Hey guys,

I have a '66 383 4-barrel that was given to me as part of package deal. I was told the engine was pulled from a rotten '66 Chrysler before it went to the demo derby.

The engine appears to have never been apart, it turns over fine, had clean coolant in it, and 6 of the 8 plugs seemed pretty happy. The other two had some fluffy black fouling but were not wet with oil.

The rear main and crank snout seals don't appear to have been leaking, however the engine had been gushing oil from valvecovers for years.

I've gotten the outside of the engine pretty clean and I'm about ready to take a closer look inside.

My question is: how far would you go, and how much money would you invest, in a "free" engine?

I want to install it in my '68 Coronet to replace the missing original. It doesn't have to be a earth-shaker I just want a decent engine that will give me a couple years of cruise nights and Friday drives to work while I invest my funds in other areas of the car.

I've already ordered replacement gaskets for the oil pan, valvecovers, timing cover, new timing chain, etc. I was also planning on ordering a new oil pump.

The prudent thing to do is check the rod and main bearings, I was planing on doing one at a time?

Should I do the rear main seal? Read lots of horror stories about the new seals.

Should I pull the heads? Can replace the steel shim gaskets with a thicker comp gasket without having the heads surfaced?

Valve seals?

Should I pull the pistons one at a time to clean, inspect?

What about the cam? Peeking in the distributor hole the came lobes have a pretty good vanish coating on them, and the front lobe doesn't look like the wear is an consistent as the others.

Need some guidance... I have no problem buying the parts needed to ensure the engine lives... and I don't have a problem stabbing in a new cam as long as things don't snowball... new springs, etc.

I just worry about the constant threads I see about crappy replacement parts, and I don't want to open pandora's box and go full rebuild right now.

I'd recommend taking it all apart. It is not too big a deal. I rebuilt my first engine in my front yard as a kid armed only with a chilton's manual. Many tools can be rented at a parts store.
Af far as stuff to replace, all consumable type things inc. bearings and rings. At a minimum when installing new rings check taper and ridge and run a glaze breaker (dingle balls) to allow proper seating of the rings, check bearing clearances with plastigauge.
Definately factor new cam lifters and a good double roller timing gear set. Besides the seals and such you are nearly there, might as well do it so you don't have to worry.
Do have the block and heads tanked and you scrub them well, have the machine shop "do" the heads.
Other things to check is the distributor (get a new or reman electronic), carb, and the oil pump you mentioned.

IMO your starting out well with an oem engine that does not have a lot of special parts.

Added to the above posted you can buy the re ring kits off ebay that have a full gasket kit with valve seals and such.

Its not that costly to have a block hot tanked and to ask them to check the taper on the bores.

Some "country" shops would do a quick ball hone (again) cheap due to the amount of older farm tractors that just get a rering.

Clean clean clean and clean some more. You will be hard pressed to get it all but you can get all you can.

Look for the obvious when taking the motor apart and look for red flags, rod ends that got hot, ect and I would have it all apart before buying any parts since you do not know its history.

On a budget a ring/bearing gasket job can put a bit of new life in a tired old motor.

I have a test motor that got the budget referring deal 6 years ago and still runs well today.

And if you use the machine shop for something there is a extra set of eyes on that could spot an issue where you cant. And probably cheaper then renting tools.

Not knowing your budget but you know the rebuild kits come with a cam /lifters/pistons and rings and a oem kit isn't too bad and here the napa will do oem block work, polish the crank and if the heads are not needing much all in the $400-450 and with a kit you could have a nice runner for a grand or so.

But ya got to make sure on tear down all is in serviceable shape as these are no longer just older motors, they are real old and many have been worked on/over.

You're definitely gonna want hardened exhaust valve seats installed. I doubt
if it has them since it sounds like it was sitting for a long, long time?
Before I installed new heads on my 70 383 Mag, the seats were so worn, the
fuel went right out the tail pipe. Would never pass smog.

I did a complete freshen of my 383 when I built the Satellite. Mine was a good running motor that was removed about 2 years before I got it. As for the block we cleaned everything inside and out. We did not hot tank it and used the existing cam bearings. Cylinders still showed some crosshatch as the engine only had 52K on it. We ball honed the cylinders and reinstalled the factory pistons with new rings. I had the crank turned 10/10 and installed all new bearings. Rods are stock. We used a small Lunati Hyd cam shaft. I had a set of 452 heads laying around so we used them to pick up the hardened exhaust seats rather than spending the money to have them installed in the original heads. New parts included the timing chain, oil pump, bearings, rings, gaskets, fuel pump, water pump, distributor and carb.
If you do the work you can do yourself you should be able to do it for about $1200.00 depending on how many accessories you buy new.

A buddy of mine went the other route and just pulled a 383 out of a derby car and installed it in a daily driver. The only thing he did was clean the pan and p/u screen and install a new oil pump. 2 years or so on it with no issues other than it smokes a little on start-up and does burn some oil.
It's your call, condition of the current engine will dictate what you need to do.

I call BS on anything more than what RR said. The easiest thing in the world is to get sidetracked into an engine project. The "might as well" disease is as contagious and deadly as Ebola.

I must have half a dozen partially complete projects that were created that way.

R.

The "might as well" disease is delt with very well by your family Dr. Then possibly you can get one project done.

That's called ADHD.

Life can be a balancing act for any adult, but if you find yourself constantly late, disorganized, forgetful, and overwhelmed by your responsibilities, you may have ADD/ADHD.

Thanks for the replies guys,

As I said before I really don't want to go full rebuild, and if do a ring and bearing job thats what I might as well do.

I also don't have a local engine shop that I trust...

So for now I'm just going to pull the pan and check the bearings. But will removing and and retorquing the main caps one at a time disturb the rear main seal?

What about the replacing the head gaskets?

I don't think it'll disturb the rear main seal. Head gaskets don't need replacing unless the heads come off or you know they failed.

In my experience, bearing failures usually start at the rod journal.

Seems to me that the situation is a good application for Plastigage.

R.

At the very least while you are installing new valve cover gaskets put valve seals in it!
Also check the timing chain for wear & the dreaded plastic upper gear.

Oh my god how quickly a "Budget freshen up" turns into roller valvetrain, stroker, stealth heads ect. Since you pulled the pan might as well go new rod and main bearings. Definitely new valve seals. Keep it as is (were assuming it was a good engine) with a good ignition, carb and dual exhaust. Maybe some cheap headers? Save your dang $$$ for your FUTURE motor.

Just as a point of reference, after attempting to purchase several "good" big blocks, I settled on a free smogger 440 from a buddy. I decided I wanted to do a cam and intake. After pulling the original cam (note this was a running motor that I personally rode in the car) the cam bearings were discovered as shot. Now I am doing a ring and bearing, cam, intake, and putting a set of stainless valve and hart seats in a set of 516 heads I got for free as well. So far my "free" motor that has now turned to a ring and bearing project is costing me in the neighborhood of $1600, and no, I am not even changing pistons and will still end up with an 8:1 motor.

How would I change the main bearings one at time?