles and setbacks that we needed to overcome. Some nights I wanted to throw in the towel. Stick with it, your results will bear fruit very shortly. The end is so near for you, don't lose hope.

I suggest when you do get oil problem solved and get it running, do an oil change shortly after and do a filter cut and oil analysis. This will help indicate any damae that may have occurred although I suspect it will be fine. This will put your mind at ease.
 
cpearce said:
Hello Glenn,

I imagine that caused unease for sure. While I don't have first hand experience with this happening I know others who have had this or similar occur. In 30 seconds I would not think huge damage would have occurred, without heat built up clearances should have been at there largest so hopefully there was a safety buffer there.

Troubling is the lack of oil to the top end while using a priming rod. Is it possible the system has air pockets in it now? I have worked with gas compression equipment for years and often our packing lubricators would get an air pocket in the system after a filter changer. If this happens we have to bleed the entire system of air or oil just will not pump, much like bleeding brakes. Perhaps this is your issue, since you had great oil pressure and flow on dyno I can't imagine much has changed in that regard.

I too know the frustrations, my build had many obstacles and setbacks that we needed to overcome. Some nights I wanted to throw in the towel. Stick with it, your results will bear fruit very shortly. The end is so near for you, don't lose hope.

I suggest when you do get oil problem solved and get it running, do an oil change shortly after and do a filter cut and oil analysis. This will help indicate any damae that may have occurred although I suspect it will be fine. This will put your mind at ease.
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Thanks for the help and words of encouragement. I actually plan on changing the oil before I even try starting it again. $60.00 in oil and filter is nothing compared to what I have in this engine. I will cut the oil filter open just for piece of mind. This won't happen until Friday or Saturday as I have to go out of town tomorrow (Boardman Oregon, middle of nowhere) field service jobs suck, they eat up a lot of personal time. I will keep you posted and thanks again!
 
Glen,
I remember when priming my 340 in my duster, it took forever to get oil to the rockers.
I even took the pressure gauge off, to look for oil flow.
All at once oil shot up and hit the ceiling.
Even after that it still took a little bit of time for the rockers to get flow.
I bet you are just air locked, keep priming.
 
sireland67 said:
Glen,
I remember when priming my 340 in my duster, it took forever to get oil to the rockers.
I even took the pressure gauge off, to look for oil flow.
All at once oil shot up and hit the ceiling.
Even after that it still took a little bit of time for the rockers to get flow.
I bet you are just air locked, keep priming.
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Well we'll definitely give that a try. We primed a for a few minutes but maybe we will have to give it hell again. That is AFTER we repair our home made priming shaft. You knew that the weld was gonna let go Argh. We did get it back out with long needle nose pliers. Any way I am changing the oil and filter before trying anything else, just can't be too careful. Thanks for replying, it's good to hear others experiences .
 
My hv pump was bogging a 3/8 drill out, needed to go to a 1/2 drill.
I was only using 5w-30 oil.
 
sireland67 said:
My hv pump was bogging a 3/8 drill out, needed to go to a 1/2 drill.
I was only using 5w-30 oil.
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Lol yeah we started with my battery operated Dewalt drill. When that wasn't enough we switched to a right angle drill that was close by and the finally to a 1/2 inch hammer drill, that go results. I am using 5/30 as well.
 
I still think you are air locked.
Remember the cam only oils each side in a certain spot, if you don’t hit it, you will never see oil there.
 
sireland67 said:
I still think you are air locked.
Remember the cam only oils each side in a certain spot, if you don’t hit it, you will never see oil there.
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I just got off of the phone with Ironmike, he informed me that Bullet cams oil at different degree location than the stock Mopar cams and that it's not at 90° and 20°. He suggested that I use a piece of tig wire down the oiling hole in the head and slowly rotate the cam until I feel it drop into the hole in the cam. I think I will give that a try. Honestly I can't see anything being seriously wrong because I haven't changed anything internally since the dyno session other than fixing a oil pan leak.
 
Possible with pan off for leak repair pick-up moved? Maybe just enough to cause issue? Hopefully nothing major, it will all work out I’m sure.
 
DARTGAME said:
Possible with pan off for leak repair pick-up moved? Maybe just enough to cause issue? Hopefully nothing major, it will all work out I’m sure.
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Thanks for your reply. Well I am going to try using a piece of tig wire to line up the oiling hole in the head. I am getting 70 PSI now with a drill so after I verify that oil is getting to the head I'm going to try firing it up again. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
 
did you try turning the motor over with a breaker bar slowly while hitting the drill (drill turning correct way for a SBM- but you allready got oil pressure
you have to turn the motor over twice- and maybe twice with the wire trick- do not shear off the wire !
 
Wyrmrider said:
did you try turning the motor over with a breaker bar slowly while hitting the drill (drill turning correct way for a SBM- but you allready got oil pressure
you have to turn the motor over twice- and maybe twice with the wire trick- do not shear off the wire !
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Yes I did but I guess I have to turn ULTRA slowly because I couldn't get anything. I guess I am just being paranoid as I watched my engine builder get a flood of oil while priming it and I've done nothing internally to the engine. It was just the scare of 3 PSI of pressure on initial startup that has me wigged out. Like I said after we switched the lines on the remote filter we had 70 PSI with the drill.
 
yup, you gotta get it right or it won't flow oil up top and it takes a while to get there. Be careful you don't have the tig wire in the hole while the cam is turning. I use an old oil pump drive shaft to prime. Just chuck it up in a lathe and cut the gear teeth off and then some more for cam gear clearance. I used an EDM to cut a deeper center slot (die grinder would work too) and then use a round shank flat screwdriver (in the EDM'd slot) chucked up in my 1/2 inch Makita hammer drill...works great.
 
Here is what I use for a primer, cut off the gear on an old oil pump drive, weld and old push rod to it.
It does not cost anything, just built out of used parts.

RD3KL9.jpg
 
Well guys, the good news is that I got oil flow to the top of the engine. I used a small piece of stainless steel wire and lined of the hole. I knew it was probably alright because I haven't changed anything since the dyno test but with the kind of money I have into this engine I didn't want to take a chance. Now I have come up with a couple of new issues. When trying to set the timing it was going all over the place. We had the base timing at 18° and I am allowing the FiTech to control the timing (the distributor is locked out) and the timing is varying from 18° to 23°. After troubleshooting for quite a while we found the problem. It seems that when spending this amount of cash on a new engine one should not "cheap out" on components. I bought one of the TSP distributors (MSD clone) from Pace Performance and you guys need to watch for this. It seems that the flat at the end of the distributor shaft is a very sloppy fit and it's allowing the rotor to move at what looks to be about 10° of rotation, guess I will have to spend the $300.00 for a proper MSD distributor. We put in a distributor that my buddy Larry had lying around (can't be phased but it's a magnetic pickup) and the timing is stable. Chinese JUNK comes back to bite me in the a$$ again! Now for item number 2, the engine appears to be burning rich at idle. My O2 guage says about 13.1. When we were making adjustments Larry noticed that the FiTech was saying 14.7 and not moving. Looks like the O2 sensor is toast so I ordered one from Amazon and it should be here by next weekend. Well that's it for now, sorry for the slow updates. I will post a running video after we get it ironed out.
 
Are you saying the screwdriver end of the distributor is machined undersize and it allows the shaft to flop around in the slot of the drive gear, or are we talking about the rotor end of the shaft.

First I've heard of something like this, but everything is possible. That spec has been the same since before I was born.
 
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