1969 Dodge Dart Custom Sedan Slant Six, Father-Son Project
The engine machine work and rebuild are complete, with the exception of bolting on the intake and exhaust (which will wait until the motor is back in the car). Its been pretty straightforward, with a few do-overs as minor issues have cropped up.
Oh gawd, the degreasing and scrubbing and wire-brushing and solvent-cleaning of every big and small part. But we were determined to paint everything properly with engine enamel, and wanted it to adhere for good. Run a die over each scrubbed-clean fastener, and a tap through each threaded hole, and you learn that you really are anally-retentive, after all.
Pushrods: Since the head was shaved 0.020 and the block was decked 0.050, I was figuring that there would be no problems with rocker arm/pushrod geometries. I read on the Internet that less than 0.100 of milling keeps the geometry in the range of normal pushrod cup adjustability.
It turns out that using a remanufactured cylinder head from a different /6 motor ended up adding enough variability to cause two of the pushrods to contact the side of the cylinder head (see photo below).
So the head came back off, and both spots were grinded to provide clearance (plus 4 other spots that were too close for comfort; these things flex under load, you know). At least the lash was easily set within the amount of adjustability that the rocker arms offer (see, the Internet was right!). Erson said .020" intake lash and 0.020" exhaust lash for my cam, which seems big but, hey, they're the experts!
I was glad that I hadnt done the final torque step on the head bolts before noticing that; I was able to re-use the head gasket