1968 Street Hemi build

[rev.ronnie]

I'm working on a Hemi for a 1968 Charger. I am doing some photo documentation for the family, of the head, block and rotating assy. machining and shortblock assembly process. The car is an original owner, 42,000 mile 4 speed R/T. Cool...

I can post pics here if anyone is interested...but I need to forward them to someone to post, I cannot do it with this iPad.

If anyone is interested, and doesn't mind getting photos emailed to them at all hours of the night, I can C/C them as I send them to my own email too.

Let me know,
Thanks in advance, Ron

 

[64BEL]

I'd be happy to post them for you, Ron. I'll PM you my email address.

Dave

 

[rev.ronnie]

I'd be happy to post them for you, Ron. I'll PM you my email address.

Dave

I sent a bunch...let me know if (when!) I become a burden on you!

I'll have more soon, I'm starting on the block tonight.

 

[64BEL]

This is just a pic of the machine shop area. Line hone, line boring tooling, cylinder hone, torque plates, surfacing machine. Excuse the clutter, I have not finished the addition yet.


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[64BEL]

Another machine shop pic. Crankshaft balancer, large cyl. boring machine, head bench.


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[64BEL]

More machinery. Milling machine, BHJ deck and bore indexing tooling. Also, BHJ o-ring tooling.

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[64BEL]

Media blaster, oven, mill.


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[64BEL]

Head on head bench. Checking runout after profiling valve seat. 4 angle on the intake, 3 angle radius profile on the exhaust. The cutters are special angles that blend the top angle to the chamber for a clean transition.
I did not get any pics of the guide bore machining and installation. They are installed and honed at this point. I use manganese bronze alloy guides. .435 OD.


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[64BEL]

Cutting the seat profile. There are alloy seat inserts already installed in the heads. I did not get a pic. That is done on this same machine.

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[64BEL]

This is a machined exhaust guide, seat and port. Notice the three angles and the radius. I will still touch off the 45 degree seat angle with a fine finishing stone to make it perfect. The runout is less than .0015" off the head bench...which is within limits in most people's eyes, but I like them to have the same finish as the valve and be less than .001" runout.
When somebody comes up with a better way to finish a crankshaft with a stone, I'll use that method to finish my seats, until then, every one (except some beryllium copper ones), I touch off with a finish stone.

Now, this engine is for a restoration, but I had to do some port work to "match the heads to each other. One head had some exhaust porting done, the other had some done on the intake. I basically had to match both heads to the two ports that were the furthest along. It pretty much amounted to a mild, but full port job.

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[64BEL]

One head pretty much finished and ready for the next step. Some thread repair, and the final touch with the guide hone before assembly. I always leave the last couple ten thousandths to hone on the guides for the last step. This way, if even the smallest contaminate gets pushed into the bronze material from the carbide pilot used during machining, it will be honed clean away.

No matter how many times you brush the guide out during machining, something it bound to get embedded into the guide. Those particles will tear the chrome on the valve stem real quick. This is something to make your machine shop well aware of. I just repaired a set of heads that had $2200.00 worth of titanium valves wrecked because of valve guide contamination.

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[64BEL]

This is a finished intake seat, port and valve. I use a marker to final check my seat position. You see the shiny finished seat angle.
I do not use lapping compound. I don't believe it is good to introduce an abrasive into the seat and valve you have just spent so much time and care machining. If there is less than .001" TOTAL runout, between the seat and valve, you are golden. Sometimes I get some resistance on this, but, to each their own. Any grit embedded into the seat and valve surfaces can only promote accelerated wear, in my opinion. (that's that grey shadow on a lapped valve and seat, GRIT!)


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[64BEL]

Touching off the seat angle with a fine stone.


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[64BEL]

Final seat runout check. Less than .0003"

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[64BEL]

Finished intake and exhaust.

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[Meep-Meep]

Some nice equipment for sure. Looks like a Hines hard bearing balancing machine you go there.

 

[rev.ronnie]

Some nice equipment for sure. Looks like a Hines hard bearing balancing machine you go there.

Thanks! Good eye!
Yes, it's a HC-500 Hines. I have had it for almost 20 years and have had excellent results with it. Other than a failed microprocessor chip in the computer 8 years ago, it's been trouble free. I fixed it myself with their help on the phone. I may buy their new "Dominator" balancer next.

 

[rev.ronnie]

This is a machined exhaust guide, seat and port. Notice the three angles and the radius. I will still touch off the 45 degree seat angle with a fine finishing stone to make it perfect. The runout is less than .0015" off the head bench...which is within
View attachment 78606

Actually, this is an intake seat and port. The exhaust is closest to you. I was linking at a little bitty picture on my phone.

You see the four seat angles here, with the throat cut being blended to the bowl.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Thanks! Good eye!
Yes, it's a HC-500 Hines. I have had it for almost 20 years and have had excellent results with it. Other than a failed microprocessor chip in the computer 8 years ago, it's been trouble free. I fixed it myself with their help on the phone. I may buy their new "Dominator" balancer next.

I hear the 500 is very popular for engine balancing. I never used a hard bearing machine and was curious. What sort of tolerance do you work with? I have some small soft bearing machines, including field balancing equipment, but the stuff I balance goes 42 KRPM on average.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Very nice shop. I'm jealous. Work looks really good too.