Projects my first project thread, 52 Desoto

Got my block back, Dana did a top notch job, had to get a sleeve in one of the cylinders, surprisingly not one of the ones that had a stuck piston, bored 30, painted and like new, gonna be buying a set of pistons soon and then will be able to start assembly!

 

After finding out how much it needed to be bored you should have got the pistons so each cyl could be bored to match the specific piston going in it. Haven't looked back to see if it has been mentioned, but..the low deck DeSotos have low advertised C/R & the actual C/R may be even lower. While costing more some 10:1 custom pistons may be a wise investment( assuming you didn't already get a cam matched to the low OEM C/R).

 

I will definitely be purchasing a set of custom higher compression pistons.

 

Hopefully the shop 'guy' was smart enough to follow protocol and only do a final rough cut so the holes can be honed to match. If he has rebuilt more than a couple of engines he should have it figured out.

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hopefully

 

Happy to read that your running the org hemi it would be a shame to put a non mopar motor in the car good luck and looks good so far did you decide on a rear yet ?

 

I have not decided on a rear end yet, I was maybe going to just run the stock one, is that bad? Im not planning to race it or anything


I have never heard of honing the cylinders to match the pistons and havent done it on any of the motors I have built in the past. Is it going to be bad if I dont? The guy at the shop didnt mention anything about it and he has been building engines for a long time. Ive done a little research but most info I have found on the web only mentions smaller engines like 2 strokes and 4 bangers

 

A newer axle eliminates the problem working on brakes, and gives you modern brakes vs the old style on there now. Machineing to each piston takes care of differences in piston to wall clearance due to Manufacturing Tolerances.

 

It will probably be fine. All OEM engines are "within tolerances" when they are assembled & go typically 100K. some engines have better machining reps that others. Hemis are usually pretty good, but..one was found to have decks unequal in distance from the crank centerline & decks not square to the centerline front to back, and top to bottom. Owner probably never noticed but the engine would have had higher C/R in the cyls @ one end than the other. And higher C/R on the deck that's closer to the centerline than the other side.

 

Major red flag.
All pistons come out of the lathes with a +/- tolerance.
Did your shop guy make every hole exactly 'x.xx' dia? or do they vary a few thou from one to the next?
What about the pistons? When they come out of the box will they be all exactly .xxx" undersize or will they vary by a couple thousandths from one to the other?
The holes and the pistons can all vary so what happens to the tolerances?

Even if you are buying custom forgings (which are 10x more accurate than castings) you still need to maintain the proper piston to wall clearance. Too tight and it might not even turn over and too loose and it might be a mosquito fogger....

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Ask around.

 

Thanks for the input guys, I will have to do some more research. As far as the cylinders all being the same size I would imagine they are considering he bored it and installed the sleeve to match but when you deal with thousands of an inch I guess there could be a differences. Like I said before Ill have to do some more asking around and research. And I guess I will be swapping out the rear end then? Any suggestions on which one might be best? Really appreciate all the info.

 

Explorers and Cherokees are popular and usually cheap at the pic-n-pull just due to sheer numbers. Jeep uses a Dana axle, #30, 35, or 44, all good for street use.
The 8.8 is a stout axle and many have disc brakes and some sort of traction-lock.
Everything you need to know about the Ford axle is here: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/axle_codes.shtml

Double check the width of your stock piece against the potential donor.

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The 65-67 (or so) Mopar C body axle bolts into quite a few years of Mopars, probably yours also. There's a number of others that will probably fit, 71-3 Mustang (with a spring perch relocation) and other cars.

 

I found a 727 that was rebuilt in 1987 and has been in a sealed crate. It was a govt rebuild for military trucks. Think it is fine as is?

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Verify that it is for a small block. Check my web pages for ID help.
http://www.qualityengineeredcomponents.com/?page_id=744


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I picked up the trans on sat. It is indeed for a small block and it basically brand new. Seals look great. Tagged and stamped with date and location of rebuild. Will post pics later

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Got my pistons rings and rods today! Everything looks great, very happy. I will be starting to assemble very soon, also pictured is the rebuilt trans that i picked up a few months ago, hope to have the motor and trans in it by the end of the summer

 

Got the block up on the stand and am going to start assembly this evening or on saturday!

 

Well I got the pistons and bottom end all put together. Just ordered an oil pump and getting a timing chain next week. I am wondering if I need the full flow oil block. I am not converting the oil filter and I am finding mixed information on the interwebz

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If you're staying with the cartridge filter you need to keep the OEM set up. That is an anti-drain back check ball. It's not a bypass.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the info

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Well I got the bottom end all buttoned up finally! Im getting pretty excited to get this thing going, I realized after the fact that I forgot to put the ring pictured on, it goes btwn the timing gear and balancer, Is it going to be a big deal if I leave this off? I would imagine the balancer will hold the timing gear in place just fine

 

Yep I'm going to be watching this one!

 

I call that an oil slinger. I think it just keeps more oil on the chain, and away from the seal.

 

yea, I hear the oil slinger is necessary but have no first hand experience to verify either way.

 

Yeah I ended up opening her back up and putting the slinger on

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...good....

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I am wondering if I can buy a plug wire kit so I can still use my original porcelain spark plug tubes pictured or if I am going to have to cut apart wires to make them work, I think they OG ones are awesome....I am also wondering what is the best dizzy to run, part of me is leaning towards a SBC HEI but im not totally sure, also does anyone have any experience using a SBC power steering pump on a Desoto, seems like it should be too hard to make it work

 

On my Chr I use generic Accel wires, don't know it the porelin would fit over the rubber boots or not.As far as P/S pump, what P/S system are you using? Extend the shaft on the LA electronic dizzy is an easy thing to do, chevy works with an adaptor.

 

Planning on rocking the stock P/S system and just removing the stock generator driven pump and splicing in a SBC pump long as I can get the pulleys to line up