Brian, if you are detailing/painting the engine compartment, tin foil can be your friend instead of try to tape and paper things you want to keep paint off.
Just thought I'd throw that out there.
408 Build Thread
- Thread starter BrianT
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Brian, if you are detailing/painting the engine compartment, tin foil can be your friend instead of try to tape and paper things you want to keep paint off.
Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Any and all tips and suggestions are well appreciated! I don't plan on show finishing the engine compartment, but it will be cleaned and painted the best that I can. Plenty to do under the hood, even without an engine.
Kinda figured that's what you were doing, wrapping things with tin foil, not too tight that it tears, is much easier than paper and masking. Especially on odd shaped items.
A hour with the cherry picker and some help from my buddy Adam and the 340 is out and on the way to it's new home!!
A couple of interesting things from yesterday I forgot to document. While waiting for the guy to come by and pick up the 340 we decided to pull the spark plugs and take a look. These NGK's have been in there for seven years and about 5000 miles. Engine is flat out worn out and we expected to see oil fouled plugs but were pleasantly surprised!! The plugs were a nice tan color with maybe a little bit of ashyness to them. We would have just put them in and kept going if the engine was staying.
The second and most disturbing thing we found happened when we went to disconnect the transmission. The first convertor bolt I touched was finger tight, the next one was completely missing!!! The thing had two tight bolts. This might explain one of the mysterious noises that were coming out of the engine?!? Don't get me wrong, that's not why we pulled and sold the engine, but it is probably something I shouldn't have been driving around with for the last several years. BTW the transmission was rebuilt five years ago by a place that was recommended by my buddy. He is going to talk to them about it next time he calls on them.
The second and most disturbing thing we found happened when we went to disconnect the transmission. The first convertor bolt I touched was finger tight, the next one was completely missing!!! The thing had two tight bolts. This might explain one of the mysterious noises that were coming out of the engine?!? Don't get me wrong, that's not why we pulled and sold the engine, but it is probably something I shouldn't have been driving around with for the last several years. BTW the transmission was rebuilt five years ago by a place that was recommended by my buddy. He is going to talk to them about it next time he calls on them.
I took some parts to work today and put them in this...
It's like a giant dishwasher for dirty greasy parts. They went in looking like this...
And came out looking like this...
I'm going to take a few pieces to work every couple of days, and everything should be ready for paint in no time!! I'll be bead blasting everything, but this gets all of the grease and gunk off of the parts before hand.
It's like a giant dishwasher for dirty greasy parts. They went in looking like this...
And came out looking like this...
I'm going to take a few pieces to work every couple of days, and everything should be ready for paint in no time!! I'll be bead blasting everything, but this gets all of the grease and gunk off of the parts before hand.
I like it(the parts washer)! Nothing like a Cuda,to clean house lol!
Did you buy the lifters and spider for a Magnum 360? I have a 1989 LA 360 (now 408 ) that I'd like to convert to roller in the future but do not have the hardware.
That's correct. Mine was a 90 block and already had the boss that was threaded for the spider.
Same here with the threaded boss. Did you have to do any machine work or does an LA retrofit roller cam/ lifter nullify the need for block work?
We haven't reached the mock up stage of the valve train yet, but that is the plan. Custom push rods will have to be ordered of course, and maybe some modifying of the push rod holes in the head. But no block work should be necessary.
I went down to the farm today and grabbed the V8 k member that I bought off of Craigslist several years ago. It's in decent shape and I straightened out a couple of bent areas with my BFH.
My plans are to have it sand blasted and my buddy will paint it with some Rust Bullet that I have left over from my floor pan replacement. I'm not going to spend a lot of time welding up seams and gusseting up the thing. It's just a street car that won't be auto-crossed or anything, but I will beat on it pretty hard every once in a while!
My plans are to have it sand blasted and my buddy will paint it with some Rust Bullet that I have left over from my floor pan replacement. I'm not going to spend a lot of time welding up seams and gusseting up the thing. It's just a street car that won't be auto-crossed or anything, but I will beat on it pretty hard every once in a while!
I got my K member back from the blaster and it is clean as the day it was made!
Speaking of that day, it must have been made one afternoon after a long lunch in the parking lot if you know what I mean. Hell, I'll just say it. A drunk monkey could have welded this thing together better. I can fault in almost every weld on this thing and I'm no expert.
The plan is to now take it to a friend's brother's garage and he is going to go over all the welds for me. I am going to have him weld up the seams on the front and back also that are just spot welded now. I don't do a lot of road racing stuff, so no gusseting. I'm just trying to keep that 500 ft lbs of torque under the hood!
Speaking of that day, it must have been made one afternoon after a long lunch in the parking lot if you know what I mean. Hell, I'll just say it. A drunk monkey could have welded this thing together better. I can fault in almost every weld on this thing and I'm no expert.
The plan is to now take it to a friend's brother's garage and he is going to go over all the welds for me. I am going to have him weld up the seams on the front and back also that are just spot welded now. I don't do a lot of road racing stuff, so no gusseting. I'm just trying to keep that 500 ft lbs of torque under the hood!
A good idea,B.T.... Do it now.
Didn't do the seams like we had talked about but got all of the crappy welds reinforced so we should be okay. Going to have my buddy paint it and a few other pieces today.
Woods74
Broke Senior
If you want, you can just do maybe a 1" bead every 3 inches, does the same thing. Make sure and do the LCA's too. Good build!
You can't see it in the picture, but he welded the seam that goes down the middle on the bottom. It's already at the paint shop, so that is going to have to be enough. The lower control arms have stiffening plates welded in already.
txstang84
Well-Known Member
Looking good Brian, as always looking forward to more updates!
Woods74
Broke Senior
It should be fine, all of the force seems to be on the LCA bushing and strut bar area and not as torsional side to side in nature as it is in up and down twisting. I'd like to think that the edge welding is overkill anyway.
Who's ever seen the bottom come off of a K member due to corner carving or big power?
Haven't had the money and it's been too damned cold to work in the garage, but today we made some progress! Member VOETOM (Tom) came by and disassembled my 727 for me. It was rebuilt several years ago, but didn't really have any miles on it. It did leak like a pig from everywhere possible. Tom suggested putting a seal kit in it while it was out, plus I wanted to clean it up since I was going to be eventually putting it next to a brand new engine.
Turns out, it's a real bastard of a 727. The numbers on the side indicated that it was a 1979 trans from either a police car or LRE truck. Once we got it torn apart, Tom started noticing things that led us to believe that the person who previously built or rebuilt the transmission was either drunk or incompetent. The band adjustments were not even doing anything they were so loose?!? Most of the internals were from a light duty application such as a 318 two barrel. It has a three disc clutch pack and 3 gear planetarys. Tom is going to try and find some better pieces to put back into it, and also new clutch plates.
I am going to take the big pieces to work tomorrow and throw them in the Barracuda cleaner above. They should come out looking like brand new!
Turns out, it's a real bastard of a 727. The numbers on the side indicated that it was a 1979 trans from either a police car or LRE truck. Once we got it torn apart, Tom started noticing things that led us to believe that the person who previously built or rebuilt the transmission was either drunk or incompetent. The band adjustments were not even doing anything they were so loose?!? Most of the internals were from a light duty application such as a 318 two barrel. It has a three disc clutch pack and 3 gear planetarys. Tom is going to try and find some better pieces to put back into it, and also new clutch plates.
I am going to take the big pieces to work tomorrow and throw them in the Barracuda cleaner above. They should come out looking like brand new!
Progress ,B.T..How the hell,did it drive?????.....
That's what Tom said! It actually shifted okay, a little hard from second to third, but that's about it. I was more concerned that it leaked on my garage floor.
Tom took it down to the last nut and bolt and is going to start looking for parts today. The main parts he is looking for is the four gear planetarys and the deeper clutch drum. Also, it had a 2.9 apply lever and he is going to try and find a 3.6 or 4.2
Tom took it down to the last nut and bolt and is going to start looking for parts today. The main parts he is looking for is the four gear planetarys and the deeper clutch drum. Also, it had a 2.9 apply lever and he is going to try and find a 3.6 or 4.2
Tom emailed me last night and he has gotten all of the parts that he needs to put the transmission back together! I took the big parts to work and cleaned them in the Barracuda. They didn't come out as clean as I expected even after leaving them in for five hours and using an additional scoop of cleaner. Oh well, they are clean and no one is going to see my transmission anyway.
I am going to take all the parts over to Tom's house on Saturday and he is going to put everything back together!
I am going to take all the parts over to Tom's house on Saturday and he is going to put everything back together!
jbc426
Well-Known Member
Tom emailed me last night and he has gotten all of the parts that he needs to put the transmission back together! I took the big parts to work and cleaned them in the Barracuda. They didn't come out as clean as I expected even after leaving them in for five hours and using an additional scoop of cleaner. Oh well, they are clean and no one is going to see my transmission anyway.
I am going to take all the parts over to Tom's house on Saturday and he is going to put everything back together!
I painted mine with some aluminum spray paint. Looks brand new.
Nice work ,B.T.... With a 408 eventually going in front of it,the overhaul/upgrade is a damn good idea now.
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