If I were doing a 66, I would be hunting you down. Mopar perfect.
My Current 67 Satellite Build.
- Thread starter Jerry Hall
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You'd have to buy the my car to get it. Sad to say I'll never restore my car.If I were doing a 66, I would be hunting you down. Mopar perfect.
Original engine, 91K miles. Starting teardown.
Very little sludge and paint still on the valve springs. The valve cover gaskets were just about non existent, and leaking badly. All the oil and grime on the engine somehow kept the turquoise paint on the block in pretty good shape. It looks as if the engine has never been into before.
Very little sludge and paint still on the valve springs. The valve cover gaskets were just about non existent, and leaking badly. All the oil and grime on the engine somehow kept the turquoise paint on the block in pretty good shape. It looks as if the engine has never been into before.
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Beautiful, a worthy project. Great job!
Chuck (snook)
Chuck (snook)
I'm sort of jumping all around right now. A little bit here and some there. If the weather cooperates, it may be painted this week. A little on the console, some on the dash. The harnesses are rewraped, etc.
At 91K on the odometer, I thought the engine was due for a refresh. As it comes apart, I'm discovering that I could have run this engine as is. Original timing chain and fiber sprocket with very little slack. Valley area is clean, and no wear on the rockers.
If it goes as it's going now, this will just get a refresh.
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It looks like some one did a great job of maintaining their engine with proper oil changes, etc. It must make you feel good about the rest of the car.
Well it is completely disassembled. Time to get everything measured and decide what I want the machine shop to do. There was a slight ridge in cylinders 1 & 2 but the ring gap was only 8 thousandths. New rings will close that up to 7 thousandths or less. The crank looks like it will only need polished. I will know more tomorrow.
For posterity the numbers on the block.
Now that everything is disassembled and measurements made, I have a proposed plan unless the machine shop says different.
My plan is have the block cleaned, magnafluxed, and bores checked for roundness. Then hone the cylinders just enough to take care of the slight ridge in cylinders 1 & 2. Next have them polish the crank and install new cam bearings. As their prices are usually better than me running down everything, I will purchase the rebuild items from them with the exception of the cam and lifters. I am going to have them refresh the heads. Here is where I'm going to deviate from stock. The heads are 516 (not my favorite) so in the effort to keep the original heads and the car with all original parts I plan on having hardened exhaust valve seats installed and move up to 1.74 exhaust valves. Then we will pocket port the exhaust side and just clean up the intake ports. I will use file to fit rings also.
The pistons were the original flat tops and in great condition and rotating the engine with the heads off were very close to 0 deck. If you guys have any suggestions on cam selection let me know, as hopefully I can make it run and preform good on 93 pump gas. My old school idea wants to go with a six pack grind. I know little to nothing about quench and how to get what is needed for premium pump gas. Ofcourse I will use the appropriate valve springs for the cam selected.
If I'm a washed up old timer express your ideas. I'm not to old to listen.
Now that everything is disassembled and measurements made, I have a proposed plan unless the machine shop says different.
My plan is have the block cleaned, magnafluxed, and bores checked for roundness. Then hone the cylinders just enough to take care of the slight ridge in cylinders 1 & 2. Next have them polish the crank and install new cam bearings. As their prices are usually better than me running down everything, I will purchase the rebuild items from them with the exception of the cam and lifters. I am going to have them refresh the heads. Here is where I'm going to deviate from stock. The heads are 516 (not my favorite) so in the effort to keep the original heads and the car with all original parts I plan on having hardened exhaust valve seats installed and move up to 1.74 exhaust valves. Then we will pocket port the exhaust side and just clean up the intake ports. I will use file to fit rings also.
The pistons were the original flat tops and in great condition and rotating the engine with the heads off were very close to 0 deck. If you guys have any suggestions on cam selection let me know, as hopefully I can make it run and preform good on 93 pump gas. My old school idea wants to go with a six pack grind. I know little to nothing about quench and how to get what is needed for premium pump gas. Ofcourse I will use the appropriate valve springs for the cam selected.
If I'm a washed up old timer express your ideas. I'm not to old to listen.
A six pack grind might work OK. I still have memories of putting a popular 280 series cam in my stock 64 SF 383 4bbl back in 69 and while it might have helped the upper end a little, it seemed a lot softer off the line and around town. We were just kids experimenting and not knowing a lot about what we were doing at the time. But I always felt cramming it up was a mistake with the stock small port heads, intake & exhaust. But the bigger exh valves and a little pocket porting might wake it up a bit with the slightly warmer 6 pack cam. The stock 67/68 440 Magnum cam is another possibility.
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I know you want to keep your build as original as possible, but I would bite the bullet on the original heads. The later model '452' heads already have induction hardened seats, better ports, and bigger exhaust valves. The larger combustion chamber would work well with your zero deck to drop compression down to around 9.0 : 1 to run better with today's unleaded fuels. This will save you some $$$ at the gas pump as well, not having to run 93 octane. I am a big fan of these heads and have run them on my engines. As another poster stated, the repro 383/440 Magnum cam is a good choice. It is a proven performer in all those RoadRunner and SuperBee 383's that Chrysler sold. It has a nice performance rumble, and would work better with the lower compression than a more aggressive grind.
On another note, my favourite local gas station always sold 91 octane fuel with no ethanol, and that is what I used in my 1967 440 R/T. A couple of years ago, they started selling 93 octane as well, so I started burning that instead. Yesterday, I had to fill the R/T tank. 91 was $2.15 / liter; 93 was $2.21 / liter. I pumped 60 litres (about 16 U.S. gallons) of 91 for $128.00. The 93 octane would have cost me another $3.50. I don't think cheap gas is coming back anytime soon.
Just my $0.02, Jerry. I know you have been around these cars for a long time, too.
On another note, my favourite local gas station always sold 91 octane fuel with no ethanol, and that is what I used in my 1967 440 R/T. A couple of years ago, they started selling 93 octane as well, so I started burning that instead. Yesterday, I had to fill the R/T tank. 91 was $2.15 / liter; 93 was $2.21 / liter. I pumped 60 litres (about 16 U.S. gallons) of 91 for $128.00. The 93 octane would have cost me another $3.50. I don't think cheap gas is coming back anytime soon.
Just my $0.02, Jerry. I know you have been around these cars for a long time, too.
Jerry I used 516s with big valve on my 67 charger street car, had to mill them 60 to get 10 to one, with my pistons. Went with a xe 284 comp which was a bit large, but did get it down to 13.1 . At 4000 lbs I was happy. With 323s on street tires, it would still pull into the 13s. So about the same as a 426.
Also ran 516s on a low comp 440 in a 67 racecar, went low 12s.
I think you'll be happy with the 516s in your application. I would cam in the 274 area.
Also ran 516s on a low comp 440 in a 67 racecar, went low 12s.
I think you'll be happy with the 516s in your application. I would cam in the 274 area.
Also, you should do an actual measurement of deck height, eyes are deceiving.
Get piston to tdc, clean piston top+deck, straight edge and feeler gauge.
Get piston to tdc, clean piston top+deck, straight edge and feeler gauge.
It was 0 deck, couldn't slide anything between the piston and the straight edge.Also, you should do an actual measurement of deck height, eyes are deceiving.
Get piston to tdc, clean piston top+deck, straight edge and feeler gauge.
They are flat tops without valve reliefs.
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Looking at this cam, any comments?
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-k21-223-4
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-k21-223-4
Wow. So then,,,, did it have stock headgaskets? In that case, it would have had around. 017 .020 head to piston clearance.
The drivers side head had been off at one time. It wasn't the original head gasket on that side. The passenger side was original. I saw some indication that something may have been done to #3. The piston was the same as the other 7, but the rod has the same numbers, but a different size font. I'm almost 100% sure it was done under warranty early on. All the bearings, rods and mains are 9 of 66 dated. It could have been something as minor as a wrist pin rattle, but that's just a guess.
From the piston hitting the head?
Any pics of the pistons as installed?
Unless the piston was changed with an exact one, I don't think so. No marks on the top of any of the pistons. The only difference is the one rod.
I didn't take any pictures of the assembled short block. I was to busy wondering why it was so clean inside and looking for differences. My original 67 Satellite 383 4 speed had a 5 year 50K mile warranty. Valve guide seals were replaced 3 times under warranty. After the warranty was gone, I replaced them the 4th time. The new umbrella seals were out then and the problem didn't reoccur.
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