What should I do with it?

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HemiEd

HemiEd

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It has been a while since I asked the boards advice here and here.

I am so darn happy with the little hydraulic roller 318, I just don't see myself pulling it back out. I am even adding power steering to it.

After taking the stroker 340 (3:51 crank) apart, I am very glad I pulled it down. I caught it before it was going to inevitably spin a bearing.

Apparently, since my valve guides were badly worn, it got into the Harlan-Sharp rockers some. (never took the heads to a machine shop, as they looked freshly machined, and I just put new valve springs and pocket ported them)

That metal ended up going through the system, and the crank needs turned now, or at the very least an aggressive polishing.

It is a balanced assembly, with light MP Wiseco pistons, the good tool steel pins, Scat H Beam rods, and that MP crank, all beautiful pieces.

The block is very nice, no issues, and of course was fit to the pistons by the machine shop. This thing made major compression and power, but I never had it on a dyno. Just the seat of the pants dyno.

I hate to seperate the rods, pistons and crank, since the money was spent on a good balance job.
I only put about three to four hundred miles on this motor, but they were fun.

What would you do? Spend the money to turn the crank, then put it back together to sell as a complete short block? Sell it the way it is? Part it out?

Looking for suggestions, thanks. I would like to turn this into $$ for the new Laysons tail trim pieces and lights.
 
There's almost no market for used speed parts. That includes short blocks unless you are willing to give them away. Add to that it's an odd setup. So I would probably sell the block, and then the rotating assembly seperately. JMO...
 
moper said:
There's almost no market for used speed parts. That includes short blocks unless you are willing to give them away. Add to that it's an odd setup. So I would probably sell the block, and then the rotating assembly seperately. JMO...
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Thanks for your reply moper!

Things have really changed then, because when I was racing, almost everything I bought was used. But change is the only thing constant..

I put together a regular $$ winning 10 second car, with the bulk of the parts, pistons, rods, cranks, rear end, trans, heads, carb, distributor, headers, seats, converter, all used.

The safety equipment, and electrical, was about the only thing I bought new.

These parts in this motor, are far superior to anything I ever had when I was racing. Maybe I should try racing junk? I have never done anything on that site, as it is new since I quit.
 
65TerrorCuda said:
What have you done to the 318? Year? Factory roller or not? Always been curious about those factory roller engines... :read2:
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I got really lucky with it. I found a 56k 89 motor out of a Trailblazer that had been inventoried at I-55 salvage for a long time. I found it on car-part.com, and they had had it so long, they only wanted $350 for it.

Well, when I got it home, I popped the intake, covers and pan off. It had set so long, with some small quantities of water/antifreeze in it, that I had to totally dis-assemble it (broke my heart :D) and rebuild it. (they refunded $30 to go towards rings)

Did a puff hone, took the heads apart and cleaned all the runners, lapped the valves, put a set of rings in it, and put it back together. I really took my time, just cleaning and massaging.

It was a TBI motor, so I put my LD340 on it with the 1406 eddy, brand new stock distributor and the chrome box.

It is really a sweet little motor, just sets there and idles at 600 rpm, and is getting pretty strong since the rings have seated. I found a 450 roller cam (stock is 390) but I am not sure if I can get by with it, without changing those 21 year old valve springs. :D
 
Probably metal in the piston skirts also. Tell me more about the engine, did opel machine it?
 
Race Junk is where I've had the best results selling race stuff.
 
EL5DEMON340 said:
Probably metal in the piston skirts also. Tell me more about the engine, did opel machine it?
Click to expand...

No, the skirts look great, I will post some pictures tonight. It was machined by Auto Machine, out in St. Charles, Il. They do great work, but the heads were the problem, and I didn't let them do the heads, like a dumbass cheapskate. We surfaced them over at a suppliers shop, just to clean them up.

The short block work was impeccable.

The metal came from the HS roller rockers that I bought new, then when I put the Thumpr cam in it, it must have been too much on the old guides. Or I was wrong in me geometry interpretation. Some of the rockers hit the valve springs, removing slight bits of aluminum. The aluminum, of course, was not picked up by the magnets I always place in the pan.

Right before I pulled it, I noticed a slight drop in oil pressure, confirming what I would do with my 4th of July weekend. Of course, I was in denial until I pulled #8 rod bearing.
 
EL5DEMON340 said:
Probably metal in the piston skirts also. Tell me more about the engine, did opel machine it?
Click to expand...

Well, after spending some time inspecting them tonight, there is some slight evidence of scuffing on the skirts. I don't think it is anything unusual though.

I think after getting the parts back out, I am going to get the crank turned, and put it back together. But, I could change my mind tomorrow since I don't really need the motor.
It has more torque than a normal 340, but still winds like one.
 
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