My year is done

[PRHeads]

I built a 446 years ago that we put aluminum caps on.
Not the BCR type, but the ones like what most Mopar places were selling.
This motor made 625hp with a single 4bbl. It was run that way for one season, then a MP TR was installed for the next season.
Never re-dynoed, but it picked up about .2 in the 1/4 in a 3800lb car.
After that second season the plan was to stroke it to a 493.
The motor was still running perfectly at the end of the second season, it was strictly a “need for speed” decision to make it bigger.
Upon tear down, one cap came out in 2 pieces, the other 4 all had cracks in them.
As is usually the case in my experience at this type of power level, the factory steel crank was riddled with cracks.

The path forward for this customer was a 4.50 mega block with a 4.15 crank.......528”.

 

[33 IMP]

The trouble with that is that path forward is now (virtually) closed. When there were good iron blocks available, that direction made perfect sense. Now it seems that the only two options, if you still want to go fast with a mopar, is gamble your pocketbook, and maybe your life, on a 50 year old stockblock build, or spend huge, budget destroying money for an aluminum block. The small block guys may even have it worse, the have NO new blocks available anywhere.
Maybe that is why it seems to me that nobody is trying to build really fast mopars anymore. I'm going to try to settle for mid tens with mine. An aluminum block engine would cost more than twice what i have in the whole car.

 

[68 HEMI GTS]

I built a 446 years ago that we put aluminum caps on.
Not the BCR type, but the ones like what most Mopar places were selling.
This motor made 625hp with a single 4bbl. It was run that way for one season, then a MP TR was installed for the next season.
Never re-dynoed, but it picked up about .2 in the 1/4 in a 3800lb car.
After that second season the plan was to stroke it to a 493.
The motor was still running perfectly at the end of the second season, it was strictly a “need for speed” decision to make it bigger.
Upon tear down, one cap came out in 2 pieces, the other 4 all had cracks in them.
As is usually the case in my experience at this type of power level, the factory steel crank was riddled with cracks.

The path forward for this customer was a 4.50 mega block with a 4.15 crank.......528”.

I was wondering on this one if the crank started to give up and was causing harmonics that destroyed the caps. I know I’ve seen a few engines where you can’t keep the TC bolts tight and you figure out the crank is cracked. Must create some nasty harmonics that you may not necessarily notice from the drivers seat.

 

[MarPar]

Things Cuda been a lot worse.

O

I see what you did there...

 

[PRHeads]

I was wondering on this one if the crank started to give up and was causing harmonics that destroyed the caps. I know I’ve seen a few engines where you can’t keep the TC bolts tight and you figure out the crank is cracked. Must create some nasty harmonics that you may not necessarily notice from the drivers seat.

As with all this stuff, “ymmv”.
My experience with stock 440 cranks has been....... near 600hp and up, 11.5cr and up, 6500rpm and up...... put a few hundred passes on it...... crank will be cracked.
Usually the bearings(and pretty much everything else) will look perfect.
I have never been able to reuse a factory steel crank that came out of a motor that met the above criteria.
They usually had numerous cracks when it came time for freshening........ journals still looked great.

On the motor with the aluminum caps, the only evidence of anything being unhappy was the broken cap.
Even that main bearing looked good.
Didn’t see the broken cap until the fasteners were loosened.
No idea how long it had been that way.

 

[Wookie316]

What about billet steel mains like my 512? I have the center 3 done. Any issue with billet steel cracking or breaking?

 

[bobtile]

Block is now out to get magnafluxed.
2,3, and 4 mains were split and that was the only evidence of metal transfer. 1 and 5 were in fact and had zero transfer. I'm thinking now to magnaflux the old crank and see if there were any cracks.
A new crank, rods and billet steel caps are on the way.
Pistons going out to get coated.
I'm sending the converter out and pulling the trans just to be safe.
Not knowing what caused this is killing me

 

[Tex013]

damn , sorry to see that result . Bright side is at least it never let go down track at speed .
As much as it costs $ , maybe its time for a cross bolted block ? Iron or aluminium . After I split my block I decided I wasn't prepared to take the chance of driving over the crank , especially with a stroker . I went World iron , lucky find .

Tex

 

[Tex013]

What about billet steel mains like my 512? I have the center 3 done. Any issue with billet steel cracking or breaking?

Wookie , mine held up . The block not so much

Tex

 

[bobtile]

damn , sorry to see that result . Bright side is at least it never let go down track at speed .
As much as it costs $ , maybe its time for a cross bolted block ? Iron or aluminium . After I split my block I decided I wasn't prepared to take the chance of driving over the crank , especially with a stroker . I went World iron , lucky find .

Tex

I'm very happy that I shut it down on the starting line. That could have been a disaster

 

[cdr]

Here you go,,

 

[cudatom]

Here you go,, View attachment 844201

Ha,ha,ha good luck with that. I have had one on order since 9/29/18. The distributor that I ordered thru cant even get a call back from KB and he is a distributor. The new KB seems no better than the old KB

 

[bobtile]

Here you go,, View attachment 844201

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Block is now out to get magnafluxed.
2,3, and 4 mains were split and that was the only evidence of metal transfer. 1 and 5 were in fact and had zero transfer. I'm thinking now to magnaflux the old crank and see if there were any cracks.
A new crank, rods and billet steel caps are on the way.
Pistons going out to get coated.
I'm sending the converter out and pulling the trans just to be safe.
Not knowing what caused this is killing me

Will you do a girdle with the good caps? With all that power you could use all the help you can muster untill you find a megablock under the X-mas tree. Me thinks you will need a licence next season!

 

[33 IMP]

Ha,ha,ha good luck with that. I have had one on order since 9/29/18. The distributor that I ordered thru cant even get a call back from KB and he is a distributor. The new KB seems no better than the old KB

Yep. Notice that the advert says "taking orders for..." doesn't say anything about delivering any.

What does a KB cost now, anyway? Nine grand? More?

 

[PRHeads]

There’s a hemi being built here....... they’re using a Bulldog block(“The Block”).
Got it a couple weeks ago.
Took 8 weeks from order to delivery.

 

[1967coronet440]

I see aluminum blocks on eBay going for about 5-6k, what’s the story on those?

 

[33 IMP]

I see aluminum blocks on eBay going for about 5-6k, what’s the story on those?

From what little I understand , the Indy aluminum block is about $5500, and needs about two more grand to finish machine/ make it right.
But then, I'm not in the market, and may be wrong.
I think Best Machine sells prepped Indy blocks.

 

[33 IMP]

There’s a hemi being built here....... they’re using a Bulldog block(“The Block”).
Got it a couple weeks ago.
Took 8 weeks from order to delivery.

Is that iron or aluminum ?

 

[Cranky]

Can you get an aftermarket block with larger cam bearing journals? The valve train from the small diameter cam onward produces way more harmonics than you really want and it transmits it over the whole rotating assembly. Many look at the oiling system and scratch their heads when they can't find any evidence of an oiling problem and them usually blame it on subpar parts. I also think that if you want to help soften the hit to the crank, using aluminum rods instead of aluminum caps is a better choice.....and if someone thinks otherwise, feel free to eddycate me