Mopar Muscle Association UK

Hi all, took my 273 crank to the engine machinist I know and he comfirmed what I thought, crankshaft could do with a regrind.
He asked me to find out what the original Journal sizes were am I correct in thinking, Rod's 2.125in and Main's 2.50in.

Cheers Dave

i'd guess its here somewhere

http://www.mopar1.us/Aengine.html

Great find Dave
Yes what I needed was in there and it confirms what I thought it was. Saved the page as well

Cheers Dave

no probs matey

amazing what you can find whilst waiting to go into a meeting


dave

Decision time...
Not good news, spoke to Martin my machinist yesterday and he can't get the crankshaft to run true, reckons it's about 5thou out at the pulley.
Possibility that the engine came out of a crashed car? I don't know.
Anyway it can be machined true again if I wanted or see about finding a replacement crank.
Other options are start looking for a 318/360 to replace it with.
Looking on the bay of fleas doesn't bring up much,
a 318 block and crank thats been outside for a while, 318 with missing valve gear and a damaged pulley and pan, and a 360 with a cracked bore and other missing parts.
There is a complete 318 with all ancillaries but at £1700ish that's way out of reach.

Will be popping back into see Martin in the next couple of days once I've had a bit of a think

don't forget the 273 will be a steel forged crank. only the first year 318 had the steel crank. the others will be cast and not as strong.

Yes, good point I hadn't thought of that

i'd get it machined....

a bird in the hand and all that...

see what he can do with it...... provided you can get the bearings you need. its a steel crank, but weigh up the costs, if you need a custom bearing to fit it in the case. if its just the snout that the balancer goes on, ROMAC in Aus will do you a custom undersize one. but you might need a custom oil slinger and some work to get the key to fit

they would have done the same at the factory....used to put motors with odd sized mains big ends thrust face and lifters in new cars, stamp some triangle diamond or maltese cross next to the engine number and leave the owner to have so much extra fun if the engine ever needed a rebuild

imagine trying to rebuild today with lifters that were .905 or .906 or a thrust face on the main cap that is 10 thou back from where it should be. everything looks great until you check the end float on the crank

custom rebuild job or much research on its first rebuild......

Dave

Cheers Dave, I should have gone and seen Martin today but was feeling under the weather. Once I have a chat with him I can make a decision. Thanks for the ROMAC heads up I'll have a look at them in the meantime.

Popped in to see the machinist on Tuesday, turns out there was a little bit of miscommunication between us.
The crankshaft was still in his grinders chuck, so he ran it up and yes the Flex plate end was running approx 5thou. Our misunderstanding was Martin thought I only wanted it taken down 10 under, he wasn't sure if that was going true it up and wanted to talk to me first before carrying on.
Told him to take it down to whatever it needs 20/30thou etc, turns out it cleaned up and ran true at 10thou anyway so alls good. Picked up the crank on the way home today so now I can get around to cleaning up, repainting the block and heads, sort out a Rockauto order and get on with the rebuild.

Not sure how far to go with this rebuild as yet, tempted to go 4bbl inlet & carb and possibly a cam

Obligatory shiny crank journal photos

Careful on Cam selection if you have Power brakes, otherwise, errrr, you won't - if you get my drift.....

Yes Pete that's something new to me I'd have to learn, look into and ask advice on. Wouldn't want to go to mad just maybe wake it up a tinsy bit its got a lot of weight to lug around...oh yes I have power brakes