MP Short Block Autopsy

Well I finally got around to disassembling my short block this week. For those of you whom are from the old board will remember my post on this topic a while ago. For the new guys here's a brief run down:

I bought a Mopar Performance 9.5:1 short block for my `68 Barracuda. The biggest concern everyone had was to open it up to check clearances and clean it up. The clearance look good (so far...) as I need to borrow an inside micrometer. As for cleaning it.... all I can is you must be %$#@#$% CRAZY to drop one of these things into your car without a THOROUGH cleaning! I found everything from cardboard to dust bunnies living inside it! :shock: I stripped it down, hot tanked it at work, then proceeded to grind out all the oil drains in the lifter galleries and clean & re-tap all the bolt holes. For those of you whom have never done this let me say that getting your weiner caught in your zipper is more fun..... After about 2 hours of grinding and smoothing I tanked it again, followed by a thorough cleaning with detergent & a set of block brushes in all the oil galleries and water passages. A DIY root canal was more appealing at this point.... But I pressed on. Well, all my work paid off as I now have a SPOTLESS block awaiting a fresh coat of paint and re-assembly to follow. Pictures will be posted ( hopefully tomorrow)

Then I finished up my day by picking up my freshly done X heads from the machine shop. 3 angle valve job, guides cut for Teflon seals and double valve springs, and a mill job. Beautiful work as done by S&K Speed out here on Long Island!

The only bad thing I've spotted so far is a slightly mis-aligned #2 cam bearing where the oil hole is not centered properly. I've been mulling over what to do. At the moment I'm inclined to open up the hole a bit since it's not off *too*far. Otherwise, I'm pleased.

More gory details to follow. Stay tuned kiddies :wink: