Freshening and old, but running engine?

[Chase383]

Hey guys,

I have a 1966 383 4 barrel that I received with my Coronet. This engine was, IIRC, pulled from a running C-body.

Although filthy from years of leaky valve cover gaskets... the engine appears to be in good shape and has never been apart. The exhaust manifolds still have no gaskets and the original valley pan heat shielding is under the manifold.

My plan is to clean it up and drop it in my 68 Coronet to replace the missing original engine. The engine has the notched C-body oil pan that I plan on changing out and well replacing the valve cover and timing cover gaskets, the timing chain and oil pump.


Would you invest any more in an old, somewhat unknown engine? I was thinking about checking the main and rod bearings and plasti-guaging them, and I was also toying with the idea of stabbing in a mild cam while I was there (something that will not overwhelm the stock valvesprings).

Other than that I was planning on staying mostly stock with the factory iron intake and manifolds. The engine really only has to last for a few of years of cruise nights and tinkering while the car is "under construction" while I save up for a Hemi.

 

[okiemopar]

I would go for it. It sounds like it's in good enough shape to last a while. Good luck with it

 

[Lowhound]

I am doing something similar rite now also with a 383. It was in a 70 Coronet I purchased years ago. The previous owner said it only had approx. 500 miles since being rebuilt. But he got irritated & chose to sell it after he attempted to paint it himself & screwed it up horrendously. However he hired out the engine rebuild. I removed the heads & it went back standard & was spotless on the inside with new parts visible & the rods have been marked for the rebuild so I think he was truthful about the rebuild he mentioned. I plan on putting it in my 70Bee until I can afford to build a stroker in the future. I am just adding a small cam, new valve springs, port & polish heads, new timing set aluminum intake & magnum manifolds. Just for added insurance I am also installing a new oil pump.

 

[Cranky]

Hey guys,

I have a 1966 383 4 barrel that I received with my Coronet. This engine was, IIRC, pulled from a running C-body.

Although filthy from years of leaky valve cover gaskets... the engine appears to be in good shape and has never been apart. The exhaust manifolds still have no gaskets and the original valley pan heat shielding is under the manifold.

My plan is to clean it up and drop it in my 68 Coronet to replace the missing original engine. The engine has the notched C-body oil pan that I plan on changing out and well replacing the valve cover and timing cover gaskets, the timing chain and oil pump.


Would you invest any more in an old, somewhat unknown engine? I was thinking about checking the main and rod bearings and plasti-guaging them, and I was also toying with the idea of stabbing in a mild cam while I was there (something that will not overwhelm the stock valvesprings).

Other than that I was planning on staying mostly stock with the factory iron intake and manifolds. The engine really only has to last for a few of years of cruise nights and tinkering while the car is "under construction" while I save up for a Hemi.

How many miles are on it? Back in the 70's when I got a used engine with 60-70k miles, I would pull the heads etc and freshen them up like you're talking about and had good results doing that.

I am doing something similar rite now also with a 383. It was in a 70 Coronet I purchased years ago. The previous owner said it only had approx. 500 miles since being rebuilt. But he got irritated & chose to sell it after he attempted to paint it himself & screwed it up horrendously. However he hired out the engine rebuild. I removed the heads & it went back standard & was spotless on the inside with new parts visible & the rods have been marked for the rebuild so I think he was truthful about the rebuild he mentioned. I plan on putting it in my 70Bee until I can afford to build a stroker in the future. I am just adding a small cam, new valve springs, port & polish heads, new timing set aluminum intake & magnum manifolds. Just for added insurance I am also installing a new oil pump.

Funny how shops will mark the rods etc for where they go....they are marked from the factory and don't need to be again. And the numbers on the main caps are cast in.

 

[bm02tj]

It is good to check bearings but remember plastigage is a guide only and is semi accurate when fresh

 

[Plucked Chicken]

Hey guys,

I have a 1966 383 4 barrel that I received with my Coronet. This engine was, IIRC, pulled from a running C-body.

Although filthy from years of leaky valve cover gaskets... the engine appears to be in good shape and has never been apart. The exhaust manifolds still have no gaskets and the original valley pan heat shielding is under the manifold.

My plan is to clean it up and drop it in my 68 Coronet to replace the missing original engine. The engine has the notched C-body oil pan that I plan on changing out and well replacing the valve cover and timing cover gaskets, the timing chain and oil pump.


Would you invest any more in an old, somewhat unknown engine? I was thinking about checking the main and rod bearings and plasti-guaging them, and I was also toying with the idea of stabbing in a mild cam while I was there (something that will not overwhelm the stock valvesprings).

Other than that I was planning on staying mostly stock with the factory iron intake and manifolds. The engine really only has to last for a few of years of cruise nights and tinkering while the car is "under construction" while I save up for a Hemi.

Might as well do rings too...........

 

[Meep-Meep]

This may be one of those things that can spiral out of control, meaning the next thing you know you are rebuilding it. Sometimes the less you know the better. This doesn't mean you should be stupid about it so here is what I would do.

Do a leak down check or throw it in the back of a truck and take it to a pro shop to have it done. This will tell a lot about the condition of the rings, valves and perhaps head gaskets.

Assuming the leak down results are ok you can do what I call a gasket and freeze plug rebuild. Pull the timing cover and change the timing chain also. And since you will change the pan you will have a fresh gasket there too. Might not be a bad idea to pop a windage tray in there as well. Clean and paint and it will look like new.

If you plan to put some miles on it I'd pull the heads and have them done with hard EX seats and bronze guides. Heads take the most beating so it stands to reason to address this. At this time you can choose to put a better spring in to support a mild cam. If you keep the stock springs then forget about anything except an RV towing cam (.430" lift and about 256 duration). The good news is it will live forever with that small cam and soft springs and be very tolerant with the new crappy motor oil. I'd still run the good stuff, but in a pinch you can use whatever.

Short blocks are pretty stout so unless you find something awful there is little reason to pull it apart for a "just going down the road" type engine. However, I would put a new high pressure oil pump and drive gear in. Remember, you got this engine to get you down the road for a while perhaps while you build the monster. But things don't always go as planned so I'd do the hard seats and drive it.

The next step would be to do a ring and bearing job. I have done that plenty of times and had excellent results. If you go this route expect to spend about $1800.00 (?) but you will have a really good engine. Most of the expense will be the heads.

 

[Chase383]

Thank you for the replies guys,

I'm definitely worried about snow-balling on the engine. The car needs a lot of other work to get back on the road (trans, brakes, leaf springs, fuel system, wiring, etc.) but fortunately is about 95% rust free with no structural areas that require immediate attention. I have no idea how many miles the engine has, but given the fact it came from a land barge I'd hope it hasn't been abused. It has oil and coolant in it still, the oil is dirty but doesn't look too bad, and the coolant looks pretty good as well. The top end is quite clean for a 47 year old engine... in fact its the cleanest engine I've ever gotten my hands on, and the oldest.

I think I'll just do a basic gasket job for now along with timing chain, oil pump, water pump and fuel pump. I won't touch the cam unless it obviously wiped. I don't want to get into the rings because my luck the bore will have a ridge, and I don't want to touch the heads because rebuilding iron heads these days is wasted money.

One of my buddies at work is going to let me borrow his bore scope so I will be able to at least take a peek in the cylinders.

I do have a couple more questions, will the C-body engine brackets bolt up to my B-body K-member?

Also, I assume this is a forged crank engine, would it already be drilled for a pilot bushing? The input shaft on my 727 is locked up, and all my kickdown linkage is missing. I'm seriously considering not even bothering to invest money in the auto when I know 100% I'll be swapping in a 4-speed in the future.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Not all cranks are drilled deep enough for an input shaft and some are not drilled to fit a pilot bushing OD.

If you plan to run the engine for a long time, and you don't have hard exhaust seats in the heads, the valves will likely sink. You can go the lead additive route or preferably just do the heads. I don't think repairing iron heads is a waste of money at all even for a moderate performance build. I'm running high 12's with slicks using stock iron parts (including the intake) in a 4000 lb car (440). You can do plenty good with iron heads - trust me.

 

[khryslerkid]

X2 on a leak down test. For some unknown reason the last three b blocks (2-383's and 1-361) had very low compression in #5! Haven't been able to figure why...

 

[Chase383]

Can you do a leakdown test without having the engine in the car?

I pulled the plugs yesterday and they look pretty happy. 5 looked about perfect, and 3 were a little sooty but nothing crazy, none them were oil soaked.

 

[khryslerkid]

Can you do a leakdown test without having the engine in the car?

I pulled the plugs yesterday and they look pretty happy. 5 looked about perfect, and 3 were a little sooty but nothing crazy, none them were oil soaked.

Sure, I don't see any reason that you can't do a leak-down test while the engine is out if the car. There's lots of information on the internet about this procedure. Read up on it, it's not that hard to do. Keep us posted...

 

[tallhair]

Meep why do you recommend high pressure oil pump? I thought most recommend high volume instead ... although from searching the internet it looks like most if not all high volume pumps are also high pressure.