Last year I pulled the 540 cid HEMI out of the Coronet to find the excessive oil consumption. I’m glad I did. I had used a well known shop for the build. For some reason, my engine must have been worked on only on Mondays after a long weekend! They had built several engines for magazines, and friends. I expected professional results. Instead I had the following:

The block was delivered already bored and honed for the 4032 alloy Diamond coated pistons. It appeared as though the shop didn’t like the tight clearance that Diamond recommends for these pistons and so the bores were opened up to TWICE the recommended clearance. To make matters worse, the tools used did not provide the proper finish. Indeed, much of the wall surface showed NO crosshatch!

I had pre assembled the engine (new parts) and determined that the deck needed to be cut .040” Instead it had been cut .090” causing witness marks where the pistons had been contacting the heads!

The valve to guide clearance was as much as .007” vs .0015”. This shop either didn’t posses measuring instruments or didn’t know how to use them! I found out after the fact that they didn’t own torque plates for a HEMI. They evidently didn't have the correct honing stones for a Mega Block either!


The list goes on. Had I not pulled the engine, it would have had a short life.

After talking to several people I chose Bob Meyer at Performance Automotive in Greenville TN. Bob worked on Allen Johnson’s Pro Stock engines. He not only had a torque plate but a fixture to properly locate the bore center for honing!

Bob corrected all the problems and sent me these photos. He also ported the MP heads. I can’t wait to see the results on his Dyno in the near future!