The engine is going back together intake machined and now sets level with head at VC rails. Took about .100" off the pushrods as they were up in the pocket of rocker arm not hitting but very close, like to see a couple threads below rocker. The distributor now sets more centered in it's bore as well. So it should be ready for testing now as long as nothing else shows up. Used Cometic gaskets for intake I like them for the way they fit only a couple $ more than others. They also have a nice tacky surface to them.
Yup, done that a couple of times - makes ya smile when you see the intake isn't standing proud over the head. Nice. Haven't used the Cometic intake gaskets on anything yet, but they look composite, correct? Sizewise, how's the port match?
Yes it does. Composite, yup. Size is good on width, nice up top, bottom are below port probably to make work with low riser head as well. They also offer different thickness gaskets if needed.
Well a little bit of an update. Engine back together however still gets water in oil under pressure so into further investigation. Damn it. No time to go work on it this weekend have family up from NC staying with me. The girls play volleyball and travel all over the states, it's a club thing. Will get down soon after to check things out in the mean time Joe will see what he can find. He's just happy that it's mine as I understand running into these issues. Still no fun when it happens. Guess I did a good showing on business as supposed to be an offer coming next week on it.
One H*ll of a day !!! Received videos of pressure test of cooling system in engine using air. Water leaks found one in valley area and one up thru head bolt in front top of #1 cylinder. Never seen one leaking in valley before down near lifter web. Will maybe look to see if just a porosity but done with this block. Planned to go down to shop Friday so we could get it going up until the videos came in and changed thinking. So now I will take the original 428 block down and see what pistons I need to get so it can be back in the ride. Reuse as much as we can from this build and get it going again. Did a quick check on the bores with my bore gauge and all looked straight but will redo when down at shop before proceeding. Then order pistons and get the block work finished up to restart. So now we will go for more cubes!! At least will be back numbers matching a real 428 CJ stroked up ! Think will have to do pressure check first thing. Just disappointed all around right now. But at least have a plan. The best made plans of men and mice!!!
Went down to shop yesterday. Stripped the stroker down and evaluated all the parts. Other than the crack in block nothing hurt. Mounted 428 up on stand and bore gauged it all nice and straight so ordered new pistons for it. They should arrive next week sometime and then the machine work can resume to get this one back together. Will have a few more cubes now. Just realized when I did the aluminum heads, to save the original heads I refused to dig into this engine so I wouldn't go crazy stroking it at that time, yet here I am!!! Also the guys are bugging my buddy to come Pro Stock racing with them and he's still turning it down. So I said why not do the closer races here on the east coast you know like within a days ride. Not sure but I may be a bad influence !! Or is that a good influence .... Hmmmm. The crack is hard to see there is a minor black arrow on left side that runs to the right across the block, almost the whole picture width.
They are tough to find - the mag powder plus the angle makes it almost impossible for the powder to "show" the crack Oh, well, more cubes isn't really a bad thing Have a great Easter
Happy Easter ! Wasn't the egg I wanted to find, but more cubes OK ! Does that mean bigger cam? Just kidding of course current cam will be big enough. Won't be able to run it out at track anyway. Should of already been enough power to require safety equipment that I won't do to this ride. It's just a toy !!!
Made it down to the shop yesterday. Cleaned up all the parts to keep everything moving for assembly, need to swap the pistons over and the block is ready. Joe was happy to see everything cleaned and inspected. Been quite a while since I spent that much time in the cleaning tank inspecting and cleaning everything. At least nothing was found to stop assembly. Joe hopes to have on dyno in a couple few weeks. Pic of one cylinder head with all minor run time at low RPM so a little soot in the chambers . Other stuff was talking about designing a UAV engine a little 2 stroke that would run on about any fuel. Should be an interesting project. Also need to look at some of the Pro stock data for the electronics to see what we can learn from it. Generically looks like some big stuff to decipher for tuning the engines. Didn't expect graphs to look like they do, very bizarre and all over the place. The guys didn't make the cut this weekend but also one extremely tight field when 16 cars are qualified in .042 seconds of each other !! Now working on a possible deal for some off brand engines( big & lil bowties) plus some other stuff, helping a buddy out with what I found. Now to see what the estimate is to build my 30 x 40 polebarn up at the cabi. Contractor askked about time line and I said this year. Think that is pretty easy, we shall see.
Oh, not bad, not bad at all. The exhaust valves look very good and mostly even, so no lean cylinders. On the cleaning work, yeah. The 7 P's comes to mind.
Yeah Andy the carb is the service replacement carb came with the car in pieces in a box. So rebuilt it and runs pretty nicely. Have a 770 to try when we get it back together and on the dyno. It offers a few more cfm and a electric choke.
Went down to shop yesterday and bought the engine home. We did a couple pulls on the dyno with no adjustments . SO all went well there basic numbers 447 hp @ 5495 and 540Ftlb @ 3180 Afr 's were basically in the mod to upper 11. So should run a little better in fall weather. Can always pull a few jet sizes out to get a little more power probably be a good 15-20 hp worth. The weather was not nice to us either 84 degrees with 71.3 humidity works out to about 2700feet altitude. Layed out dimensions in the building for the space I would use for my machine shop. So moving forward on that front as well. Headed home and was close when the rain wind and hail started, good thing engine was taped up. Unloaded the engine and had rags getting the water off engine and used shop vac also. Converter should be ready by weekend for pickup. So as long as the heat and humidity isn't bad it will be out to garage whenever possible to get her back together. Will take my time so that I can make it right. Will definitely require beverages. Pics are all I have of dyno chart at present and the pic of plug after warm up.
Making some progress on the ride. Finally got the Doug's headers installed. Tight on drivers side. Couldn't get any movement sideways no matter what I did so put a 1/4" " shim under motor mount to get off the fender well also had to do some header adjustment. The knockoff intake was already limiting throttle linkage movement maybe 1/8" so now have to modify stuff there. It has a raised block on the back that hits the throttle linkage pushing it pretty much open. Just taking my time and not trying to rush it. Damn it that case of beer didn't last long !
Just got done a small drive around the block. All seems good currently. This has to be the longest fight on an install I've ever went through !! For reference I've done diesel to gas changeovers , V6 to V8 and 4 cyl to V8 before. Anywho the header on the drivers side had some gasket leaks , believe it was more due to what "clearance " I had to put into the headers. Can turn left now ! Not hitting the steering box anymore or the oil filter. Can only get some of the bolts in as there is no way to get to all or no clearance to shock tower. Won't recommend these headers to anyone, though not a whole lot of choices out there and forget reasonable price. Only making about 7" vacuum so had to install a pump for the brakes, can now stop quickly. Note always make sure you are in a straight line before whacking throttle, gets exciting quickly otherwise ! Now to go get inspection sticker !
Good to hear that it moves on it's own now. You do know ARP makes some header bolts with a 5/16 head on them - makes working around tubes a lot easier. And you might want to look into some Remflex gaskets - they seal WAY better than any other gasket on the market, and won't burn out. You wouldn't believe how many sets of them I sell - they even fix SBC center burnout problems, even on blown applications.
Yes it is good news BB. Phil had installed Mr Gasket reusable gaskets (aluminum Laminate) , They are a neat idea and passenger side sealed right up. Replaced drivers side with a regular Mr gasket I had in stock. Bolts are reduced head though 3/8" size. Will have to check out the Remflex gaskets. Realy believe that i caused the leak of gasket by all the clearance mods I had to make to headers. The outlets are even off center by about 2" to the trans crossmember. Headers were a bargain buy on Amazon like $345 delivered. Just sat around here until ready to install and find the fitment issues. Oh well that's life in the fast lane! World of hot rodding nothing fits think that is like first rule.
The only downfall of the Remflex is that normally they are only a one time use, they seal where others fail after time. Would the 5/16 bolt heads make it any easier to tighten them, or is it just a "reach" problem? I have a few you could try. How much torque did you finally make?
