The 400 2 barrel in my C body has 3 lbs of oil pressure, a huge ghetto sounding leak in the left header, and #2 cylinder has no compression to speak of. On top of that, it's current operating temp is 230 degrees on the highway. I drove it right into the ground, and I'm expecting to find cracked head, blown head gaskets, sunk exhaust seats, trashed bearings and so on when I eventually tear it down. It had 53,000 miles on it when I got it, and went about 160,000, so I can't really complain. But I'm getting tired of it sitting there.

With all that, and being that the 440 I overhauled on the cheap back in 1987 or so (then flogged for 14 years in the GTX)....having been hosed with fogging oil and mothballed since 2001, then pulled out running decent 12.50s at 108) I decided to go through the 440 and throw it in the C body for awhile. Just to make sure everything is cool, not to try to make it "perfect" since it will spend most of it's time just puttering around anyway....on the cheap, just like in the '80s....

Insert shameless plug for ARengineering motor dolly here.

Mostly Old Parts And Rust

This clutter drive me nuts....but it was only like that for one day and it's somewhat better now. It's going to happen again when I do the heads and intake though.

Rich,
That 230 temp at hwy speed sounds like the typical radiator malady. I've got a C-body radiator that may still be good. It's out of a 76 Newport that had a towing package. Free for the taking. Along with a cast iron 4 barrel intake and whatever factory rockers/pushrods you may need.

What did I find?

Well, it was never a race motor although I had fun racing it. It was a cheap rering with a 10-10 crank. Back in 1987 it had .004" bore taper as best I could measure. In all that time it only wore to .006" taper, and some of my '80s honing marks are still there. I looked up factory specs and they say .010" max taper....So I said to heck with it and slapped it back together.

Crank had minor scratches, bearings were slightly beat up but no serious problems I could detect so I just polished the crank by hand and put new bearings in it. For clearance, back in the '80s I had Dad's snap gauges (which I gave up on real quickly) and plastigauge. I later aquired better tools and knowledge of how to use them....

With an econo dial bore gauge and good mics in hand, I'm not sure why, but the main bearing clearance gets larger moving towards the back of the block. It varies from .0026 at the number one main, and .0035 at the rear main I'm blaming sloppy machine work and the lack of an align hone. Again, not a race motor and never was, worked just fine.

rod bearing clearnace is much more uniform, tighter than I remember with the tools I had back then, but I used a different brand of bearing so that probably affected it? (fm/sealed power now, michigan 77 back then). Two rods are at .002, the rest are at .0015. Yep, should work fine.

I expected to find the rod bearings in bad shape, because in the 80s I replaced the rod bolts without resizing the rods, a definite no-no. But nothing happened, the bearings were actually pretty nice. I think what saved me is that I used direct connection rod bolts....which were exactly the same dimensions as stock (and were probably just reboxed stock rod bolts anyway). I would never do that again....

What else...the 284/484 purple shaft wore beautifully.
In 14 years of abuse, it only wore .004 off the lobes.
The lobe taper has JUST disappeared, so now it is finally time to change it I even labeled the lifters with their position, because they all have "this is the ideal wear pattern: you will never see this in real life" appearance. I would not sell it, it is not THAT good....I briefly considered giving it away but will probably scrap it....but it did it's job well.

And that's about it for now. The short is back together.

Yeah Dean, probably plugged rad. The temp probably contributed to the loss of compression too. I really didn't care and just kept driving it

Will let you know if I need any goodies, thank you

Am considering two radiators...either the high tech choice, from a 2008 Challenger with electric fans.....or the old one from the gtx, which was originally from a c body...if that don't work I'll call you

I've been degreeing puppy cams, studying what they do, looking for the right one. Just a stump puller big torque 5000 rpm, near stock deal is all I am looking for.

So far I've installed/degreed a stock MP 268/284 cam, a comp cams 268 high energy (which was particularly odd), and next will be a MP .474.

The stock HP cam and the 474 have roughly the same intake closing point by specs (depending on whether advanced or not)....the comp 268H, despite the "4 degrees advance ground into the cam" marketing, was found to have more like 7 degrees advance ground into the cam....so will have to be installed retarded to end up where they recommend installing it

Instead of "4 degrees advance ground into the cam", my view of it is "We deliberately put the dowel pin in the wrong place, have fun"

The comp 268H cam has about 7 degrees earlier intake closing than the stock HP or the 474, which should make more torque. But it might make it detonate too. But, it's got less than 9:1 so probably not.

I think I would like the idle quality of the 268H just fine. Definitely a puppy cam...here is a clip I found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=355J6uRjJR8

Zippy, that MP .474 cam is hard to beat.

In a low compression motor with what you are aiming to do, it is a beast that works well with a 3.23 gear and factory type high stall. Should be all done by 5000-5200 rpm. Good heads that flow like eddies and headers take it to 6ooo rpm with a very strong 5-6000. That extra pull is not there with stock heads and exhaust manifolds. There is 100 hp difference with good heads/headers, but it is a great driver with manifolds/full exhaust stock heads.

I have many other cams to play with, but this is just a very satisfying cam for a driver. Runs on 87 octane with the eddies with enough power to make me forget about other cams. It is a sweet combination for a driver.

Hey Phil

I'm not ruling out the 474 cam yet, that's for sure.

It's about 8.7:1, and I think that one would be less likely to detonate than the little 268H so that is the appeal of it.

For the throttle response/to help keep rpm down, I was going to put a Performer (not an rpm, but the regular performer everyone here dislikes) and a 3310 on it.

The land yacht has 3.23 open, and I do have an ancient 11" 2400 converter for it too. I think it would be allright, it's just the size of the car that makes me want to keep the cam small....this car is like 23 feet long or so. I just want to leave it in "D" and stab the throttle.

Anymore input on it or the other cams I've mentioned is welcome.

Dragged a .528 solid out to the shop to check it out too, only to then remember I don't have a spare 3 bolt timing set Would rather save the .528 for a nicer engine anyway so that's out.

A couple things I measured on the so-called 474 cam seem fishy (.332 lobe lift, .498 theoretical valve lift and
283 @ .006???), and I've got a feeling it may not be what I think it is. Never heard of a hydraulic purple shaft that had .498 lift, but I've got one

Another hunch is, maybe both the 268H and the 474 marketing/advertised lift numbers are really "this is what you'll see with a mic" which I admit also did....since neither one came close to agreeing with the lobe lift number when measured off of a lifter.

Rich; I'd beg borrow or steal a 3 bolt timing set and throw the .528 solid in that thing. I fell in love with that cam. Idles almost like a stocker and has torque off the bottom like you wouldn't believe. The last 440 I had in my truck was alot like what you're working with. I installed the .528 in it. I took the heap to the strip and had trouble keeping my drivers door shut on launch. It was twisting the body so hard the drivers door would pop open. It also was picking the front tires 6-8" off the ground on launch. Dave

Dave I just might try that, nothing set in stone yet. Input appreciated.

I put another of what I believed to be a .474 cam in it and checked it out. I come up with 285 at .006, .4755 on the intake and .473 on the exhaust. 'On the dots" (which yes I do understand doesn't mean anything by itself) came up at 105 intake centerline, 115 exhaust centerline for a lobe separation of 110. Duration at .050 measured 234. So to me, that one is indeed a .474 and it's in 5 degrees advanced (or has "advance ground into the cam" much as I don't like putting it that way, it is misleading), I would probably just run it like that if I decide to use it.

The mystery 1 bolt 283-498 cam will probably have to stay that way I guess. I might double check my readings on the intake and take a few minutes and look at the exhaust just for info, it would help to know lsa....but not really knowing what the heck it is, probably won't use that one! A guy here on Moparts gave it to me during the '90s and he did not know what it was either

I was really expecting this car

The .528 seems like a nice cam. Played with it awhile and I see what folks are talking about. With wide enough valve lash, I can get duration at .050 down quite a bit. I'm coming up with 245 @ .050 at zero lash, and only 236.5 with .028 lash.

But after alot of thought, I really don't want to listen to any valve lash at all in a cruiser C body. So will keep looking at hydraulics.

Almost done. Ended up replacing the damper with a new reproduction from Bouchillon, the elastomer was getting dried out and starting to crack on the old damper. I don't know anyone else who services the stock style cast crank damper except Bouchillon.

Cleaning parts takes forever, never been a fan, but it's how the low buck game is played.

Instead of blasting everything I used the moparts vinegar/lemon juice/salt on alot of parts like the water pump housing....worked great, was a little slow but not bad.

Ended up with .474 cam, will try it and see how it works. It's always seemed pretty nice in other folks' cars, maybe I will like it.

I thought I had an extra AR engineering throttle return spring bracket but darned if I could find it. So I ended up using a small block one for the time being

Getting pretty close.

Not many bells and whistles going on, it's just a
cruiser

Lookin' good Rich!

Hey, where'd ya git those cool engine mount brackets in the top pic??

Is that yet another AndyF product?

Thanks Dean. Yep, that was a shameless plug for the AR engineering motor dolly. It's a great piece, as long as the oil pan isn't too deep. For deep pans maybe taller wheels would be a good solution....

Hey Rich

Are you going to chassis dyno it or anything to get HP figures? also what are you hopping to get out of 1/4 with it. It is very close to a 440 i built for my 1972 road runner back in the day. That was a consistent mid 13 second car.

mike