Mopar Muscle Association UK

Nice work Blue! You certainly don't hang around....!

If you need a hand with anything, or anything trodden on/kicked accidentally, give me a bell - it's a quick 30-40 minutes around the M25 for me now I know the way to your workshop without a map. Wouldn't mind a 'nose' anyway! Hang on - M25 = quick? Hmmm....

Fantastic Blue...look forward to catchin those wheels up

Thanks guys, the plan is to have the motor done for the HRD's, we'll see how that pans out. Phil, I might well be needing your assistance for fire up and cam break in, I don't really want to do that on my own...

I'm there

Blue wrote:Thanks guys, the plan is to have the motor done for the HRD's, we'll see how that pans out. Phil, I might well be needing your assistance for fire up and cam break in, I don't really want to do that on my own...

Well if you need another pair of hands/eyes during the break-in let me know......two helpers recommended http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/motor/22.html

Blue, remind me to drop a stat housing off to you , that one dosnt do much for the asthetics

Nice sump Blue- you've certainly made the most of what space you have!

Wahey! You see that's what happens when Blue thinks he's not going fast enough!

Top work on that sump, looks great!

Yep , saw it today , top work goin on.

Thanks for the heads up John , saved me a few $$$$$$$$ too.

John , i think the mod you carried out on the lifter valley was awesome , think i'm gonna follow in yer footsteps on the 440 while it's appart.

You gotta start shareing some of those tricks.

Again , heads up on the attention to detail.

Ok, finally got the time to get on with it. Installed the cam bearings, I found it nigh on impossible to get all the oil holes lined up perfectly, even using the proper installation tool. I used a small 12" needle file to get up the galleries and carefully open up the bearings to match the galleries, job done.
Next job, fit the crank, this is an ultralight which is a good deal lighter than a stock crank. All aftermarket cranks have a radius where the journal meets the throw, it is stronger that way. Stock cranks are undercut at that point for cheapness. The normal trick is to use chamfered bearings, but there are none available for the 400 block.

So, now he fun starts, 440 Source say the standard style bearing will normally fit, but you need to check and clearance if needed. I dropped it in and nipped the main studs up and turned it over a couple of times, it was well tight. Bad picture, but you can see the shiny marks on the edge of the bearing where it's contacting the crank radius. I scraped the edge of the bearings with a Stanley knife to give a 45 degree chamfer. I won't bore you with the fine details, but it took 6 hours, crank out 4 times, cleaning, scraping, blah blah to get it right. Crank will now turn by hand. Start getting the pistons in tomorrow, here's one of the I beam rods.

Looking good Blue, great thread

Them parts look too nice to thrash, keep the pictures coming.