It can be uncontrolable once you get started. I'm a chevy man 100% (OR AT LEAST WAS). I bought a 270 Dodge, just because it was available and before I knew it there was a 354 on the engine stand right beside it. I made myself stop and have been looking for a good build for the 270 (I'm finding myself facinated by the smaller ones and would love to find a good 241). Looks like the '27 T roadster on deuce rails would make a good match, we'll see. Frank
I just pulled the oil pan and from whatr I can see there are no broken rods, no broken pistons and the cam even looks good from what I can see. Im getting exited! I plan on pulling the heads off today and soaking the pistons from the top.
if you can get a good look inside the cylinders and you don't see any rust then as long as the crank and rods are tight you should fire it up just to hear it sing. also i have seen the 4bbl intakes go on ebay for $700
I agree that if everything looks good you might be able to fire it up. The 270 I mentioned above had been sitting for over 30 years out in an apple orchard with a truck hood covering it. I put a wrench on it and it rolled over. Bought some points, rotor,cap and plug wires and while it was sitting on the shop floor it fired right up. All kinds of **** flew out of the manifolds the first couple of fireups but it cleared up holding 50 lbs. of oil pressure and running on all 8 cylinders and no rattles or oil smoke. I'm tempted to just put in its new home (whatever that might be) and see how it does without a rebuild. Frank
pulled the head and it is rusty inside... I have ATF sitting in there right now and that might break up some of it. I am thinking it will at least need new bearings and a bore/pistons. I might grab one of the engines he has already torn down next time. That way I can see the bores and I will have a good block. save me the machining costs.
241-260-270 are all the same physical size. Only change is the bore. And if you find a tired 241 or 260 and sleeve all 8 back to std 241 dia I'll make you a helleva deal on some Ross 10:1 forgings... .
found out my 315 was stored for over 8 years..probably about 15 years..but it was done well....i blew everything i could get into the plug holes to lube it and rolled it over plugless by hand for 4 weeks...then i went and hooked it up to a starter and rolled it to check oil flow....i pulled then oil pan first,,,looked good in there..motor has no sludge to speak of....a black film over everything, but i think that's from the stuff they filled it thru the plug holes with....almost graphite looking when i drained the pan..drained over 3 gallons oil oily stuff out of it....after oil flow thru to the heads, i installed new cap rotor oil filter and plugs,,cleaned the points and regapped...fired over for 40 seconds due to bad carb..week later i installed propper carb and it lite off in about 10 seconds of crank and purred..50 psi oil pressure at idle, which i'm guessing about 600-700 rpm...have fired and ran it about 10 times each for less then a minute run time...going to dig up a radiator to hook up to it and let it get some run time...2nd coolest motor i ever owned or started...and it looks too cool in my topo....it's a sickness for sure...... ...wait till ya fire it.....
Topolino Kid, SURE sounds as though you did everything right, AND the Gods are smiling on you, bro. I'd sure rather avoid having to tear down an engine that mya perfomr well AS IS. BUT, I am HESITANT. WHAT IF some of that graphite-looking stuff clabber up some key oil p***ages? I don't want to piss in anybody's Cheerios, BUT I'd keep on flushing that motor for a while -- if you really don't want to tear it down. I (and I am sure lots of other HAMBers) wish you well. On the BRIGHT side, my 291 was looking JUST like that on the INSIDE! I just changed the oil as often as I could AFFORD & it quickly straightened out. Smokes no more than ANY engine would with 135,000 MILES on it! Rock on!
Hemis rock, they aren't that expensive to rebuild if you keep them relatively stock and standard machining. I think it is all the extra performance stuff and extra machining a lot of people feel they need to on hemis to get as much out of them as possible. But, if you stick to the basics, they aren't too bad. Start porting heads, adding blowers, adjustable rockers, chrome covers, magnetos, log intakes, etc. and of course they are going to be expensive. With a hemi, it is hard to resist that stuff, but that is how a lot of the cost gets sky high. The basic parts are a bit more expensive and the cores aren't cheap to begin with, but just reuse what doesn't need to be replaced, clean up and machine what is needed and generally not too bad if you can control yourself. Now Corvette engines are expensive! That's because all the numbers have to match and screws have to be aligned perfectly and with all the factory paint dabs, tooling marks etc. or they aren't worth anything and just another Chevy motor.
Hey there Topolino Kid! Hey, didn't get all the wyq through the post yet, but juts wanted you to KNOW I wasn't PREACHING to naybody at all, just concerned Re your acquisition.
Not to sound like Joe Pesci in "Lethal Weapon II," but OK, OK, OK .. Tom Water is Tom Waters. Musta missed something in translation, guys. Hell, I am only got on this board (the ONLY one I have been involved in, or care to be) since January '09 . . . no, no! NOT 1909!!! LOL
we're good Jimi,...i just came in from droping the pan,,,drained and strained the oil...looks good,,,got a good look up into the bore, looks good there....noticed the rods have been dotted with a punch numbering them..maybe it's been apart????my 354 hemi has the rod numbers cast into the rods, 1 thru 8....hopefully tomorrow i can get something plumbed in for cooling it, then i can get some idle time....build some heat...been wanting to pull the intake and valley pan, but been saving that part and the gaskets for a hopefull manifold change out...not much built for the 315 325 hemi's to breath thru... a rebuild and a blower would be the end all..........i think it could be built blown and still able to do a cross the USA trip....or 2.........but right now it is looking like 3 duece setup
I think I am going to make my own intake, It seams way to easy and I can pick either a blower intake or a 4 or 6 carb intake. The compression is low so I will be golden with 8-10lbs of boost! but we will see.
Heck, 73RR, EVERY place I look on the HAMB, SOMEbody has an interesting thread. I guess it makes me a car JUNKIE, but about every thread I look into gets me excited or curious. So, I'm always (1) waving a flag of support for osme guy's current project, OR (2) asking some question about something I don't know enough about. As I told Scooter 7 months ago, I view ANY human endeavor like, well, FISHING. If you think you know it ALL, then you've closed your mind & you won't get any better. SOMEbody is always smarter than me, so I try to learn. Others are ALWAYS coming up with new ideas, starting new trends & styles! I find the HAMB to be a hell of a stimulating place to go, learn, joke around -- sort of like a favorite bar with buddies who share similar interests. Only with the HAMB, it's a bar that's WORLDWIDE! Cool.
Well share some info on the 291's, I could use any information possible! I took the main caps off and they look good. This think has to have been rebuile before. I havent measured the bore but what size should it be stock? how about the mains? were do I find the specs on rebuileing this motor?
Yule, stock bore was 3.72 (.060 would make it a tad over 300-CID, but I wouldn't go there without doing a bunch of checking, which the more long-time Hambers would surely tell you; and MANY Hemi lovers say DON"T bore any more than it takes to clean up the cylinder walls, just FYI). I like HotRodders Knowledge Base for a bunch of basic info, and a ton of HAMB Hemi guys seem to swear by Hemi Hotheads, plus a couple of others (and plenty of specialty parts suppliers & makers). Man, you came to the right place for Hemi lovers. They are HERE on the Hamb. At the RISK of omitting somebody (I apologize in advance, buddies!), names that come to mind include Scooter McRad, RatBastad, 345Hemi, GotGas, 73RR and many more). Scooter's tech site was highly recommended to me. If you want a BUNCH of good contacts, just check out the thread that got ME into the HAMB network back in January: "Max Bore for DeSoto 330 Hemi." THESE GUYS CARE!
The Jalopy Journal
