522 RB Build

-

RAMM

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2010
Messages
2,439
Reaction score
2,985
Location
Ontario, Canada
This one is a bit of a budget oriented big cube project. In the interest of saving $$ I'm reusing some Icon pistons with a 1.867" Comp Ht and a 6.7" rod with a 4.375" stroke put the dished pistons .042" above deck. Fortunately the piston is one of those step head types and only a small portion needed machining. In the mill they went and exactly .042" was removed. In the interest of restoring these pistons to their former glory lead me into a whole other branch of services. I will be using Cerakote thin film coatings with a friction reducing coating on the skirts and a thermal coating on the piston tops. The photos show the piston prep and next week I can show my trip into coating world. I have acquired the coatings, spray gun, and I even scored an industrial oven that is large enough to load cylinder heads, intake manifolds and crankshafts into. Gotta wire up a plug so I can plug into my welding receptacle--this thing pulls 45 amps. Very excited on this one for a multi tude of reasons. J.Rob

DRO.jpg


PistonBA.jpg


PistonDMic.jpg


Conrods.jpg


PistonBlastMask.jpg


Pistonmilltop.jpg


Pistonskirtblast.jpg
 
Just found a pic of the oven I picked up last week. Now I'm wondering if I can coat chambers and valves etc... J.Rob

s-l64.jpg
 
Just found a pic of the oven I picked up last week. Now I'm wondering if I can coat chambers and valves etc... J.Rob

View attachment 1715707659
Congrats on the oven.
I’m curious how you measure cc’s on a step piston like those ?
Any concern about the rod ratio ?
Thanks
 
Last edited:
congratulations on the oven Jesse . I'm really interested in the Cerakote coatings and the benefits it may produce .
 
Congrats on the oven.
I’m curious how you measure cc’s on a step piston like those ?
Any concern about the rod ratio ?
Thanks

Thanks, You'd have to measure with the piston in the cylinder at -.500" and subtract the calculated from the measured.
No concern--about the R.R. its a low rpm deal and its the same as a 454 BBC and they seem to run fine. Is it my dream R.R.--no but I'd rather keep the pin outta the oil ring too. J.Rob
 
congratulations on the oven Jesse . I'm really interested in the Cerakote coatings and the benefits it may produce .

Thanks, Aaron--Me too about the coatings--I plan on trying the oil shedding coatings and their coatings designed to keep heat out--for things like intake manifolds--I think they call them thermal dispersants. J.Rob
 
I've had bad luck with the oven so far--blower motor is cooked. I did however make a sturdy angle frame with beefy casters so I can roll it over to the welding plug when I need to (its on the opposite side of the shop).

Concerning the actual build I have the 440 block stripped and ready for blasting and then all of the machine work begins.

I had originally planned to use Edelbrock 5090's in the interest of easy power and being lazy--but now @IQ52 's thread has inspired me to see how much power I can 'eek out of some '902 or '452 castings. I figured since we will be going with a Comp hydraulic flat (used cam/lifters) and we are on a budget...

This thread may be of interest to some because we are taught to put all of our money into the cylinder heads in the quest for power--but this one will be the opposite--in that we are putting all of the money into the bottom end and building cubes first.

In 2002 I did a 493 with '452 heads with a TM7 on a SF-901 that made 558hp/637tq. It went in a 69 Coronet 'Bee and ran low 11's on street tires. So doing the math backwards and factoring in the cubes if everything stays equal then I should get 590hp/674tq. That should be enough power to get his Magnum into the 11's. J.Rob
 
Beginning the long arduous task of block prep. After blasting and bare with no caps I decided to try the scale out--223lbs. J.Rob

scaleblock.jpg
 
Hah! You know factory iron heads are never going to work! Give it up!
 
Block is decked to 10.715" for zero deck and line hone is complete. Into the CK-10 tomorrow for final cylinder hone. J.Rob

522linehone.jpg
 
Got the oven going yesterday--Blower motor and a burned fuse later it works very well. First test was turning a set of polished aluminum Summit covers into Black Wrinkle finish-cured @ 200F 1hr.

Coated the pistons for the 522 today and they turned out pretty well. Time will tell how they hold up. J.Rob

VCoven.jpg


Blackwrinklecloseup.jpg


Coatedpistons.jpg
 
522 is together, just waiting on a rear main seal and t-cover gasket then it will be completely buttoned up. The rear studs will require shortening if you use the very nice and resonably priced Mancini Racing 6qt oil pan. J.Rob

crankinstall.jpg
 
522 is together, just waiting on a rear main seal and t-cover gasket then it will be completely buttoned up. The rear studs will require shortening if you use the very nice and resonably priced Mancini Racing 6qt oil pan. J.Rob

View attachment 1715741055
Fine work indeed! Lots of us anxious to see how closely it comes producing hp/tq to your estimates.
 
Figured while I was at the shop today to take a few more pics. Also noticed here I am mentioning the Mancini pan but no pics. J.Rob

oilpan.jpg


oilpu.jpg
 
Yes I had to take about .080" off of the rod in a very small area in order to clear the oil pickup. J.Rob

rodclearance.jpg


pistondeck.jpg
 
-
Back
Top