Mopar Muscle Association UK

OOh ! A story ! *baited breath*...

PS - I've seen car and it is as lovely now as the pics suggest. Also a quick reminder that some of us are still waiting for a ride with "that" engine. Just sayin'....

With the engine back at Paul’s, he did some stripping, measuring and had the oil tested and found that it was contaminated with about 5% fuel. Whatever the cause – possibly a faulty fuel pump - by the time we’d decided to investigate, the bores were shot (100,000 miles of wear in 1000 miles, I think was Paul’s assessment). Until then I hadn’t heard of ‘bore wash’.

And by the time we’d got to this stage (late 2016), as Paul was looking at retiring, he was reluctant to take on another rebuild, so we took his advice and contacted Koffel (of B1 heads fame) with a view to either getting a short engine built or maybe a full engine. We settled on the latter, built to our requirements. Lucky for us, JC was able to keep the car stored undercover during these delays.

So we gave Koffel our simple requirements, just that it had to work with power brakes, could cope with traffic and be reliable and not need much maintenance and look as stock as possible. We weren't looking for anything spectacular in the hp/tq department, something in the 450-500 range would be great!

As it was going to be scratch built they suggested a stroker as it wouldn't cost much more than leaving it as a 440. We had the option to use a 400 block giving 499 ci but as we already had the kickdown linkage and exhaust for a 440 thought it would pay to stay with the same set-up.

They came back with a proposed spec:

440 block would be 493 cid
Compression would be 10.2-10.5 to 1.
At least 600 hp and 600ft lbs tq.
4.150 stroke
forged pistons
bowl ported 452 heads with 2.14 x 1.81 valves
Hydraulic cam with 114 l.s.a.
steel roller rockers
H beam rods
High volume oil pump
stock style baffled pan w/windage tray
electronic ignition, distributor and wires
iron waterpump housing and alum waterpump
SFI balancer
performer rpm intake w/750 vac sec carb
mechanical fuel pump
Cost would be about $8900.00 w/dyno. $240.00 for the steel transport stand and shipping crate

So we gave them the go-ahead and they made a start in Feb 2017.

Originally it was going to take around 3 months but Scott Koffel had a heart attack half way thru the build which cost them a couple of weeks but as usual there were other delays and it was actually finished, dyno'd and ready for shipping mid-July.

So to the interesting bit…. They sent a video of a couple of dyno runs and a copy of the dyno sheet. It certainly sounded great and the numbers looked impressive! They’d surpassed their estimate of 600 hp & lb/ft which was more than we’d expected or hoped but we weren’t complaining!
I must say we were both a tad sceptical tho… after all it only had 10.5:1 comp, a ‘484 purple shaft’ cam (which we had in the previous engine, since 1987), dual plane inlet and 750 (actually 770) vac sec. We’d heard that some US dyno’s seem to get optimistic readings… maybe they had an ‘add 10% button’?
But we weren’t too worried about the numbers as long as it performed how we wanted so we reserved judgement till we could find out for ourselves.

The next delay was out of our hands; the crate was being shipped to STS Imports in Florida and as soon as it arrived there, they were in the middle of a bad tropical storm so the container didn’t ship until October 2017. We had Ron at STS deliver it to JC’s down in Surrey where the car was (remember? ) so we rushed over there at the earliest opportunity after it had arrived.

Nov 2017 - the great un-crating, assisted by a few MMA friends also at JC's that Saturday morning

I’m enjoying the story & looking forward to the next episode....

mopar_mark wrote: Mon Jun 22, 20 7:39 am I’m enjoying the story & looking forward to the next episode....

should be on later tonite, sometime after news at 10

Compared to the previous few months, the start of 2018 saw things move on apace and by the end of April JC had got the engine repainted, reassembled and fitted, with new stainless 3/8" fuel lines and tank. Trans was freshened-up and adjusted by Dave Bishop with new seal kit and super sprag, and he also recommended a locking trans dipstick, so in for a penny...

March / April 2018:

Because the stock air filter lid and base only provides a small (5mm ish) gap for the air to enter, we modified a K&N drop base we had by reducing the overall diameter to increase the gap to nearer 10mm. So the lip on the base now sits closer to the outer edge of the filter...

What happened to the Mopar Performance valve covers Twinsters?

Blue wrote: Tue Jun 23, 20 8:11 am What happened to the Mopar Performance valve covers Twinsters?

Tucked away safely at home, till we fancy a change... or get fed up with leaky OEM style covers

Ok, Dave Robson was after a pair, seems they are no longer readily available.

i like the look of the painted stockers, it's what i did to the 440 i put in my old 65 dart.
neil.

Yes we like the original look, as you can see, but those cast MP covers are a good looking alternative if we ever fancy a change. Plus they're easier to seal obviously

12th May 2018, collection day! Our aim, from the start of that year, was to try and get it finished in time for Brooklands, and John didn't let us down
All MOT'd and ready to go!



Back home after nearly 2 years away!