We are finally getting close to my 540 being ready for assembly. After the block and heads were at machine shop over the winter, the block main housing bore was successfully repaired along with opened up to 440 mains. The block was then square decked and finish honed with torque plates. The heads needed nipped 7 thou from the damage when two pistons hit them from the crank breaking in two pieces. A valve job was also completed.
Heads came in at 66cc combustion chamber after the cut. They’re getting down there in CC which only benefits us for compression and allows us to keep a much smaller dome on the piston to reach target compression. Tim poured a mold of the combustion chamber and sent it to diamond pistons so they can build the piston perfectly. Well the pistons showed up in 7 weeks just like diamond said they would and they were indeed perfect. 14.8:1 compression with just enough dome to make up for the valve relief cuts (0cc effective dome). Day or two later, Tim took all my stuff down to the machine shop to have it balanced. After it’s balanced and we get some bearing clearance numbers, hoping to have it done this season. However, I know better to not count my chickens before they hatch. I’m sure we will encounter some hold ups along the way. I’m not an engine builder (although I aspire to be one day lol) I certainly know that every engine Tim builds and teaches me, there are always hold ups. Mine I’m sure will be no different. But wishful thinking, it’s early enough in the season, we may possibly have this thing done by the fall time. If not, and it sits all winter, oh well. I’ll just save my money and have it put on the dyno so we can get some data and tune it.
After the weekend we had with my
Dads roadrunner, I decided to finally pull the trigger on something I’ve long wanted. An APD dominator. Had a long convo with Chris at APD and he was extremely helpful, patient, intelligent, and did not try to sell me a damn thing. I truly called just to try to get some info on what he would build for my combo, along with some questions about my dads carb and friends carb. I was so happy with the convo we had that I called him back with a credit card number. 6-7 weeks I’ll have a new APD dominator that we will probably try on one or two cars in our team before it ever sees my engine, just because that’s what we do.
New molnar crank 4.250 stroke
New molnar rods 6.700
Diamond pistons 14.8:1 compression
New PSI valve springs
New Manley valves
Decided to go with a new fluidampr. Going to put the ATI on the shelf and eventually list it for sale.
Same roller cam
Same isky lifters
Same jesel rockers 1.6 ratio
Same jesel belt drive
Same milodon oil pan
Running the same converter and trans with the same rear gear and tire size
It’s going go be interesting going from my 528 engine to this 540 with mainly only changing the stroke of the crankshaft along with the compression by a couple points. As long as it’s consistent and runs as fast as the 528 I’ll be happy. Although I’m sure it will be faster, I try not to set my expectation to high so I’m not disappointed.
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