- Local time
- 12:57 PM
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2014
- Messages
- 29,607
- Reaction score
- 73,177
- Location
- Salisbury, Vermont
I did check end gaps. All within specs. Pistons slid in nice, no hang ups. Did oil the bore walls.
The first "Hawk-Rod" resurrection, Roadkill style
- Thread starter HawkRod
- Start date
OK, so back to my 340 stroker build: Last we left this story I now finally have a block that is perfectly square, bored and honed to 4.070" and with perfectly sized mains. Great.
Now I need to see what is going on with my reciprocating assembly. In 68-71 340s, part of the piston actually comes out of the hole by 0.045". My heads will not allow for this, and in addition, I have decked the block. Here you can see the difference in my 73 340 head (note it was ported and larger valves put in) vs. my new aluminum heads. If the piston comes out of the block the piston will hit the new heads!
Now, head gasket thickness can give us some room, but in general, you want about .040" clearance between the piston and head components for safety.
In order to check clearance I temporarily mounted the #1 piston. I put masking tape around the piston to tighten and square it in the bore (mimic rings). I dropped the crank in with #1, 3 and 5 bearings and installed the piston and rod assembly. Here it is assembled:
So to measure the distance the piston is in or out of the bore we use the below pictured contraption. It is first put on a known perfectly flat surface and zeroed as shown below.
Then, it is positioned above the piston and the crank is turned until it reads the maximum reading. Here it is:
So my piston is about .0015" in the hole. That is great, because with a .040" head gasket I will have good clearances between the head and piston. So far, so good! (Later I will need to check valve to piston clearance, but that depends on the camshaft, etc. I'm not ready to measure that yet.)
So it looks likely that my reciprocating assembly will not need further modification. Next it will be time to check my static compression to be sure this is in range of what I want for this street build. To do that, I will need to find out the cc's in my heads and pistons.
Now I need to see what is going on with my reciprocating assembly. In 68-71 340s, part of the piston actually comes out of the hole by 0.045". My heads will not allow for this, and in addition, I have decked the block. Here you can see the difference in my 73 340 head (note it was ported and larger valves put in) vs. my new aluminum heads. If the piston comes out of the block the piston will hit the new heads!
Now, head gasket thickness can give us some room, but in general, you want about .040" clearance between the piston and head components for safety.
In order to check clearance I temporarily mounted the #1 piston. I put masking tape around the piston to tighten and square it in the bore (mimic rings). I dropped the crank in with #1, 3 and 5 bearings and installed the piston and rod assembly. Here it is assembled:
So to measure the distance the piston is in or out of the bore we use the below pictured contraption. It is first put on a known perfectly flat surface and zeroed as shown below.
Then, it is positioned above the piston and the crank is turned until it reads the maximum reading. Here it is:
So my piston is about .0015" in the hole. That is great, because with a .040" head gasket I will have good clearances between the head and piston. So far, so good! (Later I will need to check valve to piston clearance, but that depends on the camshaft, etc. I'm not ready to measure that yet.)
So it looks likely that my reciprocating assembly will not need further modification. Next it will be time to check my static compression to be sure this is in range of what I want for this street build. To do that, I will need to find out the cc's in my heads and pistons.
Figuring out my Static Compression
There are quite a few good references to get formulas for calculating compression ratios, so I will not discuss the formulas for that here. If you are interested in reading about that, I liked this site: https://www.omnicalculator.com/everyday-life/compression-ratio
To get my compression ratio for my engine, I needed the following information. Listed next to that are my values, with actual values in green and advertised values in red:
I was gunning for upper 9's for compression ratio, ideal probably would have been 10.0:1, but I was happy with that.
But is that accurate? So I verified.
First I measured the cc's in the heads. Here is how I did it.
You want one side of the head to be higher than the other. This allows the placement of a plate (see other pictures below) so the hole where fluid enters is higher than the low side. This allows the full cavity to be filled.
The you need to be sure the fluid does not leak out. Putting some silicone grease around the valves helps keep the fluid in (and insert a spark plug too!). Wipe away excess grease.
Then you put the grease around the combustion chamber - a THIN layer!!!. This allows the plexiglass plate to seal to it without adding any appreciable volume.
Here is a picture with the plate stuck on:
Then you need a graduated cylinder. You drip fluid into the hole until the cavity is completely filled and compare the starting level in the graduated cylinder with the final level. I used isopropyl alcohol with some red dye to make it easier to see. Here is the rig:
Here is a picture of the filled combustion chamber. Try to get all air bubbles out by tapping on the Plexiglas, but a couple of tiny bubbles won't make a difference for a street engine. Note I have one bubble shown here, but its volume is likely less than .1 cc.
So the result for the volume of the combustion chamber??? My actual volume recorded was 66 cc (vs. 65 cc advertised).
Then it was time to do the volume of the piston dish. Same process as above, except one addition. The piston is .0015" in the hole at TDC. So the final measured volume needed to subtract that volume of fluid to get the actual dish volume.
Here is my rig set up for that:
So the result for the volume of the piston dish??? My actual volume recorded was 27.5 cc (vs. 25 cc advertised).
OK, so who gives a crap? What did I do here? Well, here are my new values:
While this is not all that far from 9.7:1, it doesn't make me happy. I wanted compression to be in the upper 9's. At least I now know. Instead of thinking I had 9.7:1 compression, I now know that I only have 9.4:1.
Can I increase the compression? Well, my options are limited. I can:
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully folks doing a detailed build can get some tips from this.
Hawk
There are quite a few good references to get formulas for calculating compression ratios, so I will not discuss the formulas for that here. If you are interested in reading about that, I liked this site: https://www.omnicalculator.com/everyday-life/compression-ratio
To get my compression ratio for my engine, I needed the following information. Listed next to that are my values, with actual values in green and advertised values in red:
- Bore: 4.0702"
- Stroke: 4.00"
- Volume of the combustion chamber (head): 65 cc
- Volume of the piston dome (- value) or dish (+ value): 25 cc
- Compressed head gasket thickness: .035"
- Clearance at TDC (how far "in the hole" is the top of the piston? .0015"
I was gunning for upper 9's for compression ratio, ideal probably would have been 10.0:1, but I was happy with that.
But is that accurate? So I verified.
First I measured the cc's in the heads. Here is how I did it.
You want one side of the head to be higher than the other. This allows the placement of a plate (see other pictures below) so the hole where fluid enters is higher than the low side. This allows the full cavity to be filled.
The you need to be sure the fluid does not leak out. Putting some silicone grease around the valves helps keep the fluid in (and insert a spark plug too!). Wipe away excess grease.
Then you put the grease around the combustion chamber - a THIN layer!!!. This allows the plexiglass plate to seal to it without adding any appreciable volume.
Here is a picture with the plate stuck on:
Then you need a graduated cylinder. You drip fluid into the hole until the cavity is completely filled and compare the starting level in the graduated cylinder with the final level. I used isopropyl alcohol with some red dye to make it easier to see. Here is the rig:
Here is a picture of the filled combustion chamber. Try to get all air bubbles out by tapping on the Plexiglas, but a couple of tiny bubbles won't make a difference for a street engine. Note I have one bubble shown here, but its volume is likely less than .1 cc.
So the result for the volume of the combustion chamber??? My actual volume recorded was 66 cc (vs. 65 cc advertised).
Then it was time to do the volume of the piston dish. Same process as above, except one addition. The piston is .0015" in the hole at TDC. So the final measured volume needed to subtract that volume of fluid to get the actual dish volume.
Here is my rig set up for that:
So the result for the volume of the piston dish??? My actual volume recorded was 27.5 cc (vs. 25 cc advertised).
OK, so who gives a crap? What did I do here? Well, here are my new values:
- Bore: 4.0702"
- Stroke: 4.00"
- Volume of the combustion chamber (head): 66 cc
- Volume of the piston dome (- value) or dish (+ value): 27.5 cc
- Compressed head gasket thickness: .035"
- Clearance at TDC (how far "in the hole" is the top of the piston? .0015"
While this is not all that far from 9.7:1, it doesn't make me happy. I wanted compression to be in the upper 9's. At least I now know. Instead of thinking I had 9.7:1 compression, I now know that I only have 9.4:1.
Can I increase the compression? Well, my options are limited. I can:
- Buy new pistons (not going to happen. Remember, this is a budget build!)
- Reduce the head gasket thickness. If I use a .020" head gasket, then I will need to mill .020" off the pistons for clearance. My estimated new compression would then be about 9.6:1. This would require me to do the machine work on the pistons. That can be done, but a thin head gasket is also prone to failure. If I want reliability (and I do), then this has some risks.
- Cut the deck of the block AND mill my pistons too. Lots of work. Likely not going to happen.
- Live with it. This is likely what I will do, and adjust the camshaft profile to make the most out of my more limited compression.
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully folks doing a detailed build can get some tips from this.
Hawk
OK, here is where the "Roadkill" starts:
I brought the old '73 home yesterday. The six years of daily driving through all kinds of weather, including snow, salt, etc., have taken their toll on her. But, she's my first car, and it was really nice to bring her back to the house. OK, so it's only a beat up 73 Road Runner, but it's MY old beat up 73 Road Runner that has been with me for over 40 years!
Up on the lift so we can work on it!
My garage is now beyond full - stacking them like cordwood!
Next steps will be to make a detailed list of tasks to do before the trip. It was a fully functioning car before the engine blew 4 years ago, but cars do not like sitting.
Priorities will be mechanical elements first. I will go through all the brakes just in case (they worked today when we pulled her home, but I don't want to trust them with 4 years of sitting). I think I will go through the front end too to make sure it steers and handles well. It will probably get all new motor and K-member mounts too. (It goes without saying that the engine and tranny need to be re-installed!)
Once mechanical elements are covered, I'd like to touch up some areas on the body too if I have time. There is rust around the rear wheels, and a spot or two on the doors. More on that coming up!
Hawk
I brought the old '73 home yesterday. The six years of daily driving through all kinds of weather, including snow, salt, etc., have taken their toll on her. But, she's my first car, and it was really nice to bring her back to the house. OK, so it's only a beat up 73 Road Runner, but it's MY old beat up 73 Road Runner that has been with me for over 40 years!
Up on the lift so we can work on it!
My garage is now beyond full - stacking them like cordwood!
Next steps will be to make a detailed list of tasks to do before the trip. It was a fully functioning car before the engine blew 4 years ago, but cars do not like sitting.
Priorities will be mechanical elements first. I will go through all the brakes just in case (they worked today when we pulled her home, but I don't want to trust them with 4 years of sitting). I think I will go through the front end too to make sure it steers and handles well. It will probably get all new motor and K-member mounts too. (It goes without saying that the engine and tranny need to be re-installed!)
Once mechanical elements are covered, I'd like to touch up some areas on the body too if I have time. There is rust around the rear wheels, and a spot or two on the doors. More on that coming up!
Hawk
So I spent this week cleaning the block. And cleaning the block!
The cutting oil used during honing is sticky and needs to be removed. The process is to first wash out everything (especially all oil passages) in the block with kerosene. This cuts the honing oil. Then blow it out and scrub the block with soap and water, including GoJo type hand cleaner for the bores. Finally, dry and wipe down key areas with Berkebile 2+2.
If you wipe the bores and it looks like this, it's no good! Do it again!
Finally done with preliminary cleaning! (It will be wiped again as it is assembled)
Then, I also started making a list of repairs and things to do for the car. First priority is to do all the mechanicals, and a "nice to have" is to pretty up the body and improve the way the car looks. For example, we'll flush out all brake lines, flush the fuel tank and lines, check all operating systems, etc. The list is growing!
The cutting oil used during honing is sticky and needs to be removed. The process is to first wash out everything (especially all oil passages) in the block with kerosene. This cuts the honing oil. Then blow it out and scrub the block with soap and water, including GoJo type hand cleaner for the bores. Finally, dry and wipe down key areas with Berkebile 2+2.
If you wipe the bores and it looks like this, it's no good! Do it again!
Finally done with preliminary cleaning! (It will be wiped again as it is assembled)
Then, I also started making a list of repairs and things to do for the car. First priority is to do all the mechanicals, and a "nice to have" is to pretty up the body and improve the way the car looks. For example, we'll flush out all brake lines, flush the fuel tank and lines, check all operating systems, etc. The list is growing!
OK, blew the "low budget" approach on one other item - I purchased a Gear Vendors Overdrive for the 727:
The car has a 3.55 rear, and I think it would be noisy and tiresome to sit in the car for over 10,000 miles. I could have put a 2.76 chunk in the rear, but then would have killed the performance of the car, so I didn't want to do that. It should arrive in 4 weeks. Our start date is after Labor day, so things are starting to get tight!
The car has a 3.55 rear, and I think it would be noisy and tiresome to sit in the car for over 10,000 miles. I could have put a 2.76 chunk in the rear, but then would have killed the performance of the car, so I didn't want to do that. It should arrive in 4 weeks. Our start date is after Labor day, so things are starting to get tight!
Here comes the UGLY!
I've been trying to do the best job I can at building a really solid and well built engine. The car, however, is rough and will be a bit of a beater. We took the car out to power wash the engine compartment and get some of the grease and grime out.
Then we got it back in the garage. Looks pretty good in pictures...
... but Yikes! Here is the engine compartment. Yes, it's black. Remember, I did this in the late 80's and early 90's, and I didn't have enough money to properly spray the engine compartment.
If I can, I will try to paint the engine compartment so it is at least yellow. It may not match, but hopefully, it will look better than it does now. Also, the dreaded tinworm has attacked. Here are a couple of examples.
The body issues may need to stay as they are, as I will be unlikely to have the time to fix them, even with half-assed repairs. The key is to first get all mechanicals in good shape, so I started prepping to drop my K-member to clean it up.
I made a torsion bar removal tool and got to work removing those.
Now to loosen the steering wheel and suspension and drop the K-member next!
I am getting antsy because time is running low. Hopefully I can get this all done in time for the trip.
I've been trying to do the best job I can at building a really solid and well built engine. The car, however, is rough and will be a bit of a beater. We took the car out to power wash the engine compartment and get some of the grease and grime out.
Then we got it back in the garage. Looks pretty good in pictures...
... but Yikes! Here is the engine compartment. Yes, it's black. Remember, I did this in the late 80's and early 90's, and I didn't have enough money to properly spray the engine compartment.
If I can, I will try to paint the engine compartment so it is at least yellow. It may not match, but hopefully, it will look better than it does now. Also, the dreaded tinworm has attacked. Here are a couple of examples.
The body issues may need to stay as they are, as I will be unlikely to have the time to fix them, even with half-assed repairs. The key is to first get all mechanicals in good shape, so I started prepping to drop my K-member to clean it up.
I made a torsion bar removal tool and got to work removing those.
Now to loosen the steering wheel and suspension and drop the K-member next!
I am getting antsy because time is running low. Hopefully I can get this all done in time for the trip.
Your tin worms are small compared to the ones found here in Michigan. Yes, please return the engine compartment back to the correct color. Still looking good for her age, and it only gets better from here. Fine work your doing Sir.....
I reckon that's a good looking car Hawk, I like the yellow as well. I'm sure you'll get everything you need done in time and tackle the cosmetics later. Enjoying the thread.
Thanks guys. It's been a frustrating week on the car for sure.
Good news is I finished balancing the engine. Bad news is I had to do it with external balance. I had hoped that a stroker crank would allow me to internally balance this thing and be done with it, but that didn't happen.
To balance and engine, first you need to know the weight of rods, pistons, bearings, etc. You balance an engine considering 100% of the rotating weight and 50% of the reciprocating weight. A piston reciprocates, while the rod bearings are rotating mass. Rod themselves are half rotating and half reciprocating. Here is a balance card to prep for balancing:
Note that stuff listed twice is rotating mass, while stuff listed once is reciprocating mass.
This card then determines how to make a bobweight. The bobweight simulates the weight of pistons and rods on the crank so you can balance it. Here is a closeup of the bobweight on one of the journals:
Here is the full setup. You also program in the weights of all the items into the software. The machine then spins the assembly and then you find out where it needs mass removed or added to balance the assembly.
In my case, I finally chose to modify my harmonic balancer and flex plate. They are needed for external balance anyway, and without getting into a really long story, it was the easiest way to balance the assembly. The bad news about doing this is it makes the harmonic balancer and flex plate custom to my engine - I can never replace them with anything stock.
Here my index finger is pointing at where it wanted weight removed. Well, that's not possible (and I didn't want to add to the other side either), so I removed it from the harmonic balancer. See the hole opposite my finger.
Here is my final balance:
A very good balance for a street engine is anything less than 4 grams on either side. If you are building a racing engine, then you may want to try for less than 2 grams. But remember, there are many grams of oil sloshing around and sticking to this stuff, so this is not a perfect science.
OK, not ideal with the external balance and custom harmonic balancer/ flex plate, but I guess nothing on this build is ideal!
747mopar
Well-Known Member
Awesome progress
. Can't blame you on purchasing the Gear Vendors overdrive, money well spent IMO. Great job on your engine build as well, I can tell your enjoying learning the process... Something to be said about building your own motor but the machine work too, that's awesome!
. Can't blame you on purchasing the Gear Vendors overdrive, money well spent IMO. Great job on your engine build as well, I can tell your enjoying learning the process... Something to be said about building your own motor but the machine work too, that's awesome!
Awesome progress
Thanks. Yes, I am learning A LOT!!! I now really appreciate the effort it takes to properly prepare a block. Dropping in the crank and pistons is easy compared to all the prep work to do it!
I'm also learning by the school of hard knocks with the front end of the 73. I was breaking my arm patting myself on the back for being such an "expert" at dropping a K-member. On my 70, it is pretty easy and I have gotten good at it having done it 4 times. Well, this 73 K-member is quite different and it is kicking my ***. The control arm setup makes it harder to separate it from the frame rails.
Time to lick my wounds and soldier on - gotta get this done so this road trip can happen!
Finally got the K-member out of the car. It has been there a very long time and really wanted to stay attached! What a pain in the *** it was to get out - every nut and bolt seemed to be a battle!!! 
I am realizing that most of the steering and suspension parts are suspect. The shocks are junk, the lower control arm pivot shaft bushings (at least) are shot, upper control arm ball joint and bushings are shot. I'm sure I'll find more as I go along.
While I'm not happy about finding the bad stuff because of the extra work, I'll be much happier driving down the road with a solid handling front end!
I am realizing that most of the steering and suspension parts are suspect. The shocks are junk, the lower control arm pivot shaft bushings (at least) are shot, upper control arm ball joint and bushings are shot. I'm sure I'll find more as I go along.
While I'm not happy about finding the bad stuff because of the extra work, I'll be much happier driving down the road with a solid handling front end!
Lots of stuff starting to happen as time is running short!
I installed the cam bearings in the block. My father-in-law said Mopar cam bearings can be a pain and he was right. I did two 340s (mine and a customers) and the customer's block fought a bit with one of the bearings. Luckily, mine generally went in OK.
I installed my main bearings and measured the actual clearance between my installed bearings and my crank. I had .0022" on four with less than .0001" taper, except the last one with the rear main seal had .0005" taper and a clearance
of .0017". That's fine actually, but I want to see if I can tweak that last bearing to get the taper out - might be something minor in the fit to get it ideal.
As far as the car itself, I got the front end torn apart - my garage looked like a bomb went off! Everything was a mess, and pretty much every bushing in the suspension was shot. The steering bushings were 50/50. Either way, it was time to jump in head first!
The frame rails have all been really solid, the only real rust this car has is in the body - some in the cowl and some behind the rear wheels. But, the right rear K-member bolt hole was rusted for some reason. I made a patch out of two separate pieces and welded them back into the K-member. My welding still sucks, but I feel confident that I got good penetrating welds here. It looks ugly, but should hold OK.
Here is the front patch:
Here is the back patch:
Then I disassembled the upper control arms (sorry, no pictures of that, although pressing the UCA bushings out is a real treat!)
Then I took the steel inner parts of the bushings off of the pivot shafts. To do that, I took a thick 2" washer and welded it to the bushing.
Then I put the shaft in a receiver hitch tube, but a 1/2" bolt through the washer hole and pressed the shaft out. Worked great!
Now to get some parts and start rebuilding all this stuff!!!
I installed the cam bearings in the block. My father-in-law said Mopar cam bearings can be a pain and he was right. I did two 340s (mine and a customers) and the customer's block fought a bit with one of the bearings. Luckily, mine generally went in OK.
I installed my main bearings and measured the actual clearance between my installed bearings and my crank. I had .0022" on four with less than .0001" taper, except the last one with the rear main seal had .0005" taper and a clearance
of .0017". That's fine actually, but I want to see if I can tweak that last bearing to get the taper out - might be something minor in the fit to get it ideal.
As far as the car itself, I got the front end torn apart - my garage looked like a bomb went off! Everything was a mess, and pretty much every bushing in the suspension was shot. The steering bushings were 50/50. Either way, it was time to jump in head first!
The frame rails have all been really solid, the only real rust this car has is in the body - some in the cowl and some behind the rear wheels. But, the right rear K-member bolt hole was rusted for some reason. I made a patch out of two separate pieces and welded them back into the K-member. My welding still sucks, but I feel confident that I got good penetrating welds here. It looks ugly, but should hold OK.
Here is the front patch:
Here is the back patch:
Then I disassembled the upper control arms (sorry, no pictures of that, although pressing the UCA bushings out is a real treat!)
Then I took the steel inner parts of the bushings off of the pivot shafts. To do that, I took a thick 2" washer and welded it to the bushing.
Then I put the shaft in a receiver hitch tube, but a 1/2" bolt through the washer hole and pressed the shaft out. Worked great!
Now to get some parts and start rebuilding all this stuff!!!
We cleaned up the K-member a little bit and simply brushed on some black Eastwood rust encapsulator on it. No fancy job here, just getting some protection on the K-member.
I had hoped to show you my reciprocating assembly mounted in the engine after today, but other projects slowed me down. I did, however, make some progress...
I gapped the rings for my pistons. First, the ring must be put in the bore perfectly level. My father-in-law built a custom piston he calls "sputnik" that makes that easy.
Here is the ring afterwards:
Then use a feeler gauge to check the clearance. You need about .004" per inch of bore minimum. So I needed .017" minimum for my bore.
My rings were pretty good. My father-in-law has a machine to cut rings, but a few of mine needed so little that we simply used a file clamped in a vise. File only one side and make sure it is straight. Also make sure all burrs are gone (no pictures of this, sorry). I did this for my 8 primary and 8 secondary rings (the oil ring combo doesn't need this).
I then installed my rings into the pistons. You can turn them on by hand, but there are also pliers meant to do the job. Here are two examples, and either seems to work well for me.
Too much detail to go into it here, but rings have specific ways that they need to be mounted. Do it wrong and you could have a lot of trouble. Below is a picture of a small dot that indicates this is the "up" side of the ring. Bottom line is read the ring manufacturer's instructions carefully!!!
I then installed the piston pin clip in one side of my pistons. These are a real treat as they are like a double spiral key ring and need to be inserted into the groove. The key to getting them in is to spilt the ring with your finger:
Then work it into the groove slowly with a small screwdriver, going around in circles until it is fully inserted in the groove.
Here it is installed:
I now need to do some final checks of a few things, assemble the piston/ rod combinations and install the whole mess in the block. Hopefully this will happen next week!
By the way, we looked to order a roller cam for my 340. There is NONE to be found anywhere! I guess all the Covid supply issues are now causing me problems. So it looks like I will need to install a flat tappet cam instead. No big issue there, I just need to be more careful breaking the engine in.
Hawk
I had hoped to show you my reciprocating assembly mounted in the engine after today, but other projects slowed me down. I did, however, make some progress...
I gapped the rings for my pistons. First, the ring must be put in the bore perfectly level. My father-in-law built a custom piston he calls "sputnik" that makes that easy.
Here is the ring afterwards:
Then use a feeler gauge to check the clearance. You need about .004" per inch of bore minimum. So I needed .017" minimum for my bore.
My rings were pretty good. My father-in-law has a machine to cut rings, but a few of mine needed so little that we simply used a file clamped in a vise. File only one side and make sure it is straight. Also make sure all burrs are gone (no pictures of this, sorry). I did this for my 8 primary and 8 secondary rings (the oil ring combo doesn't need this).
I then installed my rings into the pistons. You can turn them on by hand, but there are also pliers meant to do the job. Here are two examples, and either seems to work well for me.
Too much detail to go into it here, but rings have specific ways that they need to be mounted. Do it wrong and you could have a lot of trouble. Below is a picture of a small dot that indicates this is the "up" side of the ring. Bottom line is read the ring manufacturer's instructions carefully!!!
I then installed the piston pin clip in one side of my pistons. These are a real treat as they are like a double spiral key ring and need to be inserted into the groove. The key to getting them in is to spilt the ring with your finger:
Then work it into the groove slowly with a small screwdriver, going around in circles until it is fully inserted in the groove.
Here it is installed:
I now need to do some final checks of a few things, assemble the piston/ rod combinations and install the whole mess in the block. Hopefully this will happen next week!
By the way, we looked to order a roller cam for my 340. There is NONE to be found anywhere! I guess all the Covid supply issues are now causing me problems. So it looks like I will need to install a flat tappet cam instead. No big issue there, I just need to be more careful breaking the engine in.
Hawk
- Local time
- 12:57 PM
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2019
- Messages
- 2,119
- Reaction score
- 4,731
- Location
- Jarvis, Ontario
My buddy was looking for a roller cam for a small block and had the same issue. He ended up buying a new one off a member here who had bought it in error. Maybe put up a wanted ad?
MoparJimT
Well-Known Member
Hey Mr hsorman, I feel remiss that I am just reading your build thread. Not sure why it did not come up in my search for everything 1973 Roadrunner on the forum but I am following your build now.
It is truly amazing how similar our stories are, if you took out the names they are virtually identical. Except I have not given mine to my son yet.
Bought it 1978 when in High School, drove in college, met my wife of 37 years in that car etc...
I actually think my car was Tahtian Gold with parchment interior when I bought it though the original color on the build sheet was Autum Bronze. Clearly had been repainted.
You do awesome work and I appreciate all the help you have been providing me on my thread
Looking forward to following your next steps!
It is truly amazing how similar our stories are, if you took out the names they are virtually identical. Except I have not given mine to my son yet.
Bought it 1978 when in High School, drove in college, met my wife of 37 years in that car etc...
I actually think my car was Tahtian Gold with parchment interior when I bought it though the original color on the build sheet was Autum Bronze. Clearly had been repainted.
You do awesome work and I appreciate all the help you have been providing me on my thread
Looking forward to following your next steps!
Thanks for the kind words. I'm happy to help where I can. I am no expert but learning more every day, thanks in large part to all the knowledgeable people on this forum.
How cool is it to find someone with very similar stories and history of their car! Perhaps if we can get this thing ready to go we can meet up at some point and trade a few stories over a cold beverage!
Best of luck as you continue working on your car.
Hawk
MoparJimT
Well-Known Member
I was thinking the same thing, It would be cool to meet. There is another 73 RR owner I met here in Colorado that bought his in the early 80s and still has it. Seems like the odds of so many of us holding on to a relatively forgotten model should be pretty low but also shows our passion for our cars.
Good luck on your build as well!
Similar threads
