Dissecting a couple of dead 383s

[Kern Dog]

A gracious and kind FBBO member posted a thread a short time ago, he had some Mopar stuff left over from when he had a 69 Road Runner. He was looking to send his stuff to a good home and I was glad to take it. Chris had 2 383 engines and a collection of car parts to clear out so @CoronetDarter and I went to collect the bounty on Thursday. Rich is considering a stroked 383 for his 68 Dart so one of these two engines may serve as a foundation for that. Once we got to unloading, I saw that one engine had broken ears to attach the motor mounts.

I’ve never seen these break off before.

I wasn’t bothered by it. I wanted the engines for pushrods, rocker arms and shafts, fuel pump pushrods and other hardware. The other engine was a 2 barrel version and from a Monaco. It was relatively untouched. It still had the A/C compressor, exhaust manifolds, alternator, P/S pump and pulleys. It wouldn’t spin over with a breaker bar but no problem. Rich and I tore it down….

THAT was the most difficult tear down that I have ever done. Nothing we could do would get the crank to rotate. Cylinders 3 and 7 had water inside at one time and rust scale had formed. #3 was at bottom dead center so the crank was all the way down… any movement meant pushing through the rust scale.

I wish that I would have taken pictures but I didn’t until today.

 

[Kern Dog]

This was the first time I tore down an engine that I couldn’t spin over. It was cramped getting the rod nuts and caps off but we figured that the crank wouldn’t be needed so we weren’t all that careful pushing the pistons out. Every wrist pin was either seized with rust or really stiff.
Cylinders 3 and 7 were the absolute worst.I tried breaking #3 piston into pieces using an air hammer but the piston was tougher than I was. Rich and I traded whacking the back sides of the pistons with this:

I cleaned out the rust scale as best I could with a flapper disc on a die grinder but there was still crud in the way. We hit so hard, I punched a hole from the back side. in #3 piston.

I used the tube used as a jacking rod/lever for the engine hoist but it wasn’t enough.

I figured that I needed a bar with some mass and heft and ended up grabbing one of the torsion bars I brought home, an .88 unit. We used it along with a small sledge hammer. This took almost an hour just to get one piston out. We got it though.

I have a question for the numbers guys…
I know the VINs didn’t get stamped on our engines until the 1968 models. I’ve also read that engines should have a casting date at least 2 months before the build date of the car. With a 5-19-67 casting, could this be a late 1967 block or an early 1968?

 

[Jerry Hall]

What is stamped on the flat surface by the distributor? C 383 or D 383?

 

[Kern Dog]

I thought that the 906 heads came out in 1968. These are 906s. The head gaskets were stock steel. The rod and crank bearings were dated 6-67. The pistons look original. I really don’t think this engine has ever been apart.
The cylinders 3 and 7 don’t appear to be pitted but they have rust scale that sits above the surface.

It seems to me that if the scale is above the surface, there will be some into it as well.

We are going to take the block to my machinist to see what to do. He does not have a sonic checker, I know that much. My thoughts are that if it would take more than .040 to clean up, I would look for another block unless this one would “sonic check” out unusually thick, where .060 would be the next step.
I’ve heard the rumors about overheating with large overbores but those rumors seem to be mostly heard from Chevy guys. My concern would be thinner walls mean less effective ring seal. I am open to opinions though.

 

[Kern Dog]

What is stamped on the flat surface by the distributor? C 383 or D 383?

Here we go…

The only point to the casting date is that it would be cool to think this engine were an early 1968 383 since Rich has a 68 Dart.
I saved the lifters. A few years ago I would have called myself an idiot for that. I’ve read about having lifters refaced, eliminating the variable of quality that some think exists with aftermarket parts like these.

 

[Cranky]

Lots of reasons why the 'ears' are broken....mostly from abuse...

 

[Kern Dog]

Yeah but how much would you have to abuse an engine to break off both sides?
It will be interesting to tear that one down to see what is inside. Forged pistons? Big cam?
Hmmm….

 

[DeltaV]

It shouldn't be cost prohibitive to have those two cylinders sleeved.

 

[DeltaV]

Yeah but how much would you have to abuse an engine to break off both sides?
It will be interesting to tear that one down to see what is inside. Forged pistons? Big cam?
Hmmm….

A hard/bad collision would do it.

 

[Kern Dog]

My machinist cannot do sleeves so we would either have to find another shop or just look for another block.

 

[MoparMur]

Gonna go way out on a limb about those broken ears. Hit so hard in the back end that the entire powertrain forced forward? Perhaps demo derby car. We all know how many big Chryslers met that fate...

 

[Cranky]

Yeah but how much would you have to abuse an engine to break off both sides?
It will be interesting to tear that one down to see what is inside. Forged pistons? Big cam?
Hmmm….

383's didn't have a lot of torque so broken motor mount ears are most likely from a crash unless the engine was modified in front of a stick trans and even at that, I doubt that caused broken ears.

 

[Jerry Hall]

You have a 68 383, assembled 8/2/67.

 

[Kern Dog]

Holy crap, how did you determine that? The 8 and 2 stamping?
Thank you! I’m surprised there is no VIN on the bell flange
I’m not that adept with the numbers and stuff though.

 

[Kern Dog]

I squirted PB Blaster in the spark plug holes of the orange 383 and of course, it spun over easily.
What luck… the engine that is damaged turns over easily. It has a 4 barrel intake of another color. I may tinker with the top end to see what I find.

 

[67MPRFAN]

You have a 68 383, assembled 8/2/67.

That would be great to have, that's my exact birthday

 

[Jerry Hall]

Holy crap, how did you determine that? The 8 and 2 stamping?
Thank you! I’m surprised there is no VIN on the bell flange
I’m not that adept with the numbers and stuff though.

Your 67 cast date, D=68, and ofcourse the 383 you know, and 8/2 is a 67 build date.

 

[1968rt]

Broken ears, no problem. Certanium rods work great!!

 

[Kern Dog]

Broken ears, no problem. Certanium rods work great!!

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No kidding?
Maybe I’ll check with a welding shop to see what repairs like this would cost before I scrap the block.
If it can be saved for under a couple hundred it might be worth keeping.
I removed the valve covers.
Right side 2468:

Hmm… what happened there?
The left side shaft is in correctly.

Here is a weird one:

Look how far off center the rocker arm tips are over the valve stem ends.

Now check out how much the exhaust valve stems sit above the spring retainers compared to the intakes.

The retainers don’t look stock.

I’ve never seen rocker arms so far off the center of the valve stems. The last guy in here had the rocker arms in wrong. Here is an untouched shaft and rockers for comparison:

It definitely is a 1970 engine.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Someone was drinking some good stuff when they assembled the rocker shafts.. They need to be flip flopped. Do you have a TIG machine? Saw a guy repair the tabs on a block on youtube turned out pretty good.

Here is that video.