1965 Dart 270 with Charger 273 Valve Seal Replace

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Rustyfish

Rustyfish

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Its been a busy winter around my house with life stuff, but got a few minutes yesterday and thought I'd finally dig into the '65 Dart smoking problem. I'll add some of this to my other thread Get Running & Driving 2-1965 Dodge Dart .

So I warmed her up good, pulled all the plugs and did a compression check WOT. Here are the dry results down below.
1=158 2=152
3=157 4=160
5=159 6=159
7=155 8=163

If everything I know about the car and engine us true, then I thought those looked pretty darn good. Didn't bother at this point with a wet test.

So here is what I think I know. Car had an engine electrical fire around the late '80s. Hasn't been on the road since. Has about 80k on the odometer now, so pretty low mileage. Engine starts really easy every time. Runs really smooth. But after it starts to warm up, it smokes light blue quite a bit. Based on the compression test I'm feeling pretty good about not doing any head work and just replace the valve seals for now.

Long story short, anyone with a 273 replaced the valve seals lately and what seals did you use?
 
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The factory seals are simple umbrella seals and they work quite well. Teflon seals would need some machining done to the guides so they would fit.
 
They will look something like this. You can see them through the valve springs with the valve covers off. There probably isnt much of them left though.
 
rustyfish said:
Pic?
Click to expand...
Dang, must have done it too fast. Here ya go.

umbrella seals.PNG
 
65Val said:
I used these on my '67 273 with '302 heads...working fine.
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Hey! Did you have the car with the original heads? How do the 302s compare?

I have a set laying around, but need rebuilding. Any machine work involved?
 
rustyfish said:
Hey! Did you have the car with the original heads? How do the 302s compare?

I have a set laying around, but need rebuilding. Any machine work involved?
Click to expand...
Hey Rusty...Yes, the car had '920's when I bought it. I don't find much difference driving it...car's just a cruiser...basically put them on for the hardened exhaust seats ('920's needed redo anyhow). Standard rebuild for used heads...guides, seals, light seat dressing. Only machining I found was drivers' side rear area, the stock exhaust manifold hit the 302 head casting...a little judicious grinding of both head and manifold did the trick. If you use 302's with stock manifolds, check the fit before bolting them on...could crack the manifolds if not enough clearance there.
 
Use the Fel-Pro or Mopar Performance Viton seals. The intake seal fits snug on the guide and the Viton lasts forever.
 
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