Lookie what $5000 buys you....

[CoronetDarter]

The other car (64 Valiant?) looks like a cool project too. Are you restoring the rag top yourself?

 

[CoronetDarter]

I have done the MAD bypass like you pictured on all my cars. I called Mark to order some supplies before doing it on my Bee. He told me that he has revised how he thinks the wire mod should be done, but hasn't updated it on his website. Here is a pic of what he recommends now. Either will work of course, he is just moving the fusible link from the alt feed to the main power feed.

View attachment 1003710

Mark is a wealth of information - but trying to get off the phone within an hour is the challenge. Thanks for the diagram - what's Mark's reasoning behind moving the fusible link?

 

[hunt2elk]

Mark is a wealth of information - but trying to get off the phone within an hour is the challenge. Thanks for the diagram - what's Mark's reasoning behind moving the fusible link?

I honestly don't remember his reasoning, but he was adament I do it. I sure wish he would get his website updated and get the online ordering working. Absolutely hate calling him because like you stated, a guy can't get him off the phone. I am now to the point that after 45 minutes or so and telling him multiple times that I have to go, I just hang up.

 

[Kern Dog]

The other car (64 Valiant?) looks like a cool project too. Are you restoring the rag top yourself?

The Valiant has a checkered past.
It was owned by the President of our Capital City Mopars club. The guy had some hack start working on it then the guy just disappeared. The car sat for years. Since I like and respect the old guy, I offered (for free) to do body and paint on it. The owner somehow got it in his head that I meant that I'd totally restore the car for him. He gave me a bunch of parts and said that I could sell all the extras as payment for my work. It sat while I did other projects and once I was ready to start, I realized that WE had a misunderstanding. He admitted that he wouldn't be able to finish the car himself even if all the body and paint were done so I bought the car and paid him for the other stuff that came with it. That was 2016.
The plan since then was to just build it myself and sell it. I pretty much put it on the back burner until another friend showed interest. I decided to sell it for $2000 with the parts to make it complete. I offered to do the axle and brakes to make it easier on him. I'll probably work out some deal to do the body and paint but the terms will be crystal clear this time!
It will be a 318-904-8 1/4 axle with 2.71 gears. Decent cruiser that should still be fun to drive.

 

[Kern Dog]

It looks like he deleted the fusible link on the alternator wire, UPsized the alternator wire but kept that LOOP on the dash side. I don't understand why he likes that loop.
I did mine in 2015 and haven't had any troubles with the setup.

 

[dadsbee]

Yah I don't get that either Greg... it isn't the amp meter that's the weak point, it's the bulkhead connection that doesn't like to carry the amperage. If it's a dash fire that's the worry.. take it all outside!

 

[Kern Dog]

Good news!
The 383 is back home. The block doesn't have a spec of paint left on it. The block was bored, square decked, the crank was polished, the heads got a valve job and everything was cleaned real nice. Total price: $600.

 

[Kern Dog]

This is the first 383 that I have ever built. In terms of assembly, it seems about the same as the 440s that I have done. Camshaft selection for an engine is never easy for me. The stock 383 Magnum cam had what.... .458 lift? What was the duration? I don't have any specific goals to help narrow down the choices. If this was strictly a daily driver or a circle track car, it would be a lot easier. This car may be drag raced, It may be road raced. It may be driven on the freeway for hours and cruised at idle speeds. One thing is certain, I don't want it to be a slug under 3000 rpms. I do understand that the shorter stroke does mean the 383 does need to rev a bit higher to make power. Having stated that, I am set on a hydraulic flat tappet camshaft.
Maybe given those conditions, I should err to the smaller side. I already bought a Comp Cam 280/480. It spec's at 231* @ .050 so maybe it is a bit wilder than I would like. I have only gone too big once and yeah....it makes for a crappy performer.
I need several more odds and ends to put this engine together so I will return this camshaft and get something more appropriate for the car.

 

[ckessel]

The Valiant has a checkered past.
It was owned by the President of our Capital City Mopars club. The guy had some hack start working on it then the guy just disappeared. The car sat for years. Since I like and respect the old guy, I offered (for free) to do body and paint on it. The owner somehow got it in his head that I meant that I'd totally restore the car for him. He gave me a bunch of parts and said that I could sell all the extras as payment for my work. It sat while I did other projects and once I was ready to start, I realized that WE had a misunderstanding. He admitted that he wouldn't be able to finish the car himself even if all the body and paint were done so I bought the car and paid him for the other stuff that came with it. That was 2016.
The plan since then was to just build it myself and sell it. I pretty much put it on the back burner until another friend showed interest. I decided to sell it for $2000 with the parts to make it complete. I offered to do the axle and brakes to make it easier on him. I'll probably work out some deal to do the body and paint but the terms will be crystal clear this time!
It will be a 318-904-8 1/4 axle with 2.71 gears. Decent cruiser that should still be fun to drive.

I had a guy like that in the past. I offered to make patch panels on his wifes Valiant convert for free just to help get the word out in the club that I could do this sort of work. I said my neighbor could do the paint work but would have to pay him for that. Had a couple more conversations about it before he listened to what I was saying. He elected not to get it done once he realized he would have to pay on the paint part. Some people are always looking for freebies. You have to feel them out, not literally, to see what they are after then sometimes you have to set hard boundaries on them that they can't wiggle out of.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Yah I don't get that either Greg... it isn't the amp meter that's the weak point, it's the bulkhead connection that doesn't like to carry the amperage. If it's a dash fire that's the worry.. take it all outside!

If you take the charge circuit out of the bulkhead by running a direct line from the alternator to the starter you've removed a good part of the load, add headlight relays, the next big load is eliminated.... Add LED bulbs, less load.. Last add a relay to the blower motor circuit...

Add a volt meter & your problem is solved..

 

[Kern Dog]

Today was mostly about cleaning parts. Head bolts, intake bolts, timing cover, oil pan, brackets and all that stuff. A lot of time is spent doing this stuff. I know a guy that will bolt stuff on straight from a junkyard....I can't do that. I'm not a super clean-neat freak but I do like to work with clean parts.

I don't have a big solvent tank. I have buckets, coffee cans, gasoline and a bench grinder with a wire wheel. I try to save bolts, nuts and brackets from the cars that I part out. When I get parts at the wrecking yard, I take all the hardware associated with it. To me, nothing beats OEM hardware. It fits and looks right.

 

[Kern Dog]

Years ago when I changed cams in Ginger, I noticed that the new cam did not want to turn. I asked around and then spoke to my Machinist, Rick. He said that he heard that the Mopar B/RBs were known for the cam bores being out of alignment. He thought that the factory installed the cam bearings then line-bored them so the cams would fit. I hadn't heard that before then. This was around 2014. I built my first 440 in 2001, my second in 2003 and 3rd one in 2004. All 3 had new cam bearings and none of them had a tight fitting cam.

With the engine essentially bare aside from having cam bearings in place, I figured that now is the best time to check cam fitment.
I took my cam bearing clearancing tool:

Note the diagonal grooves.

With a cylinder head bolt screwed in the end, I stabbed the old camshaft in the block. Of course, it was a tight fit. I had it slathered with assembly lube. I spun it several times each direction. I removed the cam and looked for shavings.

 

[Kern Dog]

I blew out the shavings with compressed air, wiped them down, then put the cam back in again. It spun pretty easy now. Not like it was on roller bearings but much easier than at first and certainly easier than the one in Ginger before I clearanced it.

 

[Kern Dog]

The engine came with a shallow # 402 oil pan. I have a few different 5 quart pans but no pickups for them. #699, a #933 and a couple of no name pans. The 402 has a baffle toward the front and the back. I'll use it for now and probably switch to a 6 quart HEMI pan sometimes later.

The pickup looks sort of funny. I screwed it in until it felt tight, then measured the height off of the pan rail. I measured 3 7/8".

The #402 pan depth was 4 1/4" and I still need to account for 2 gaskets and the windage tray. It is fair to say that it adds another 1/4".
That puts the pickup 5/8" off of the bottom of the pan.

I have read and I believe that these stock oil pickups should be against the bottom. Not quite an interference fit but some contact. Given that, it looks as if to do that, I'll need to bend the tube a bit.

 

[biomedtechguy]

Regarding the cam, what about something around a street hemi grind?
Appx 284°/.480 lift or thereabouts?

 

[Kern Dog]

Regarding the cam, what about something around a street hemi grind?
Appx 284°/.480 lift or thereabouts?

The one I have in the box is a Comp "Magnum" series 280/480 with 231 degrees of duration @ .050. I am now looking to back it down to 224 degrees since the compression will be below 9.5 to 1. The nearest Comp Cam is the 270/470, Summit # 21-306-4.
The idea is to have decent street manners but provide a bit more power than a stock 383 Magnum.

 

[hyde-park]

The one I have in the box is a Comp "Magnum" series 280/480 with 231 degrees of duration @ .050. I am now looking to back it down to 224 degrees since the compression will be below 9.5 to 1. The nearest Comp Cam is the 270/470, Summit # 21-306-4.
The idea is to have decent street manners but provide a bit more power than a stock 383 Magnum.

I've been running this exact 270/470 Comp cam in my low compression 400BB for 15 years now. It's in my 1975 Coronet 2 door. A heavy car I'm guessing to be at 4000 lbs plus in weight. I did go with a 2500 stall and 3.90 gears. Runs good for what it is. Does good burnouts from a slow roll. Has slight lumpy idle. Has a/c and power brakes. Idles at 13.5"@ 850 rpm in park but I'm still fiddling with fine tuning the total timing and such. Maybe there are better cam choices but since this car will never make a dragstrip pass in my ownership I'm not about to play "musical cams" looking for a 0.02 difference in ET's.

 

[Kern Dog]

Thank you.
My car will be around 3900 lbs, manual disc/drum brakes, no A/C yet....maybe never, who knows. I just don't want to over-cam it and make it a slug at low speeds.

 

[biomedtechguy]

That's funny seeing the crowded engine compartment of a mid 70s Mopar with a 400...
We used to scoff at the "low compression, low HP slugs"...
Who knew they were some of if not the best blocks to bore and stroke!
If there were stroker kits for 400s in the 70s and 80s, or if someone were to have "made one up" (I'm not familiar with the factory parts that can stroke a 400) they could have won so much money doing "hood pop" racing. I would have been a victim in 79 in my 71 Charger R/T 440 4bbl. Something like "You have a 73 Roadrunner with a 400 and you want to go heads up with my 440 Charger? Sure, how much?"
It would have been worse for the guys with faster street cars that dared race a 400 stroker. I didn't have much money to bet, and my bone stock 71 R/T wasn't that fast with a 3.23 open 8¾. Coming off the line fast was not possible, and with A/C and an auto transmission, plus the weight of an unmodified 71 Charger. I had no problem dusting off the newer Trans Ams and Z-28s and that was one of my favorite things to do, with the A/C on and several people in my car. It ran low 15s, and I think a 3.55 gear and some light mods would have really woke it up. I had a lot of fun with it though, and I was in no way disappointed with it.
My 70 Roadrunner 440+6bbl with the mods it has is a whole different story though. It's so much faster it's hard to believe it's basically the same engine and a B-Body, albeit a few hundred pounds lighter for sure.
Yeah, a high, flat 5XX ft. lbs. torque curve with 400 horsepower stroker 400 would have been a money press.

 

[Kern Dog]

I went to the Summit store and returned the 280/480 cam and got the 270/470. I also got a Melling oil pump.
The cam I originally had was in a Cam kit with the lifters and assembly lube. I gave them the wrong number this time and only got the cam. Maybe this was a good thing. I am going to look into Howards Lifters instead. I've ran 2 sets of their solids and had no troubles at all.