New 408 for the Flyfish

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Your new build is very similar to mine
Ha even the same pistons
I’ve been concerned about the 727 and crappy 60’s I’m gonna guess yours will only get better Thinking I can live with the 727
 
Yeah, its not too bad. My 727 was built by a local guy....Out of the 15 ish Mopar guys I race with at Lucas Oil Raceway, I think he built at least 10 of the 15 transmissions...possibly all of them.
 
Well, made some progress this weekend...and hit more setbacks. I got one of my heads all cleaned up, valves cleaned, replace the bent ones, lapped all valves, added new spring cups, shimmed for correct spring height for new springs.

Went to put the head on and check PV clearance, tried to put in a head stud and it wouldn't go......tried another stud, same thing....looked closer and found that ALL of my head bolt holes are full of rust (like YEARS old rust and grime). The bolt holes on the front of the block are in the same boat (cam retainer plate).

I'm pissed because I paid for a "prepped" block, ready to use, and this should have been done. I should have seen this coming because almost all of the lifter bores needed to be cleaned out as well...and I'm irritated with myself that I didn't check this sooner. The bottom end is assembled so I can't take it back to the guys that did the block without taking it back apart (and I don't want to because I would have to take a day off work to take it to these clowns).

Now I gotta hunt down a tap and die set to clean these out......Maybe I'll have this running by October....lol
 
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You need something like this. Fill the holes with liquid wrench or pb blaster, let soak over night, then chase them.
Wait, lol, aren’t you a chemist ? If so I’m sure you got this rust thing covered
 
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604B1duster said:
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You need something like this. Fill the holes with liquid wrench or pb blaster, let soak over night, then chase them.
Wait, lol, aren’t you a chemist ? If so I’m sure you got this
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was looking at that thread chaser set this morning, but I'm not sure if it would go deep enough (they look a little short)...I'll have to measure this evening.

A chemist....yes....but my focus is analytical method development for small molecules...not that anyone cares. Anyway, I guess I could whip something up…but I’d rather just use what I have in the garage (like Pb Blaster). I have no excuse, I better get crackin.
 
Wow, that sounds like tedious stuff.
You could also cut like 3 or 4 groves lengthwise in a bolt with a cutoff wheel and use it like a tap to clean the rust out without cutting into the block and oversizing the holes
 
More progress this weekend. Worked on the motor for a good chunk of Saturday...spent over 2 hours cleaning out rusted bolt holes (see pic of rusty crap). Ran a tap down each 5-10 times depending on how bad they were...used up a whole roll of paper towels, 1 can of brake cleaner, and a bunch of WD-40.

Degreed the cam without the fancy crank tool...which took a little longer, but it worked. I used a stack of washers and the crank bolt...and an impact.....and lots of math, lol. Cam is installed at 103.5°.

I checked PV clearance (which I was a little worried about with my heavily milled heads)...I have a MILE on the exhaust valve (over 0.2") and 0.080" on the intake, so all is well. And most exiting of all, my pushrods from the solid roller setup fit perfectly so I don't have to buy new ones (YAY!). That was the last hurdle, so it should be smooth sailing from here on out.

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flyfish said:
More progress this weekend. Worked on the motor for a good chunk of Saturday...spent over 2 hours cleaning out rusted bolt holes (see pic of rusty crap). Ran a tap down each 5-10 times depending on how bad they were...used up a whole roll of paper towels, 1 can of brake cleaner, and a bunch of WD-40.

Degreed the cam without the fancy crank tool...which took a little longer, but it worked. I used a stack of washers and the crank bolt...and an impact.....and lots of math, lol. Cam is installed at 103.5°.

I checked PV clearance (which I was a little worried about with my heavily milled heads)...I have a MILE on the exhaust valve (over 0.2") and 0.080" on the intake, so all is well. And most exiting of all, my pushrods from the solid roller setup fit perfectly so I don't have to buy new ones (YAY!). That was the last hurdle, so it should be smooth sailing from here on out.

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Click to expand...
Good deal man
excited to see it coming together
 
(unrelated rant from your build) When I tore down my 340 for rebuild, I cleaned block and blew out head bolt holes. One hole puked out huge glob of grease/gunk. There was no way that head bolt could have been tensioned when torqued. And that was original assembly in 72.
 
More progress this weekend....to quote Bon Jovi.....Whooa, we're half way there...lol

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Here is the other head, stripped down and ready to get cleaned along with the valves. After cleaning it was valves lapped, new spring cups, valve seals, retainers, locks, set spring height, add outer springs only and install....a couple hours later and the motor is about ready to install.

Both heads are on now (sorry, no pics at the moment), I just need to put in pushrods and valve train so I can flip the motor (so the lifters don't fall out) and install the pan. I'll do that this week, that way I SHOULD be able to drop this thing in the Cuda Saturday....barely meeting my goal of having this thing in the car by June, lol.

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SBDart said:
Who prep the block
Click to expand...
Ooof....thats a painful subject...only because I know better than to use this particular Mopar specific machine shop in Indianapolis....In Indy....I bet you just guessed it......Yeah, Indy Cylinder Head.
 
I had Quinlan do mine last one . Before I had it over at a M&M on the side I got a dirty crank cheap bearings and ran it a Few times And got a hell of hard knock from the bottom end.

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flyfish said:
More progress this weekend. Worked on the motor for a good chunk of Saturday...spent over 2 hours cleaning out rusted bolt holes (see pic of rusty crap). Ran a tap down each 5-10 times depending on how bad they were...used up a whole roll of paper towels, 1 can of brake cleaner, and a bunch of WD-40.

Degreed the cam without the fancy crank tool...which took a little longer, but it worked. I used a stack of washers and the crank bolt...and an impact.....and lots of math, lol. Cam is installed at 103.5°.

I checked PV clearance (which I was a little worried about with my heavily milled heads)...I have a MILE on the exhaust valve (over 0.2") and 0.080" on the intake, so all is well. And most exiting of all, my pushrods from the solid roller setup fit perfectly so I don't have to buy new ones (YAY!). That was the last hurdle, so it should be smooth sailing from here on out.

View attachment 1715188802
Click to expand...
Your machinist, needs to hire or train employees ....
 
The engine is ready to go back in the car (YAY!). The timing cover was a booger to align...and I found 1 hole that I missed when I was chasing all the threads on the block (this one was FULL of rust...totally full...). Anyway, I cleared the last hurdle (I think)...I had forgotten about the big dent in the rail of the oil pan until I went to bolt it down (the dent was from the rod that tried to escape from the last motor)...5 min with a hammer and we're good to go.

Unless something comes up, I'm going to drop it in the car Saturday...and MAYBE start it up Sunday afternoon (if all goes well)...realistically I'm hoping to fire it by the 4th of July...no rush, just don't want to forget anything.
 
Well crap....might not happen this weekend. I was painting the motor last night, when I rolled it up on its side I herd something rattling around in the oil pan.....I pulled the drain plug and fished out a small chunk of cast iron with a magnet....looks like it was part of something with threads. Now I have to take the pan off, and possibly the timing cover to find the source of the metal....this sucks.

When I was torquing the pan bolts I had one make a snapping sound. I thought I might have broken a bolt. I backed it out and inspected and everything looked fine...put it back in and it was fine...my guess is maybe it came from the back side of that, or from the back of the cam retention plate bolts.

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Looks like a piece of casting,tough to see in the pics but i feel for you,its like 2 steps foward 1 step back esp when you set yourself a deadline it seems.Stick with it i finally had to give up on the time line and said its ready when its ready was getting to costly overnighting parts,lol
 
I'm not in a hurry. Once I missed the first 4 races of the season, I figured I would just take my time...but the nice thing is, Summit Racing is close enough that I get everything I order in 1 day if it is in stock. I've ordered parts at 9pm and had them show up the next day by noon using standard shipping :).

I was irritated that I might have to buy more gaskets...my wife said "how much are the gaskets". I said "20-30 bucks"....to which she said "how much would it cost you to fix if you don't take it apart and check it out?".........I just smiled and walked back out to the garage, lol.
 
That sucks but hey good catch im sure there are plenty of people who would have ignored that,patience and atention to detail is the best tools one can have!
 
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