1968 Street Hemi build

[Meep-Meep]

Yep, the Stewart Warner is a soft bearing machine.

What pistons are you using? They look like factory 10.25:1 CR.

 

[rev.ronnie]

Yep, the Stewart Warner is a soft bearing machine.

What pistons are you using? They look like factory 10.25:1 CR.

I went with the K/B hypers. They are the 9.5:1 version. It will be a touch higher than that because the heads and block are now milled a little. I went with them for a couple reasons. First off, we want the engine to be as quiet as possible. These run at half the piston to wall as a typical forged piston. This also will make the rings last longer.

I dropped the compression a little so it will not be "fuel picky" at all either. The customer does not care, in any way, about getting the last little bit of performance. The lady who owns the car will probably never plant her foot to the floor. It is just gong to be occasionally driven and shown a little. For this reason, m not too worried about the 5/64" ring pkg. either. For that matter, I installed a rope seal so there is no chance of a molded seal leaking, as they often will because of the seal bore misalignment and the knurled seal surface on the crank.

Did a few other things to help with the fact that this thing is probably going to be idled a lot and lugged instead of revved more freely as well. I had the cam grooved on the fourth journal for full time oiling to the top end. I opened up the ring gap on the top ring a little more than usual. I used the performance type, King main bearings for better thrust oiling and plain lower shells. I am installing spring cups to help hold oil on the spring bases so they run cooler and splash a little more to the stems. ( this is most important on the intakes where the oil will run right off the base and down the outside of the port.

I will be assembling the heads as soon as the spring seats arrive.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Will you do anything with the cam like a custom grind for the lower compression? Nice touch on custom tailoring the engine for the intended usage.

 

[rev.ronnie]

Will you do anything with the cam like a custom grind for the lower compression? Nice touch on custom tailoring the engine for the intended usage.

Thanks, I like to make the engine match the driver rather than get to hell bent on originality in most cases.

I had Erik at Erson grind me a nice flat tappet. It has to sound stock It is .520/.517" lift and 270/270 advertised duration, and 234/234 at .050. We put it on a 110 LSA for a little less overlap and to build a little more cylinder pressure. I will set it up with a couple degrees of advance too. The heads now have a little porting too, so that helps the intake charge without having to have a ton of scavenging from the exhaust to get it rolling. The other thing with wider LSA angle, is that they idle cleaner..no eye burning fumes.

If the compression was higher, I would have been inclined to go with a 108 degree separation, especially with a 4 speed.

 

[rev.ronnie]

Got the cam degreed in today and the heads assembled. I will get the last couple pics off so 64BEL can post them.

I ended up using a Harley Davidson valve seal on the heads so it would clear the inner spring. The cam came in 2 degrees advanced with the gears at zero...perfect.

This one is ready to hit the road. The customer is going to install the heads and tin. It's been a fun engine to build.