Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
Bet your *** I do! Haha I don’t really see the point in owning an old muscle car if you’re not gonna go out and flog on it!
73 Swinger Ratty Daily Driver Project
- Thread starter Swingin73Dart
- Start date
-
Bet your *** I do! Haha I don’t really see the point in owning an old muscle car if you’re not gonna go out and flog on it!
Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
Well yesterday I ran down to the machine shop and they were just finishing up my block. The heads were done so I took em home and gave them a good coat of Chrysler hemi orange!
I still have to tap and plug the EGR holes in the exhaust ports but that’ll take no time at all and I wanted to drool over some awesome orange 360 smog heads The good news is the machine shop set them up for enough lift to run the bigger cam that I have. A comp XE-268 with 224/230 @.050 and .477/.480 lift. I had a single pattern HE-268 but I want this thing to have a bit of a choppier idle to it. And hey, more power is never a bad thing! I’ll also be bumping the converter to a bit above stock now that I know I can run my XE cam.
I still have to tap and plug the EGR holes in the exhaust ports but that’ll take no time at all and I wanted to drool over some awesome orange 360 smog heads The good news is the machine shop set them up for enough lift to run the bigger cam that I have. A comp XE-268 with 224/230 @.050 and .477/.480 lift. I had a single pattern HE-268 but I want this thing to have a bit of a choppier idle to it. And hey, more power is never a bad thing! I’ll also be bumping the converter to a bit above stock now that I know I can run my XE cam.
The 70 Dart that I had used to regularly see the drag strip, daily driving through the summer, and WOT every day! The 75 I have now will see much the same when it hits the road.
Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
I’m hoping I’ll be pleasantly surprised by what this dart will do in the 1/4 mile. I’m sure it won’t even be close to hanging with the cougar but I think it’d be fun to surprise some people on the street that think it’s just a rusty old POS.
I always enjoyed doing that, surprising the hell out of people. My car had a .040 over 360, same smogger heads as your pics, mild cam, air gap with 750 eddy carb, TTi headers, 727 trans and a True trac with 3:23s in the 8 3/4. Full interior, all steel, went 13.8 at 100 mph consistently, full 3 inch exhaust with X pipe.
Day I put the new 3 inch exhaust on, had a buddy and his wife and my wife in the car, couple young guys in a supercharged Cobalt pulled up beside us at a red light, revving the engine, etc. I quietly dropped into 1st gear, and hammered it on the green, he tried for about 100 ft, but we got the last laugh.
Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
This car came with a 2.5 inch relatively new exhaust with super 44 flow masters. I’ll be making it a bit nicer but reusing it. My cougar has 3 inch true duals with super 44’s and I love it. Those mufflers dumped at the rear axle towards the tires are kinda my trademark among my hot rod buddies lol. Oh and I always make sure to put cutouts under the car so I can open it up at the track (and on the street if I get a wild hair!)
Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
Well I picked up the rest of my 360 stuff down at the machine shop. I installed the cam bearings and freeze plugs in the block yesterday and gave it a coat of paint. Gonna start on the short block today.
Sweet!
Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
Got the crank in today. I’d be further along but I got a wild hair and deburred all the nasty looking rough castings in the lifter valley...
I also took the time to clean up the rough casting spots on the crank and deburr every sharp edge on the counterweights that I could find.
All the clearances checked out good. I got .0045 of thrust bearing clearance and .002 on all the mains so I’m pretty happy with that.
The block as it sits right now. I already checked the ring gaps and I have .013-.015 on the tops and .019-.020 on all the second rings. I’ll be checking rod bearings and installing rods/pistons in the morning.
I also took the time to clean up the rough casting spots on the crank and deburr every sharp edge on the counterweights that I could find.
All the clearances checked out good. I got .0045 of thrust bearing clearance and .002 on all the mains so I’m pretty happy with that.
The block as it sits right now. I already checked the ring gaps and I have .013-.015 on the tops and .019-.020 on all the second rings. I’ll be checking rod bearings and installing rods/pistons in the morning.
Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I got the rod bearing clearances and ring gaps checked and the rods/pistons home in the block. Ring gaps were .013-.015 on the tops and .019-.020 on the second rings. Bearing clearances on the rods checked out at .0015 across the board. Pistons sit fairly far down in the holes still, the shop told me they cut .009 off the deck but with the flat tops I’m expecting to be somewhere around 9:1 compression. Things are coming together!
Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
Well it appears I have reached an impass. These flat tops sit right at about .100 in the hole...so the cam I want to run will absolutely kill the dynamic compression in this thing and be a pig. I get 8.5:1 with a 70cc chamber and a .040 gasket thickness. So now I’m gonna have to call up the machine shop and see if they will work with me at all on getting the squeeze up on this thing.
If I take another .020 off the deck and run an .027 gasket that comes out to around 9.1:1 which I would be much happier with but I’m gonna have to get price quotes and decide if it’s worth in to just take it all back apart and have more work done or throw my HE-268 single pattern in it and live with the low compression. Call me anal, but I HATE seeing a motor that’s this sloppy in the deck clearance!
If I take another .020 off the deck and run an .027 gasket that comes out to around 9.1:1 which I would be much happier with but I’m gonna have to get price quotes and decide if it’s worth in to just take it all back apart and have more work done or throw my HE-268 single pattern in it and live with the low compression. Call me anal, but I HATE seeing a motor that’s this sloppy in the deck clearance!
Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
After a little more automotive detective work I figured out the compression situation situation wasn’t as bad as I had originally thought but still not great. Checking the piston at TDC i found that it was about .085 in the hole.
So with a .039 compressed head gasket thickness and assuming a 70cc chamber (the heads have been milled slightly but not cc’d that works out to 8.8:1 compression. I could have gotten an .027 MLS head gasket and upped it to 9:1 but for $160 it’s just not worth it to me. So I put the smaller cam in and decided to call it good. It’ll be more daily driver friendly with that cam in it anyway.
So with a .039 compressed head gasket thickness and assuming a 70cc chamber (the heads have been milled slightly but not cc’d that works out to 8.8:1 compression. I could have gotten an .027 MLS head gasket and upped it to 9:1 but for $160 it’s just not worth it to me. So I put the smaller cam in and decided to call it good. It’ll be more daily driver friendly with that cam in it anyway.
Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
Well I finished the 360 yesterday afternoon! Got held up a couple days by the summit brand oil pan I bought, the pan rails were warped to hell so I exchanged it for a milodon one. Worth the price difference. Better quality and it’s baffled too.
Today I’ll be starting on the 904 so I’m hoping to have it wrapped up fairly quick.
Today I’ll be starting on the 904 so I’m hoping to have it wrapped up fairly quick.
-
