hello chaps - can I trouble you for some advice please?
I'm finally getting round to sorting out the Dart engine. I've had some machining work done on the 'stop gap' 318 at a place near High Wycombe who seems really good and has built loads of performance lumps including race Ch*vys. I'd trust him to do the work on my 360/408 BUT he says he's never used torque plates when boring blocks.
so the questions are:
How necessary are torque plates?
Are they 'more necessary' on Mopar blocks for some reason?
And if I should use someone else, can anyone recommend good Mopar smallblock builders/machinists near London?
Depends on the output you want out of the motor and the cost of parts you're using, no use getting all fancy with parts then screwing the job up from the start by not using plates.
As heads are bolted down the bores will no longer be round, plates add this distortion from the start
Is the main line being done?? deck also being done?? with a block Tru???
in terms of decking and line-boring I was going to let a shop take a look at the block and give me their opinion to be honest. It's got the original caps.
it will be a cast crank 408 street motor so it won't be anything too mental, I can't afford it. I was hoping to use reworked 360 heads but someone's had a half-arsed go at porting them before so if they can't be saved it'll have to be edelbrocks I think.
bout the only person that will be able to tell whether the block needs a line hone and the decks squared just by looking is going to be superman
The main line is done off of the cam line, then a block tru is used to figure out where the decks are in relation to the main line, the decks are then cut accordingly, then the bore is done with the decks being the reference so everything depends on the mainline being right and you work upwards
The "cheap" way to do it is to assume the main line is straight enough for your purposes (ie a street engine) and fit the rods and pistons in #s 1, 7, 2, 8 to check if there is any variation in the piston-to-deck height.
If there is variation get it decked to the smallest measurement or to the height you need for compression.
Then the next cheap option is to either get it bored/honed without the torque plate (mild street motor only) or with the plate.
People like Geof Hauser can do it with a plate.
Doing it this way is cheap and fine for a mild street motor.
BUT there are risks.
A mate of mine took his 340 to an engineering place for a re-bore. They simply used the deck as reference (with no other checks) and started boring. By the time they got about 3/4s of the way down the first hole they had bored right through one side of the cylinder and into the water jacket.
Now if the block had been a better block and the deck checked this might not have happened.
But these are the risks with doing things on the cheap.
I didn't mean look at it and measure it by eye, just give me the benefit of their experience as to whether they think it needs it for what I'm going to use it for
In an ideal world I'd have it all done, but then in an ideal world I'd be drinking cold beer in the Bahamas now instead of being stuck at work
It sounds like Dave's first method is reasonable compromise, and that it's worth using torque plates...
I'll talk to Hauser then. Thing is I've got find someone who doesn't mind a camera being stuck in the way every five minutes cause it's going in the mag...
Aah, that's so often the case - there's 2 big Ford tuners who are actually the same bloke doing the work
I'll ask about - there's actually a Bristol specialist up the road from me who said they'd help a while back so I'll ask them again about it as they said they were getting there machining done in North London. They've done smallblock strokers in the past so I might sound them out as well as talking to Hauser.
Brand New BHJ Mopar big block torque plate
New BHJ torque plate for Mopar 361 to 440 @ +60
Never been out of the box.
Hardened inserts.
Bought to bore a block at a shop local to me, since found a company that has all the correct machining equipment anyway so don't need the plate.
Cost over £450 inc shipping (it's heavy)offers around £350
was going to send 3 BB blocks and the plate to a company in Leicester but they don't have a block Tru so total waste of time, whats the point of torque plates if the deck is anyhow
They are now going to Performance Unlimited, they have all the equipment to do the job right, don't know about SB plates though
Picking up on an old thread here.
How was the work that was done on the BB's
What did you get done and can you tell me how much, PM if you like.
I need to have some work done on a 440, but don't have anyonre in Jersey experienced with Mopar RB blocks. And they charge way too much for work done on old tooling.
May plan a trip over with a pickup.
Alternative is to get pre-machined block when i get o stroker kit or 2 from 440 Source.
most out of true POS ever, sent it to Performance Unlimited, he called a few times saying it was a difficult one.
If you look at the chamfer around the top of the bores this will give you an idea of what it's like, if the chamfer is pretty even all the way round and also pretty equal across all bores then it's a good bet that the bores are close to where they should be.
The further away from equal the worse it is, the 400 had over a 1/4" going down to nearly a knife edge so the test cut only caught one side of the bore after 1/2 way down, luckily it all cleaned ok at the finished bore.
On this block the main line was out, deck was out, bores were out, all done now though.
I'd noticed the chamfer on 3 70's blocks and thought either the bores, or deck were wrong, or the actual chamfer was out, turns out the chamfer was cut to where the bores should be.
Give Performance Unlimited a call as each block is different
When you refer to chamfer (need to read up on terms and what needs to be done), are you refering to the carbon deposit outline or gasket marks from where the heads mate with the block.
The block i have is a 74, so guess the maifacturing process would improve from 60's to v.early 70's ???
I intend to get a stroker kit from 440Source, would Performance Unlimited need to kit to be able to zero deck the block? I'll give them a call anyway.
What was the turnaround?, what are the chances if i came over from Jersey and dropped it/them off, i'd be able to take them back with me too?
Thanks will,
Anyone recommend where else could i get this work done, to a v.good standard?
