The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster

Couple more updates on the engine build.

Sold the 340 block that was in the Duster to Rob (Rumblefish360) on Saturday. We've been forum friends for a while but never met in person, was great to finally meet him. Glad the block went to a good home. Sounds like he has a pretty cool build up going on, hope he gets it rolling soon.

Anyway, the whole short block has now been sold off. Honestly, I had no use for it and it would have been difficult to store it without being in the way. Plus, a couple extra bucks doesn't hurt when you're building an engine.

I kept some of the pieces to either re-use for the current build up or something else down the road. Still have the timing chain cover, oil pan, windage tray, oil pump and pickup and oil filter adapter.

I was on the fence about whether to toss some of the valvetrain parts but really, what am I going to do with any of it? The valves were caked with carbon. The lifters were over 15 years old and the block they were in is now gone. They'd probably make good paper weights if anything.

Saved the camshaft and the pushrods. The pushrods are nice actually but who knows whether I will need the exact length they are. (8.00") I'm also keeping the W2 heads and rockers. For some reason I kept the springs, retainers, keepers and a shims just in case I ever decide to 'throw something together' but who knows, they'll probably just sit there like everything else. Springs are probably worn out anyway, the retainers are super heavy steel and the keepers are not worth much of anything. Maybe I'll give that stuff away.

The W2 heads need some work. Definitely valve guides. They really should be ported as well. In my mind, the engine never really lived up to its potential when I had it. It was old and tired when it got to me. It was a fun learning experience trying to tune it though.

The person I sold the rotating assembly to said that the #5 piston had a broken ring. I didn't even notice it when I took the thing apart. I had done a compression test on it a while ago and #5 was the lowest. I suspected the rings because it bumped up a few psi when oil was squirted down the hole but it was still 30 psi lower than the rest. Broken ring will do that!

So today I had a little time to go and clean the bench off and try to organize the garage for the next project. I would like to try and get started on some of the other peripheral things while the engine is out.

More to come.