Well after a gestation period of almost 9 months, my baby has arrived... back from the machine shop. This car was off the road since 1964, and the motor was stuck stuck stuck. 2 pistons (4 and 7, at BDC) were goo-welded and needed to be drilled and pounded out. I was worried I would have block damage, when I removed the heads 1964 coolant came out, and having suffered 60 Canadian winters I had thought I might have a crack or worse. Turned out the block was OK. Machinist said it looked remarkably good for sitting for so long and it's vintage. Perhaps more of a nod to the engineering and "overbuilt" status of these early Hemi's than good fortune. It was expensive. Machine work is more expensive out here in the hinterlands than others might find, but the biggest expense of course was parts. Eric from Hot Hemi was fantastic to deal with, but the Canadian dollar is in the crapper, so I had to multiply all the parts price by 1.35... plus international shipping and customs. In the end he decided to go 40 over, those 2 stuck cyls required sleeves.. I went with standard pistons so no compression bump from the original. Heads were in great shape, bumped the valves to 2.0i/1.75e. Isky cam (270 mega HYD@111), 110 lb springs, positive valve seal set. I had been surprised upon disassembly that the crank had been ground once before. It turned out the crank was not salvagable, so a 354 crank in great shape was found, and ground, to 010. When I got the motor back, I asked the shop to assemble the rotating assembly. The motor was locked up.... I'm like.... wtf.... Turns out he missed getting the thrust washer for the end of the cam required going from the long nose stock 54 cam to the '55 shorty. If you are planning on doing a 51-54 with a cam replacement make sure you get this simple piece. It has stopped my long block assembly for nearly a month. (we had a national postal strike just before Christmas, Canada is a mess haha) Piece finally should arrive this week and I'll get started, I figure I have pretty much everything ready to go... but I realised I have a question.... Gaskets. Timing cover, fuel pump, oil filter housing. All machined surfaces, so should these go on dry or should I use a gasket goo of some kind?
Engine reman is a fun adventure. Just did a period Correct 283. As for the gaskets. I say yes. I’m sure as the answers roll in, it will be evenly divided, yes and no. Maybe ask the machinist that got you to this point what he thinks.
I built a Hemi a few tears ago and having more leaks then i would care to admit. Im thinkingat minimum, use gasket spray like Permatex high tack to help with minor imperfections the paper may not seal.
The Jalopy Journal
