Re-Rebuilding the 440-493 in a 1970 Charger

[beanhead]

Nice work!

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

 

[RemCharger]

The pipe dope on the pickup isn't necessarily common practice, but it certainly should be. Well done.
Are those the needle bearing 440 source rockers? Did you check the shafts for galling?

 

[Kern Dog]

These are from Mancini Racing. There was some slight wear on the shafts. I dressed them with some crocus cloth. I may have to replace them if they wear again. The valve lash didn’t seem to grow though.

 

[beanhead]

These are from Mancini Racing. There was some slight wear on the shafts. I dressed them with some crocus cloth. I may have to replace them if they wear again. The valve lash didn’t seem to grow though.

Before I switched to Hughes I ran the absolute crap out of my Mancini rockers...no problems or unexpected wear. They're good pieces.

 

[beanhead]

Oh and, you spelled 'crocus' wrong! Hahahaha

 

[HawkRod]

Kern,

I'm sure you did (or will do this) this but just in case....

When priming the engine, be sure to slowly turn the crank through 720 degrees to be sure all parts of your engine get oil. Some parts will not get oil unless oil holes are aligned in the cam!

I'm sure this will be a killer engine!

 

[Kern Dog]

I did spin the crank at least 3 times while running the drill. I saw oil dripping out from the rocker arms.

The valley pan is on. I used the paper gaskets on both sides of the tin.

The intake bolts were a bit difficult to thread in. The last setup I had included .075 head gaskets so the heads were further apart then. Add to that...the decks were surfaced .020 to get the pistons near zero deck. These head gaskets are .039. This put the heads "closer together". It all fit but it wasn't a straight shot. If I had the intake faces surfaced, it would have been easier.

The vacuum nipple for the power brakes wasn't needed anymore....

The valve covers were next. I've tried several types of gaskets. None have been 100% perfect. This time I went with Fel Pro...

These are the black fibrous type.

They are approximately 1/4" thick.

These valve covers are 20 years old!

 

[Kern Dog]

Next up, the lift plate was bolted on.

I'd get more done each day but this whole working for a living routine really cuts in on my free time.
I have to go back and look at how I measured crank to bellhousing runout. Just like with degreeing the cam, I don't do it enough to automatically remember how to do it.

 

[RemCharger]

I have to throw in a side note. Sorry for not quoting.
If you reread your part about the intake bolts, you mentioned the need to mill the intake to fit better.
All you would be accomplishing is accommodating the extra paper gaskets.
Which were not necessary, as shown by using them. I hope this makes sense.
If the intake has to come off again, try putting it on dry, and see what the bolt holes look like. Probably nicely aligned. Then you could use the bare valley tin.
I'm sure you'll be fine and look forward to more progress. Excellent thread

 

[Kern Dog]

Thank you.
I have always used the paper gaskets on the valley pan. I thought that was the way it was supposed to be done.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

I've also heard valley pan is to be installed dry which always surprised me.
You are fortunate to have those 20 yr old felpro valve cover gaskets. When I installed my felpro gaskets 4 years ago I ordered from summit and to get them to fit I had to hand file the corners so they would fit square and allow the bolt holes to align. What a pain that was.

 

[Kern Dog]

The MP valve covers and the Edelbrock heads dont mate up perfectly. The valve covers are wider so when a soft gasket is used, it tends to squish and distort, leading to leaks.

 

[Kern Dog]

Back when I pulled the 727 and swapped in the Tremec 5 speed, I noticed that my motor mounts looked weathered. I found a pair in the shed that looked good. Four months ago when I pulled the engine, the left side was looking like it could come apart.
FBBO member CKessel had some new mounts for a B/RB engine and he made me a fair deal.
Like all new mounts though, the stud that attaches them to the engine bracket was too long.

I've seen this before. Here is a stock mount.

When I have mocked these up before, if the stud is left at 1 1/4", it touches the block. No thanks....

The fuel pump was grungy so I sandblasted it and coated it with that RPM paste.

 

[Kern Dog]

Now it feels like I am getting somewhere!

The engine is off of the stand....

Now it is bolted to the K member....

Oh, man....I love the fresh paint and contrasting colors.

I have to keep the engine supported by the hoist until the transmission is installed.

These dowel pins may have shifted during all the handling of the block.

These are adjustable dowels from Robb MC. I had to get these to get the bellhousing runout within spec. If everything is kosher, I'll be able to chug right along.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Kern I'm surprised you don't have exhaust ports taped up?

 

[Kern Dog]

Two things that were really annoying with the 5 speed swap last year was measuring and correcting the bell housing runout and installing the transmission. The runout issue was not fun and it took me a long time. I was cussing, yelling, questioning everything and in a pissy mood over the whole thing. I made adjustments, tightened the bell bolts, measured, got confused, loosened the bolts, made adjustments, tightened the bell bolts, measured....It is a very tedious process....at least for me.

I wanted to check the runout again with this all apart because the block had been moved around a bit. It sat on the *** end a few times at the machine shop so I thought it was possible that the dowels might have shifted a bit. I was right. The runout was off and beyond the tolerances that Silver Sport lists in the instructions.
I understand the theory of these offset dowels and their way of adjustment. Turning them means the bell housing bore moves in an ellipse, almost like a cam lobe. If I was off center to the lower right and clocked the dowels to the upper left, it should move toward the center.
I started off today with ink marks for reference.

I was having trouble...as usual. The first time I did this procedure last year, the pilot bearing wasn't in the crank so I was able to attach the magnetic base to the hub of the crank. Now with the bearing sitting slightly outside of the hub, I had to install the flywheel and attach to that. Somehow, I was able to get more clearance around the dial than before. I still wasn't able to angle it at a true 90 degrees but my numbers were repeatable.
I made adjustments but nothing was making sense. This was a whole lot easier with the engine out though. I suspected that the paint on the dowels could be causing some trouble so I pulled the dowels and cleaned them up.

At this point, I was good top to bottom but needed to shift over to the left. From here, I started loosening the bell bolts and clocking the dowels as I looked at the dial indicator. Maybe I should have done this from the start. It closed the gap to the point where total runout was .003. The goal is .005 or better.
In complete honesty, I simply fumbled around and landed here. I can't take credit for being skillful at this.

Clutch and pressure plate....

The bell was a bit grungy from engine leaks so I sandblasted it and painted it dull aluminum.

 

[Kern Dog]

Everything back here got RED Locktite.
The other thing that I was dreading was mating the transmission to the bellhousing. When I did the first installation last year, the transmission just didn't want to go in. The input bearing collar seemed to butt against the bell and stop. This time I smeared a little bit of assembly lube around the center bore, on the clutch splines and in the pilot bearing. Son of a gun....the dang thing just slid right into place.

I used a transmission jack before but today, I did it by hand...and back.

It wasn't heavy but it would have started to feel that way if it didn't slide in so easy.

I had to clean the trans case since it had some engine oil on it in the knooks and crannies.

I'm almost ready to install it.

I am really happy with how the natural metal parts look. I mentioned it before but here is a recap:
I wire wheeled and sandblasted the LCAs, sway bar, end links, strut rods and tie rod ends, then wiped them down with this stuff:

I don't drive this car in ice and snow but I have been caught out in light rain. I hope the surfaces can stay looking this way when that happens again.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Great job KD! You continue to make relatively short work of this repair and rebuild. We really appreciate you taking the time to document all of this with the photos and work details and as a newbie myself, I'm learning a lot.

When you installed the clutch and pressure plate, did you use one of those plastic splined centering shaft tools to support the clutch/pressure plate center then remove after it's bolted on? I've only ever done a clutch job by myself and recall that tool made it very easy to get lined up.

The bell alignment dowels is something I've never seen before. Glad you got it sorted quicker this time. You were right, removal of that orange paint on the dowels made it much easier to see everything.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Looks awesome, excellent work!