Dartgame

I had a devil of a time getting the oem '52 thermostat housing to seal to the head. I lapped the housing flange flat on a true flat surface until all defects were gone, cleaned the head surface until you could eat off of it, made sure everything was bone dry, aligned the thermostat and then used gray waterpump RTV and a gasket - waited 24 hours to cure, and sealer on the bolt threads. Still leaked. I went to a 60's/70's style V8 heavy duty cast aluminum after market housing (not chromed). Used the gray water pump RTV, no gasket let it set for 24 hrs, thread sealer. Voila no leaks. Use a flex hose with 1 3/4 " x 1 1/2" x 16 inch long. Perfect fit. I hated to abandon the oem style upper hose, but things were just not working, and my time is worth more than futzing around with the old housing...probably could have made it work without the gasket and the RTV...but the new housing works fine and solved the problem.

I have read that the 218 motors have a smaller combustion chamber and will raise a 230's CR. But I don't know the details- someone else will know that, and hopefully chime in.

Not the same era - 1970 2dr sport fury w a 383 or 440....highway cruising at its best.

Do you recall the company name in from Florida ? I will need to order some soon...thanks !

How cool is that ? I am envious....!

Arrgghh- I feel for you. If it were me I'd rip it down and get the bolt remnant out and redo with new head bolts. Just curious - how much work was it too clean up the old bolts, were they rusty - or did they just need a little cleaning. reason I ask is eventually I will be pulling the head on my motor and I am looking for a bench mark...

Thanks for the thoughts. The block can wait, no rush- just being cautious, don't need to reverse the recuperation progress.

I have not gotten the block out of the shop. Screwed up my left arm (badly pulled and bruised muscles) helping a friend replumb his house. No heavy lifting for a while, and certainly a flat head block qualifies as heavy. Maybe early next month. Meanwhile I sent the 52 off to the paint shop for some surgery on a very old collision repair...curious to see how it comes out.

No but they are great fun for playing with cats. Mine has a laser pointer that our cat will chase around. Of course being careful not to hit his eye...

Can you turn the bolt inside the spring and bracket ? If so, work it and use the hammer to get it out.

Hmm - well if it does not leak then I'd say good to go...

Does not look like it has been leaking. If I understood your description this "crack" is on the head and not the block ? My guess is this is not an actual crack, but rather a casting mark perhaps ?

I used a local driveshaft outfit they knew exactly what I needed, and had made these in the past - similar price as well.

On my 52 the split for the front brake line is a brass block that sits on the frame under the battery box toward the left of the core support.

Hardware or autoparts store. If these are indeed studs and not shoulder bolts. You would need to pull the center section and find it out.

If its a open rear end (not sure grip or posi as some call it) then if both wheels are off the ground and not in gear or applied parking brake then one tire will rotate lets say clockwise, the other will turn counter clockwise. And yes if one tire is on the ground, the other can turn as well off the ground.

Great ideas guys. Need to get the block out of my machinists shop where it has been siting for a while. Will probably do this next week. He is probably closed tomorrow...

Good thought- need to examine a piston outside the block.

Thanks - I'll give the 1/4 tap a Shot - problem with heating is I'd need a acetylene torch to get enough heat - which I do not have. Machinist was suggesting a slightly smaller drill to weaken the piston thereby allowing to collapse. Good idea about threading into the piston as well, but with as hard as this thing is may be an issue as well. But we will see what works.

Hi All - I am working on a salvage '53 218. Person that gave me the block had it hot tanked, which is nice, but they did not remove the pressure relief valve assembly. I was able to remove the cap/plug and the spring, but the pressure relief piston is firmly stuck/rusted into the block. Have tried heating soaking with oil, and using a huge easy out..No good. In speaking with my favorite machinist about this he is suggesting drilling it it out. In order to do this he would like to see what the piston looks like. Which brings me to my question. Does anyone have a used pressure relief valve assembly they would be willing to sell me ? Or a piston from one of these ? I know I can buy a new one from VPW, but am trying to avoid as much expense as possible should this block end up being junk... Thoughts & comments appreciated...

My guess is pilot bushing- not easy to change...

John Edge - I am very interested to know about the oil filter system on your car. Is it a full flow or a partial like most ? If it is full flow can you talk about how you did that ?

I used synthetic jute type carpet padding and adhered it using spray contact cement on one of my darts. It stuck and has not fallen in over 16 years. I was mainly interested in sound deadening and not insulation. If I were to do this again I would probably use the stuff like you found...

You are right they were used in motor homes and such. Probably a lot of those had 4 bbl too. I only know for certain what were used on car applications.

Correct, that's how the calculation works. You choose the max rpm you intend to run. Nope - all 440's used in cars that I know about, have a 4 bbl of about 650-750 cfm or larger on them. Thermoquads used on later 440's are about 850 cfm, six packs I think were about 1050 cfm ? 440's always were a high output motor to my knowledge. Depending on the application the 4 bbl primary butterflies are about 1 1/2 inches on TQs and for AVS or AFB carbs the primaries are 1 7/16, or 1 1/2 " IIRC. The real flow determination is the Venturi size anyway. My point was to show there is a method of calculating the engines demand for air flow. I believe putting a dual carb set up on a flat six is an excellent idea. Mainly for fuel distribution problems the stock set up has. Theoretically the center two cylinders are going to run richer than the two end cylinders because of where the stock manifold places the carb. Dual carb manifolds equalize the fuel distribution by the carb placements.