MoparMontana

The devil is in the details. You don't want to lose your oil drain plug in the Gobi Desert! Safety wire everything!

Clutch and T-5 assembly with Tony's home machined adapter.

I just realized I haven't posted any drivetrain photos. The 230 engine got buttoned up last week. This was a meticulous build and used the first of the Gen II EDGY heads I am casting. After acquiring the patterns from EDGY, I had them re-designed based on feedback I had received from previous customers, as well as our 11 years of running a Mopar flathead at Bonneville. I am also using a different foundry. so far, I'm very impressed with the density and consistency of the casting www.moparmontana.com

I fabricated the last of the chassis boxing plates today. I'll spend the weekend cleaning up welds and splatter, have it sandblasted again for "tooth", have it painted next week, and get on with final assembly.

A few photos from yesterday. The motor meets the chassis for the first time. After extensive trimming we were able to modify the stock transmission crossmember to work nicely with the T5 transmission. Given the longer tailshaft, next up will be modifying the X-bracing with a removable plate so the transmission can be easily dropped from below.

I will start doing some more here as soon as we get the engine in the chassis. My new Gen II castings of Earl's EDGY heads turned out nice! I revised the patterns and started using a different foundry. Very pleased with the quality and density of the casting.

This is the best place to follow the engine and tranny build - https://www.facebook.com/thefreewheelingtonysmith/ ... here for the chassis, suspension, and speed parts - https://www.facebook.com/moparmontana/

My apologies - Like I said when I started this thread, I'm not much of a forum guy. Things are starting to happen quickly. The best place to follow in a timely fashion is - our facebook page, which is Montana Vintage Speed

Sorry for the delay. I've been in California for three weeks working with the foundry on heads and intakes, and CP/Carrillo for rods and pistons. The most recent updates can be found on our facebook page www.facebook.com/moparmontana until I have time to do a more thorough update here. Thanks for your interest!!

I stripped down the donor chassis yesterday and will head to the sandblaster this afternoon. It will then be squared, straightened, boxed and reinforced; particularly in the shock/shackle areas. Roll bar mounts will also be added. #MDBP2P

I intentionally don't do the math, but I think it's safe to say we have six figures between the four if us in ten years of racing. Not bad for a t-shirt, a hat and a trophy

Andy, CP/Carrillo does all of our forged pistons and rods through the sponsorship deal with the race car. We can get them in any size and they have all the bells and whistles - coated crowns and skirts, light weight pins, and modern ring packs. They will be flattop for good quench but we are going to run only 8.5:1 compression because the quality of fuel available along the route is so variable. The guidelines for the rally say to expect octane ratings in the mid-70s in some places. We did a lot of flow bench work with our four banger and found that the flattops performed best because of the direct flame travel.The head will be an EDGY aluminum, but we are milling the fins off so it looks stock. I'm using an old Edmunds highrise intake that I have, and I think we're going to use Zenith 228s because of the externally adjustable jets, which will be handy with the fuel quality and variable altitude. Shot peening the whole block relieves potential stress points and casting flashing. Exhaust will be vintage Fenton.

Today's update on the engine build. We'll be starting on the chassis this weekend. https://www.moparmontana.com/in-our-shop Also an article in the Belgian National Newspaper. You'll need to brush up on your Flemish first though. https://www.hln.be/regio/roeselare/duo-start-in-zwaarste-historische-rally~a2a63c4d?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Hooglede

Yes, a tumbler. My brain chooses the wrong words sometimes. Too many fumes.

https://www.hln.be/regio/roeselare Translation - Next month some parts of the car will be shipped to the famous technical team Montana Dodge Boys who will prepare the car for this rally. “we already had several conference calls and all of their plans look rosaceous”. "famous technical team"

Tony wears shorts every day of his life, including when he's hunting. In the 20 years I've known him, I've seen him in long pants once. What can I say other than engine builders with PHDs in Chemical Engineering are a bit different.

Yesterday Tony stripped and shot peened the beautiful standard-bore 230 that we dug out of the motor pile. It only has about .003" wear/taper with absolutely no pitting or scoring. We'll be going +.010 with forged, coated pistons of modern design.

So much nicer when we all get along. Thanks! Back to the fun stuff. We started the exciting new build yesterday for a gentleman in Belgium who is going to run the 2019 Peking to Paris Rally... in a '33 Dodge! Look at this beautiful standard bore 230 we scrounged for him.

This one is my favorite. Love the methanol flames out the exhaust!

Got it, so the question was about bang (no pun intended) for the buck. That answer is really easy - NO, DON'T DO IT! PUTTING AN F-HEAD ON YOUR L-6 MOPAR MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO FINANCIAL SENSE WHAT-SO-EVER! ALSO, NEVER EVER BUILD A RACE CAR ...OR BUY A BOAT... OR GET INTO SCUBA DIVING... OR BUY A VINTAGE AIRSTREAM... OR BUY A USED PORSCHE... oh crap, I've done all of that too Arrgghh.... Today I'm wrapping up the engine build for my 1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. Pulling the smog motor 360 AMC ("144 HP") and putting in a LQ4 6.0 LS3 with a .600" lift roller cam, .030 milled heads, and 55 lb/hr injectors. That combo is supposed to make around 550HP. In a 30 year old Jeep... admittedly not smart... but man, it's going to be fun to pull the race car or the boat (1970 Sleekcraft). In all seriousness, let me know when you dig up your dyno sheets. I'm truly curious to compare as we build more interesting vintage motors to see how they compare. Cheers!

Thanks Andy! I know there are lots of folks like you and I that get off on oddball grassroots projects. It's why I'm a Production Manager at work and not one of the Engineers. I might not be as geeky or articulate, but we get s**t done!

I'm not quite sure what your point is... are we even talking about the same thing? F-heads, flatheads, blown, unblown? I'm simply sharing some fun projects that I thought would be of interest to L-6 Mopar enthusiasts. I'm not trying to sell you anything, never implied that it's a weekend bolt-on, or even that more than a few dozen people on the planet will find it of interest. The three 230 F-heads are simply running prototypes at this point, which is what's fun about it to me. It's entertaining to see the reactions at a car show and listen to folks guess what the powerplant is (lots of "diesel" guesses), or simply drive something that's truly one of a kind. As far as dyno numbers, Earl produced 271 RWHP on with his flathead 265, but that's injected on methanol so that's a different animal. We're currently making around 190 RWHP (net) with our 212" flathead '28 Dodge four banger, but that's with 5# of boost and on methanol as well, so we're not talking apples to apples there either... not to mention our town is at 4650' so that HP would need to be corrected as well. We've never dynoed it with the full (10#) of boost we run at the Salt but it is substantially more given the speed increases over the years as we've add boost. I do look forward to getting my Desoto on a dyno someday, hopefully this summer, if I ever get the blow-through Strombergs (fuel leakers) fully sorted. As far as comparing to other engines, I'm not aware of any production engines that had a F-head conversion AND a supercharger, so I'm not sure of the relevance there. Considering a '57 230 with 8:1 was rated at 132 HP gross at 3600 RPM, I don't think guesstimating that a one with the increased flow of a F-head and a few pounds of boost wouldn't be making 150+, but you're obviously a lot more anal about all of this than I am. Next time someone asks, I will just say I'm not sure. I'd love to see your modifications and dyno sheets. Where would I look? Cheers, Pete

Ignore epoxy. Porting work.

digging through old photos...