Lookie what $5000 buys you....

It has been a busy week so I haven't done much with the car BUT I did check the chamber volume.

Colored rubbing alcohol:



Plexiglass, a horse syringe,



Vaseline to seal the plexiglas to the head.
Who knew that Vaseline had other uses ????


I checked 2 chambers and BOTH came in at 86 ccs. The chambers are shallower than 5 other open chamber heads I checked that showed to be 90ccs and 88 ccs.

The Summit racing Compression ratio calculator numbers are as follows:

Bore: (diameter) 4.28
Stroke: 3.38
Cylinder Head Volume: 86 ccs
Effective Dome Volume: 0
Use (-) for Dome and (+) for Dish.
Deck Clearance: .009
Compressed Gasket Thickness: .039
Number of Cylinders: 8
Compression Ratio : 9.19 : 1

So, just a smidge under 9.2 for an iron headed street 383.
Total Displacement (in.3) : 389.03
Total Displacement cc's : 6377.54

Kern Dog said:

just a smidge under 9.2 for an iron headed street 383.

Click to expand...

Should be very happy at that CR.
Jim Laroy would be the first to say CR isn't where to find the most power, given other options.
I would have liked to see you use the hotter cam though, and make use of the 383 high RPM capabilites.

If this was a car to run hard, yeah, the bigger cam would have made sense.
I'm just looking to get the car up and running reasonably strong. It should outperform a stock Road Runner or Super Bee.
I want to use an aftermarket aluminum intake so that should add some HP along with the 750 Holley, the cam and 1 7/8" headers.
Years back, Mopar Muscle did some engine builds where they started with totally stock 340, 383 and 440 engines then made changes and recorded the dyno results. The 383 really came alive with a few bolt on upgrades.
This may be the first of many engines that this car will have. I see the popularity of the late model 5.7 and larger Hemi engines so I may consider that some day.

Kern Dog said:

I want to use an aftermarket aluminum intake so that should add some HP along with the 750 Holley, the cam and 1 7/8" headers.

Click to expand...

When I bought my TTi headers over 4 years ago, I thought 1⅞" was a good choice, leaning towards the large side of what was available. I may run them on my 541, but I have to see what the builder recommends. Maybe I can get them to dyno w/1⅞ and a 2" or whatever size they want to try. I'm mentioning this because that seems a little large of a diameter for your 383 build?? Is that because you already had them?

Kern Dog said:

I want to use an aftermarket aluminum intake so that should add some HP along with the 750 Holley

Click to expand...

YES! My friend's 70 383 4 speed Roadrunner responded very well to that and the cam he put in. Consistent mid 13s on the street was a winner if you didn't race outside of your reach back in 79-82. There was one particular 70s era Corvette whose owner said mockingly "That!?" when he rolled up looking for a race and my buddy said he had something for him and pointed to his Roadrunner...Lol. It was close enough only to make each win that much sweeter.

One guideline for header diameter is that the pipes should be close to the size of the exhaust valve.
My valve sizes are stock, 1.74, essentially a 1 3/4". Yeah, I do have a set of 1 7/8" headers that are in excellent shape. I don't know of any 1 3/4" headers that are being made for the 383-440 engines.
I have 2" TTI headers on my red car. It has Edelbrock heads with 1.81" valves.
The 383 in this car will run higher rpms than the 493 in Ginger, the red car.


I ported these iron heads too. I hope that the work helps but I can't be sure. It was my first and so far, my only time porting heads.

I have been dealing with several distractions the last 2 weeks.
I got the engine back but then I started thinking that I should spend some of my time off of work doing some home improvements stuff that I have put off for years. This is a nice place but I've done almost nothing in the 16 years aside from fixing what breaks.
I'm sure you can relate, right?
Yesterday I met up with a guy that said he had a bunch of 440s in a field. I had hoped that they might have escaped damage somehow and that maybe a few of them might be rebuildable. Of the 8 that I saw, most were "seasoned" to the point where the oil pan and valve covers were rusted though. I've never tried to tear down an engine that has been outside like this. I spoke with my machinist today (Rick) and he said that he has had a few of them come in over the years and sometimes they cannot be disassembled. Sledge hammers, torches, cutoff discs can only go so far. The Mopar big block has the crank deep in the block compared to the A and LA series. If it is rusty in there, it can be impossible to get the rods and pistons out without cutting the rod caps or bolts. At that point, you're only saving the block.
Rick sold me a 1967 casting 440 today. .030 over with a steel crank, LY rods and aftermarket pistons. This engine could be a backup for this car. I have a set of 7 Speed Pro Six Pack pistons that have a taller compression height so maybe this 440 deal is only good for the block and crank. I have a few sets of 906 and 452 heads here but I might go with aluminum heads for the heck of it.
One fun thing that I like is upgrading the engine in Ginger and then taking the hand me downs to other projects.
The red car has a 440/493 with Edelbrock heads. The pistons sit at .012 below deck and it currently has a .075 head gasket to reduce compression to a manageable 10.10 to 1. The head gaskets are a crutch, I know. I have wanted to pull the engine and swap in a set of dished pistons with a quench pad, then go with a Trick Flow 240 head. Compression would go up a little but with actual quench, the engine should be more detonation resistant. The Edelbrock heads on that engine could be used on the 383 or any 440 I have to use in this Jigsaw car. This allows me to spread the costs of parts around a bit.

I can relate. I walk on my rotted deck out to the garage every day. Yeah I'll get to that before it collapses.....

As for CR calculator, this is a bit more accurate

https://diamondracing.net/p-10-compression-calculator.html

I asked earlier if the 383 and 440 shared the same rear main seal. I should have stepped back a bit and thought about it. They do, along with the same rear main seal retainer. I remembered that the slant six also used the same setup.
The crank is in, torqued to 85 ft/lbs. First though, I checked clearances. Each journal came in at .002. The crank is standard size, just polished up.


The rear main seal retainer has those cardboard side inserts along with RTV sealant.





The sides were filled with RTV too.

I started checking ring gaps next. Sealed Power moly rings for the top ring. 6 of the rings checked out with a .020 gap. 2 of them were .022 wide. I expected to have to file them a bit. Isn't the general rule for naturally aspirated engines to have .004 per inch of bore? 4.35 bore, .020 gap sounds slightly wider than that but it should be good, right? Wider than ideal is better from what I recall.
I'll check the second rings next.

Kern Dog said:

The crank is in, torqued to 85 ft/lbs. First though, I checked clearances. Each journal came in at .002. The crank is standard size, just polished up.

Click to expand...

Just curious - do you mic the clearances or Plastigage?

I used Plastigage. It has been my "go-to" procedure since my first engine build in 1996.

The 1,3,5 and #7 pistons are in. The rod clearances are a little tighter than the main bearings. Still within the published range though.

WTH is that damper doing on there? Please tell me it's just something to help turn the crank..

It is. The 383 one is freshly painted and resting until I need it. THis 440 cast crank one gives me a better grip.
When I bought my degree wheel kit awhile back, I bought an aluminum hub to turn the crank. It has a 1/2" drive hole for a breaker bar. It worked fine until the slot for the Woodruff key wobbled out. I should look for a steel one to replace it.

Comp makes a nice one but it's pricy...

If it is $50 or less, that would be okay.

Kern Dog said:

If it is $50 or less, that would be okay.

Click to expand...

Summit was listening to you... $49.99

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...N8zsSiW0Z0R2wmsyiCaB6-6E5OUzJpcMaAi6_EALw_wcB

Kern Dog said:

The 383 one is freshly painted and resting until I need it.

Click to expand...

"resting" like a steak that just came off the grill?

#s 2, 4, 6 and 8 are in.








Looking at the inside of the block, I wondered about the rough casting flash.





How many guys take the time to smooth these areas over? I always clean up casting flash on the outside of the blocks. I often cut off nubs and smooth down the parting lines.
Finally, I looked through my stash and can't find a plug to fit the back of the cam journal. I did a search here. I found a thread where it was listed as being a 2 9/64" size. Dorman # 555 070.

These are the '346 heads that I ported awhile back. This was my first and so far, only set that I have ported. The chambers came in at 86 ccs.


I changed the valvesprings. The ones going in were on my Edelbrock heads. Single spring with a dampner.





The stock springs are taller with more coils but the wire diameter is .18". The Edelbrocks are shorter, fewer coils but have a .20 diameter.