That was before. I broke my cam in with my rocker arms on upside down. I ran it for a bit but noticed a lot of noise coming from the valve covers and some blow-by. Found the bent pushrods and realized the mistake with the rocker shaft back in january. I slapped it all together with some new pushrods hoping for the best since the cam was still fine but the blow-by stayed.
1973 Dart Sport
- Thread starter Deceus
- Start date
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That was before. I broke my cam in with my rocker arms on upside down. I ran it for a bit but noticed a lot of noise coming from the valve covers and some blow-by. Found the bent pushrods and realized the mistake with the rocker shaft back in january. I slapped it all together with some new pushrods hoping for the best since the cam was still fine but the blow-by stayed.
And the saga continues:
Mystery solved. I used 1/16" rings in a piston made to use 5/64" rings. Explains the intermittent blow-by issues. Looks like I didn't damage anything other than the cross-hatch in the cylinders. Gonna slap some new 5/64" rings in there, make sure the tolerance is acceptable, rehone the cylinders and run it. I got a 360 block to begin a 408 build so I'm not too worried about how this may affect engine life way down the road. Sucks seeing yet another self-inflicted stupid mistake but live and learn. Does feel good to be at a point where I can confidentially get the engine out and torn down with no real fear of messing anything up.
Hopefully I got all the idiocy out of my system and everything goes together right this time. With the engine out I'll be able to revisit the wiring routing and brake lines in the engine bay. I will likely pull the trigger on a hydroboost unit as well now that the install couldn't be easier.
Mystery solved. I used 1/16" rings in a piston made to use 5/64" rings. Explains the intermittent blow-by issues. Looks like I didn't damage anything other than the cross-hatch in the cylinders. Gonna slap some new 5/64" rings in there, make sure the tolerance is acceptable, rehone the cylinders and run it. I got a 360 block to begin a 408 build so I'm not too worried about how this may affect engine life way down the road. Sucks seeing yet another self-inflicted stupid mistake but live and learn. Does feel good to be at a point where I can confidentially get the engine out and torn down with no real fear of messing anything up.
Hopefully I got all the idiocy out of my system and everything goes together right this time. With the engine out I'll be able to revisit the wiring routing and brake lines in the engine bay. I will likely pull the trigger on a hydroboost unit as well now that the install couldn't be easier.
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Using this time to make a couple much needed upgrades. Made some baffling for my oil pan to hopefully prevent oiling issues down the road during my autocross events. The engine is basically ready to go back together. Got the cylinders re-honed and the new rings all fit with around .003" tolerance so it should be fine for the life of this engine.
Ordered a hydroboost unit for my brakes since I don't seem to be getting enough pressure with the manual setup I have currently. They stopped well but I could never lock them up. Haven't heard a single complaint about these systems and the install should be pretty straight forward especially with the engine out. Re-doing the brakelines as well since they got pretty mangled going from the vacuum assist setup that wasn't working right to the manual setup I ended up running. I'll probably just run some high quality braided lines for the front brakes to avoid dealing with hard-lines again. Gotta wait til almost February for the unit though so looks like the car is gonna be sitting for a while. Gives me time to get the headers coated with an actual ceramic coating instead of this rattle can crap that did a good job of preventing rust but not much else.
Ordered a hydroboost unit for my brakes since I don't seem to be getting enough pressure with the manual setup I have currently. They stopped well but I could never lock them up. Haven't heard a single complaint about these systems and the install should be pretty straight forward especially with the engine out. Re-doing the brakelines as well since they got pretty mangled going from the vacuum assist setup that wasn't working right to the manual setup I ended up running. I'll probably just run some high quality braided lines for the front brakes to avoid dealing with hard-lines again. Gotta wait til almost February for the unit though so looks like the car is gonna be sitting for a while. Gives me time to get the headers coated with an actual ceramic coating instead of this rattle can crap that did a good job of preventing rust but not much else.
Well she's back on the road. Brakes are phenomenal and no real sign of excessive crank case pressure. I do have a leak at the transmission oil pan that was throwing a little bit of smoke out from underneath the car since it was hitting the headers. Not a big deal but did give me a heart attack on the way to the car show...
mopowers
Well-Known Member
What's with the rice rockets? I bet you had the coolest car there.
Was a show at the college in town. All makes and models kind of deal. Good friends with the people hosting it but yeah there was a good amount of "variety" there. Definitely didn't have the coolest car but it was top 5 in my book and that's what matters right? A couple of the guys brought out there dedicated track cars and there was even a Mclaren and a cobra kit car that popped in for a bit.
Good times.
Finally got a chance to test the rebuild and test out my new truck.
I've really only driven the car to the show in April and that's really it. Haven't spotted any real issues but I also haven't driven it much, wasn't sure what to expect. Smelled a bit of coolant when I was cranking down the tire straps. Checked it once I got to the lot and it was just a small run from one of the smaller lines. All the lines themselves were dry and not actively leaking so I just shut the hood and pretended it didn't happen because what's the worse that can happen.
Got threw all six runs without any incident though. Pushed the car pretty hard to get a feel for the brakes and they're still phenomenal. Not a drop of oil anywhere too, so the crank case pressure issue is definitely resolved. Tires are definitely a much needed upgrade at this point but still a little too pricey for me to consider at the moment. Temp did get up a bit while waiting to launch but never really broke 195 so that's probably fine given how hot it was outside. Felt really good to just whip the car around and not have it stutter or rub or do anything other than respond.
Good things come to those who ... are too stubborn (or stupid) to quit.
I've really only driven the car to the show in April and that's really it. Haven't spotted any real issues but I also haven't driven it much, wasn't sure what to expect. Smelled a bit of coolant when I was cranking down the tire straps. Checked it once I got to the lot and it was just a small run from one of the smaller lines. All the lines themselves were dry and not actively leaking so I just shut the hood and pretended it didn't happen because what's the worse that can happen.
Got threw all six runs without any incident though. Pushed the car pretty hard to get a feel for the brakes and they're still phenomenal. Not a drop of oil anywhere too, so the crank case pressure issue is definitely resolved. Tires are definitely a much needed upgrade at this point but still a little too pricey for me to consider at the moment. Temp did get up a bit while waiting to launch but never really broke 195 so that's probably fine given how hot it was outside. Felt really good to just whip the car around and not have it stutter or rub or do anything other than respond.
Good things come to those who ... are too stubborn (or stupid) to quit.
Weather is finally getting cool enough to actually enjoy the car. Another event free weekend of activities.
Time to consider getting a better wheel/tire combo for Autocross days. Appearance wise I wouldn't change a thing but I need something better if I'm going to continue Autocrossing. The front tires are just too tall and skinny to get the job done but the car is still an absolute blast to drive.
Time to consider getting a better wheel/tire combo for Autocross days. Appearance wise I wouldn't change a thing but I need something better if I'm going to continue Autocrossing. The front tires are just too tall and skinny to get the job done but the car is still an absolute blast to drive.
As much of a pain as this build has been, I'm really glad I did it. Getting the last few bugs worked out on this thing is about the only real positive memory I can really pull from 2019. Wasn't a bad year overall just one with a lot of failure and lessons learned. So not too much unlike this build HAHA.
Such a crazy, wild ride it's been.
No real idea what 2020 has in store. Definitely going to race it more, no excuses. Probably need to throw a big *** pusher fan on the front for the summer months and at the very least get a roll bar in it so I can track it to some degree. Really want to take it to HyperFest and drive the wheels of it, we'll see. Thanks for following along and an extra thanks to those that offered motivation and encouragement along the way.
Such a crazy, wild ride it's been.
No real idea what 2020 has in store. Definitely going to race it more, no excuses. Probably need to throw a big *** pusher fan on the front for the summer months and at the very least get a roll bar in it so I can track it to some degree. Really want to take it to HyperFest and drive the wheels of it, we'll see. Thanks for following along and an extra thanks to those that offered motivation and encouragement along the way.
Is your inside front tire off the ground or does it just look that way?
Yeah it's mostly off the ground. Pretty sure I was hammering it coming out of a hairpin.
"No real idea what 2020 has in store. Definitely going to race it more, no excuses."
Boy that comment aged well didn't it. There are in fact many excuses haha. This ordeal almost has me considering starting body work.
Boy that comment aged well didn't it. There are in fact many excuses haha. This ordeal almost has me considering starting body work.
Finally pulled trigger on a 26" radiator and fan setup. Going with a pusher so I can run dual 12" fans moving 3000 cfm. This should solve those cooling issues at idle on hot days in grid and give me back some horsepower. Just need to finish my mountain of house work and reclaim my garage. Hopefully this thing sees some action this summer, if not I might be installing a cage to hit of some of the winter trackcross series that seem to catching on in my area.
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