Lookie what $5000 buys you....

[Kern Dog]

Fig. 9.2. On the left is a totally shrouded valve. This doesn’t happen in practice, but it demonstrates what shrouding is. No air passes by the head of the valve because it is completely enclosed by the chamber walls. By pulling the chamber walls away from the valve’s circumference, as on the right, air (green arrows) can pass freely around the valve head.

 

[Photon440]

I agree with your direction. A tiny bit of compression drop is worth the extra airflow. In other words, the small drop in static compression will be more than made up with an increase in dynamic compression.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Kern Dog if l understand what you did to your combustion chamber not a good idea. You never decrease your combustion, More combustion more power less combustion less power. Everything else you've done will help increase your power. And that's what ya want rite. But grinding on the chamber to match the head gasket is a very bad idea. Sorry now to get back what ya lost you will have to plane the heads and block to gain back what ya just lost

First the flow improvement will more than make up for it, second with an iron head engine and no quench he's looking at over 9.5-1 compression ratio... With California cow piss for fuel losing a little compression ratio is a good thing....

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Hey Greg.... Here's some porting you can aspire to..... Some porters are artists

 

[69 GTX]

Sorry for the delay Kdog, here's what the old DC templates did for my old 440 heads done about 1986

 

[69 GTX]

Heads need a good cleaning but hopefully you get the idea. I would do more blending at the guide, now that I know & understand what's good & bad.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Funny the instructions that come with the MP porting templates are very clear to stay away from the short turn... But guys who know what they are doing say otherwise.... Though this was kinda funny...

 

[Kern Dog]

I purposely limited my work from the seat into the exhaust port short side! I just cleaned away the ring below the hardened seat and blended into the port.

 

[69 GTX]

Funny the instructions that come with the MP porting templates are very clear to stay away from the short turn... But guys who know what they are doing say otherwise.... Though this was kinda funny...

You have to remember that was probably 1960's thinking. Remember when swirl heads were the big thing....

 

[Photon440]

Funny the instructions that come with the MP porting templates are very clear to stay away from the short turn... But guys who know what they are doing say otherwise.... Though this was kinda funny...

View attachment 952556

Is an increase in flow a bad thing? I thought that was the intention.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Is an increase in flow a bad thing? I thought that was the intention.

It absolutely is the intention.... The post that I screen shot was by Fast 68 Plymouth AKA Dwayne Porter of Porter Racing Heads, he goes by PRHeads here on FBBO... He's also the guy who ported those beautiful 906's I posted pictures of above.... He sarcastically changed the MP instructions from "Warning Do Not Under Any Circumstances Touch Any Part Of The Short Turn In Any Way Shape or Form". By adding "Or An Increase In Flow Will Occur"

 

[1 Wild R/T]

If your interested in some more porting info....

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/cylinder-heads/

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/cylinder-heads-ii/

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/cylinder-heads-iii/

 

[Kern Dog]

Tomorrow I am taking the stuff into the machine shop.

Here is the plan:
The 383 gets first dibs....If the cylinders are within spec and can be cleaned up just by honing, I'll have the block decked, get new cam bearings , rings-bearings-gaskets and build it for the car. It is the original engine so it seems cool to use it.
If the 383 needs to be bored, I'll just bring it back home. If I have to buy pistons for it, I'd rather just get a 440 Source 4.25 Stroke kit.

The 440 needs to be inspected before I proceed. The bottom of #4 cylinder has a chip broken out from when the rod broke. If the Machinist thinks that the damage didn't hurt the block, I'll have the cylinders honed to clean them up. I'm going to have to replace 2 rods...the broken one and #3 since they share the same crankpin. The #4 rod tapped the #3 rod a few times and left a few small nicks in it. This 440 has a cast crank which many say is okay up to 500 HP but with the rod break, I want to have the crank magnafluxed. If I had a spare forged 440 crank I'd just bring that in to the man.

I have the 383 and 440, the pistons and rods for both, cranks for both and the '346 heads with all the valves, springs and hardware in a bucket. I'll bring in another set of 440 rods in case any of the other ones fail magnafluxing.

 

[Kern Dog]

Bad news. The 440 is dead!

I knew about the chunk missing from the bottom of the bore:

The chunk is about 1/2" high and a little over an inch wide. I wasn't too worried since it is below the water jacket but I wanted the machinist to have his say on it. As he looked closer, he saw THIS:

I never noticed the crack in the cylinder.
The engine never overheated after the rod broke. No oil in the water but then again, there was no combustion in that cylinder after the piston stopped moving. The piston was an inch below deck when I pulled the head off. It may have blocked the crack off.
I could sleeve the cylinder but it is not a rare block. It is a 1976 casting from a police car. I have that other 1970 casting 440 to use if I need it.
I've joked for years that the motor was cursed and maybe it is. Check this out...
When I decided to rebuild it, my regular machinist had quit his gig and was nowhere to be found. I had to find another shop.
During the pre-oil, I couldn't get pressure to build. I tried 2 other oil pumps before finding a missing gallery plug.
While trying to slowly turn the engine over by pulling on the drive belts, a buddy bumped the starter solenoid and trapped my right hand in the crank pulley by the 2 fan belts.
It was hard to get it to fire for the break-in.
There was more valvetrain noise than I'd heard from a hydraulic cam setup.
At 846 miles, it broke the #4 rod but still ran.
I pulled the engine and built another but used the "new" Edelbrock heads, valvetrain (Stock from the '76 Cop car) and intake.
The right side rocker arm broke when on a drive with the next engine. On the way home limping, the rebuilt trans started acting up. After replacing the cam/lifters, pushrods and all rocker arms and shafts, the trans gave up.
Now the cylinder has a crack in it. Maybe that is a GOOD thing. Who needs more bad luck ??

 

[Kern Dog]

With the 440 out of the picture, I'm likely to focus on the 383. I am likely to just go ahead and tell the machinist that I want it bored .030 for new pistons. Looking in this thread, I have a few options:
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/what-piston-for-my-383-build.194241/

A 9.0 to 9.2 to 1 CR 383 should be fine with a decent cam. I just need to determine what qualifies as decent.
In 2001, I built my first 440. It was a standard bore 1978 block, honed and fitted with new rings, bearings, rebuilt iron heads and a Mopar Performance 280/474 cam. That was a great engine. Great power, slightly racy idle. I went 14.01 @ 101 with a 2.2 60' time, spinning all through first gear. If I could duplicate that with the 383, that would be great. That 440 combination would have gone faster if I were a better driver with some traction.

 

[Kern Dog]

What the heck happened to the pricing on Mopar Performance cams ???
Son of a bitch....Summit lists the 292/509 for $575 ?? THis is almost three times the cost of a Comp Cams kit.
I have no plans to use that cam but I'm curious as to who would be stupid enough to spend that kind of money !
I have the MP 528 solid in my red car, a 440/493. Knowing that this .030 over 383 will be almost 100 cubic inches smaller,is there a way to determine what cam specs might deliver similar idle and rpm range habits ? Is it as simple as taking the 528 specs and reducing it by 20 % ?

 

[Kern Dog]

With the engine off being tended to, I decided to step back....
I went to the Nevada Summit store today....The Wifee tagged along to keep me company.

Hey...What is in the box ???

Yep....Trunk floor ! For $350 and in a box almost as big as my ex wife, I have the panel I need to fix this:

I'm going to section it in to the inside flange of the framerails. It will also run from below the taillights to the center of the axle hump.
I also bought a gas tank and straps. The tank has to be drop shipped from the vendor and that will take a couple weeks. Not sure of the reason for the delay, probably something related to this stupid virus.

 

[eldubb440]

how are the quarter drop offs?

 

[Kern Dog]

They are nice. Still have the faded and worn original paint on them.

They even look nice from underneath.

 

[eldubb440]

we dont see solid quarters and drops around here, they were gone by 1980.......what happened to the middle?