Rust free 40 plymouth sedan

[40plyrod]

[40plyrod]

[mrwrstory]

 

What a wonderful thread!  It's almost 7 years old.  It bears re reading, or at least re scanning, for perspective on this project (one of his several) and on the man.  I am totally humbled!

[mrwrstory]

On 4/16/2019 at 8:52 PM, 40plyrod said:

Time for an update on the Plymouth. The engine that is in the Plymouth now is ,from the serial number, the original motor for the car and runs fine but while the rest of the car got a complete rebuild the engine didn't get anything more than the oil pan removed and cleaned along with the pickup screen and a new oil pump. There wasn't a rebuilder's tag on the block and the last time the car was registered before I got it was 1977 so because I'm afraid to remove the head ( ignorance is bliss) and know the actual condition of the engine I've decided to build a new engine and just swap it out. With a monumental amount of help from David (dpollo on here) I am starting to collect and machine the parts necessary to put together a hopped up motor for the 40 (I'm a hot rodder at heart ?) So far the spitfire head was sent out to the local engine rebuilder and was checked for cracks and machined 40 thou. I've also sent out the cam and lifters for a surfacing and a custom torque regrind. Last weekend I spent some time cleaning up the block for paint and smoothing up some of the edges. 

In April, of this year, you teased use with the subject of a new engine for the 40.  You have acknowledged monumental help from David Pollock, who has in many cases "mentored" your Mopar enthusiasm.  So,.....tell us more about this "new engine" you guys are cookin up,.......unless you have documented that elsewhere and I have missed it.

[40plyrod]

12 hours ago, mrwrstory said:

 

What a wonderful thread!  It's almost 7 years old.  It bears re reading, or at least re scanning, for perspective on this project (one of his several) and on the man.  I am totally humbled!

Thanks but, your gonna make me blush.

Anyone can do this stuff. Learn to do by doing. As for plans for the motor...they say that there's "no replacement for displacement" so that's a big part of the plan. I think the '40's displacement was 218 Cid and this block is a newer Dodge block I believe 3 7/16 bore that we're putting a 4 1/2" stroke crank in bringing the displacement to 251 Cid. That I'm thinking will be the biggest HP gain. The piston and rods have been balanced and the spitfire head has been milled 40 thou. I had the lifters surfaced and a stock cam reground for more lift. They called it a "torque grind" but I'm not sure of the actual lift and duration numbers. This block has hardened seats in both intake and exhaust so we'll do up some valves and call that part done. David has years of experience putting these motors together and I'm sure I'll learn lot of tricks as we assemble it. I'll use the triple carb intake and split exhaust that's on the '40 now, although I've had this thought about whether a 180 degree header could be plausible and if there would be any benefit... I'll have to do some more research. Hoping to have a reliable, decent performance engine when finished. 

[dpollo]

don't forget, your pistons are .060 over so displacement is now 260 cu. inches.  another bonus may be that the crankshaft you are planning to use is still standard and in serviceable condition.   dp

[mrwrstory]

218 cu in to 260 cu in is almost a 20% increase in displacement.  And, with a fresh engine, torquey cam and more compression, you better strap in and hang on.  

[YukonJack]

I'm confused. Is it a long block engine or the short block engine. The 218 is a short block, but I thought the Spit Fire heads were for the longer block. Am I missing something?

[DonaldSmith]

Canadian Plymouth?  25-inch block.

[40plyrod]

Thanks David, I forgot that the pistons were oversized. I need you to be quality control and keep my information accurate.

Bill, I'm not getting my hopes too high that it'll be a huge difference. I always think the improvements I make will be massive only to be somewhat disappointed. I'm remaining cautiously optimistic.?

Yes it's a Canadian car so it's a long block.

[dpollo]

Years ago I built a 265 for a friend with a 50 Plymouth.  040 overbore  nice standard crank everything basically stock . This was to replace the tired out Canadian 218.

two clutches, two transmissions and one differential later the thrill of extra horsepower and torque finally wore off.    Good fun though.

[40plyrod]

So I should start stocking up on T5s and GM10 bolts? ?

[40plyrod]

Quick update. I hosted a BBQ for some car buddies that came up for the big Deuce Days car show held in Victoria, BC and now I'm finally ready and revved up to get going on putting this engine together. I spent some time this weekend l trying to lap the valves and see how they're seating the conclusion is that I'm going to have to grind the valves and seats. Pictures

Pictures 1-3) BBQ held at my place for some car folk (Green Fargo belongs to dpollo and black 32 with the shower cap belongs to mrwstory)

Picture 4) valves after an attempt at lapping (the best ones shown) Trip to dpollo for seat and valve grinding in the near future

Picture 5) some assembly required

Picture 6) switched off the too small white walls for white rims and black walls 

[48Dodger]

The get together looked great, sir!

 

48D

[mrwrstory]

A few more from Ed's place

[Silverdome]

Mighty fine looking get together.

[mrwrstory]

And a few more from the event that took us from SoCal to Victoria

 

[mrwrstory]

[mrwrstory]

last one! ?,....I give up

[40plyrod]

One hella good time!!!!

[40plyrod]

Managed to get to David's place a couple of weeks ago to grind valves and seats. I thought I had taken more pictures of the day but apparently we were having too much fun working and BS'ing to take pictures so only a couple of shots. While grinding valves we found a few that were bent so David produced a few replacements from his collection. Also installed the new cam bearings, no pictures of that process. David also sent me home with another 8 bolt flange 4 1/2" stroke crank as the one we had intended to use was only a 4 bolt.

[40plyrod]

Today was finally the day to start assembly! I have all the important pieces collected, everything has been machined and cleaned and re-cleaned and then cleaned again. I may be doing this the wrong or hard way but I started out today by installing the lifters. I had them resurfaced when the cam was reground so this was my first time looking at them since i got them back. They all looked good and they dropped into place easily coated with assembly lube.

[40plyrod]

Next step was lift the lifters and install the springs. I had two sets of cleaned up springs, a red set and a silver set. I lined them up and checked them for uniformity. Both sets were pretty good but the red set showed less wear on the ends so I used them. Note this motor is being built from a selection of new and used parts from various motors, I guess more an old school rebuild.?

Edited September 1, 2019 by 40plyrod

[mrwrstory]

Putting together clean new/refurbed parts is just the best, eh!

[40plyrod]

Then heavily lube the cam and install, Yay!! This was the 1st time seeing the cam also. I'm not sure what the regrind is spec-wise but I compared it to an old cam I had hanging around and you can definatley see where the meat has been removed for the heel.