Tony, I believe you have found your "true calling". This channel is exceptional in that you give max wisdom with minimal dog and pony show. No 2 minute intro nonsense, no manufacturered drama, just straight to the point info and wisdom. God bless you.
@@DanEBoyd Yeah, but only rarely. 95% of the vids are what I just described. And let's face it, getting a look at unobtainum old cars owned by cool people isn't the worst. Beats 2 minute intros with horrible techno nonsense "music" through the whole video.
Exactly. No schtick, no clickbait titles of videos, no goofy thumbnails. Gets right down to business without the five minute time waster introductions. A font of knowledge for up and coming gearheads. Thanks U.T.G.
Man! You are so right Tony. I have spent forever putting my slant six together. Piston height, rod length, cylinder head alignment, pushrod length, cam timing, it's never ending. Sometimes I had to force myself to take the proper steps and not cut corners. And that's not mentioning the worst part, finally starting the engine. A whole new level of fear factor.
Hahaha.. truth! I've seen a hundred + hour build blow in 3 min flat. I get the jitters just doing a basic lol. Call it PTSD I guess. It wasn't even my engine that blew.
I can relate also. Thinking about my last build, a short list of stuff I had to sort, above & beyond: resize inside diameter of crank sprocket [only that one area of crank was 0.015" larger than spec as received for no apparent reason], knock 0.012-0.013" off pistons to get zero deck, measure/match grind areas of cylinder heads for equal cross section [pinch point & runner openings, the latter forced by a "gasket match" that left steps like a 3/8" end mill tends to do on a rough pass shaping], regroup on springs & retainers [after finding first set were a little off for the cam selected], and haul the block off to a machine shop for mains honing because they were too tight as delivered [as in off the chart on plastigage]. That leaves out a couple things [like lash caps used to correct rocker geometry], but these probably ate up an extra 40+ hours beyond a simple clean/measure/assemble with no real problems. I am no pro - just a home gamer. That short block gave me a headache - especially after seeing pistons had to come back out. I assembled that 4 times before moving to heads.
Wow! Gave me flashbacks lol. I learned how to use micrometers, calipers, dial gauges, and bore mics as a pretty young lad, by measuring assemblies for my uncle in his shop, as he was building dirt track engines. I took right to it, and I just had a flood of memories come back, as it was in the late 60s and 70s that I was first learning it. Spent many days and nights sorting long rods to short piston pins, and so on.
As a block machinist I worked for four different current or former Pro Stock racers. and what engine Builders go through to give a customer a good high horsepower, long lasting engine most people don't even have a Clue! A younger fellow I know tried to tell me that "Building an engine is a no brainer!" Oh how I wish he'd try & build his own race engine! lol
I'm not professional builder but trying to talk about the details in my niche Mazda market is frustrating. People seem to think these things only apply to old American engines. And they keep breaking pistons after they shoot down my statements on the importance of clearances.
My favorite was the boys that added up the gains they'd get from their after market parts, slap the thing together, and brag about the 500 plus hp they had. Hmmm
I have found that trial and error, tinkering experimenting and most of all listening to experience does make it a no brainer. I have assembled $75 engines that screamed, and ive also fallowed formulas that i could beat with junk. Engines are a wonderful thing, but its simply just science
@@oops1952 Yeah ive always laughed at them. I have a group of younger guys who say my car is fast. 🤦 Its just a stock early a body with a stock 360, the same engine formula that engine master deemed "the worst engine ever at west tech performance" 🤷 It aint fast yet. But my next engine, thanks to tony, will be a chassis breaker.
This is great information I wish I knew years ago. No one ever explains this stuff. I never knew there was so much slop in these engines and maybe that is why the newer engines are better with computer cnc and modern castings.
Thanks again Unk. Stock eliminator always inspired me. I always wanted to take a small block dodge using best parts from different years (eg. '72 360 short block, '66 273 D stock dart cam and rockers, '70 340 heads and 6pack, etc). After you blow the doors off of someone you can say the engine is all stock parts....wink wink...nudge nudge.
@@butcher4842 Good point. I liked the 318-3 truck crank. It was forged with shot peened journals. For the extra cubes I like the 360. The '71/'72 had flat top pistons. The HP '74 had a cast crank with shot peened journals good for 6500 rpm. It also had a windage tray and double roller chain.
So good and to the point. I would add get to know a machinist well. As an 17 year old I mixed Buick 350 pistons, early 60s forged rods, cast odd-fire crank, high-port heads on a low-port block, 252 intake and more, all on a 231 V6. Then Turboed it. Just so I didn't have to stick a belly button 350 in my Sunbird. All the tediousness was worth it.
The late former owner of my house (and my employer at one time) was a maintenance electrician at Dodge Main. Because all the assembly line folks wanted to keep the maintenance people happy when he ordered an employee deal vehicle all the various lines went out of their way to make sure his car was better than typical. The engine guys basically built him a balanced and blueprinted engine. The engine was still running strong when the car it was in finally rusted and fell apart.
My late neighbor was a Windsor plant machine shop manager ... he told me the same story . All the extra time was put in and it was a Dodge nothing when it rolled out .
Jeebus Tony! Do you know how many "internet know-it-all's" heads you just made explode?! You can't use that block with those wonky decks! (snark snark)
Tony is being humble! He says he’s not an engine builder but he was building nitro motors in his youth. I think he’s an awesome engine builder and extremely intelligent in terms of engines so we should all listen closely to him.
Yes I’ve seen a 253 holden V8 that when mocked up….. Two lifters were not spinning in the bore and that was believed to be due to an anomaly with the casting of the block itself…… the angles were not quite right on that particular casting…. To correct that they used shims…… OR you could go to solid roller lifters….. Point being is blueprinting should detect and correct these things………
So glad I didn't take on what I considered to be my first full rebuild until I worked at an engine shop. Gave the crank polisher guy a pizza to polish the crank. Gave some beers and hot dogs to the cyl head guy. Worked out great, I built it at home but had everything I needed bought in house. That made it a bunch easier. Oh and don't be in a hurry at all. It took me about 2-3 months of 3-5 evenings a week to get it done. Remember this is for fun too, so there's no sense in rushing it.
I did this with the valvetrain on a Ford 302. Moved rockers and pushrods around until it all came out exactly where it needed to be. Some have thin shims, some have thick, some have none, but the lifter preload is dead nuts and the top end is very quiet now.
I've been interested in cars and the mechanical aspects thereof for 15 years and I think half off my technical knowledge has come from you in the last couple. Thank you
What's amazing to me is that 383 is the exact same build we did for my brother's truck Hookers N Blow, he bored his out .060 but he used stock replacement pistons that came to the top of the deck, 516 heads, weiand tunnel ram, and it is a good engine. This will be a cool engine build
You have to remember your Rod Bearing wear will cause the piston to sit lower then normal! Upper rod bearing will wear faster then the bottom one in a high mileage engine which will make the piston dit lower by 3 or 4 or more thousandths of an inch.
Stock eliminator and Stock class cars are crazy.. My 72yo freind Steve that was a Nhra tech inspector and licensing official has a buddy in California with a 440 6brl Stock class car, Steve said there is over $20k in that "stock" engine... I was talking to a guy with a 318 2brl 69 Dart that was running 11.0s at Topeka a few years back, it still blows my mind how they get so much out of stock configurations even knowing what they actually go through to do it.. Those people have more time and money in there combination than most do in their full on race engines..
Thanks again Uncle Tony. When my buddy Ken and I are working together on my engine for the Green Goblin I always refer to your videos as a point of reference.
Leave it to UT to get it right! I always thought calling it "blueprinting" wasn't an adequate term. I knew several racers that ran cars in stock and super stock in the mid to late '70s. I saw some of the work they went through (only as a helper). It's difficult to describe their dedication and skills. Assembling and balancing everything "tighter than a gnat's ass" is amazingly tedious. You really need to 'embrace the suck' to get positive results. I never saw a blueprint or dimensional drawing for an engine. It was usually well-worn pages of clearance and tolerance charts from a service manual. I feel 'optimizing' is a much better description. Much respect to those 'optimizing' out there in YT land! Embrace the suck'!
Have torn apart many many mopar engines. Never witnessed an 0.018 difference in piston height, WOW. Sounds like someone was in this engine and replaced some stock pistons in there. The deck difference you have is very common especially on B motors.
I'm old lol, but I have seen it, especially with the early Mopars. I've never seen a factory gen II hemi block that had parallel deck heights. I've been around for a lot of years, and it's not uncommon for every make.
My '70 340 was spec'd for a plus .045 deck hight...only 1 made it. The lowest was about .015 with most around .030. Most of the difference was in the rod length
Funny I liked your post and then saw we have matching cars, my '57 is wanting a rebuild, just bought it and spending money already , oil plugs filters the usual , then I see there's just water in radiator, and she's over heating. Some previous owners never care for the rights parts of a car. How's yours doing?
Most people would just buy a new set of Pistons they don't even cost that much especially the old Dodge stuff the castes were horrible nothing was normal across-the-board you could have one head that looked great in the next head had slag in it so why would you use old Pistons when you can buy a nice new set for just a couple bucks and it be uniform across the board
When I go to rebuilt modify my LA 360 I'm going to check this stuff out especially with my buddy at his machine shop in Harrison ark = Premier machine shop Rick Cross . to save money I will be buying a 60.00 digital scale from the kitchen supply section at walmart super center to weight my pistions and rods but will have to drop my crank off at the machine shop to have it checked for balancing 😎🔧💪🏁
Hey Tony, Tim here, i love the "stock Eliminator" reference used, as those guys go thru HOURS of painstaking time to create a good motor, ex: my stock eliminator buddy set a new record in 1987.....and they had to retire the time slip, cuz nobody cud get there, and beat it!! one of the things he and his partner did, was go thru 120 Rockers, to find 16 that had the max ratio allowed, also off-set ground the crank for max tolerance of stroke......those are the time consuming, painstaking things an engine builder for SE has/shud do......btw it was a '69 BB Camaro.......when they broke the record, NHRA, has to tear it down to chk.....understandably, but the idiot measuring the stroke, measured it on the exhaust side of the piston, and told my guys they were not legal.....my man, argued, and said "WHY ARE YOU MEASURING ON THE SIDE OF THE PISTON?? ARE YOU STUPID??, YOU MEASURE AT THE CENTER OF THE PISTON, AS IT ROCKS IN THE BORE FOR SKIRT CLEARENCE!!!!".......dude took new measurements, and they were PERFECT on the max allowed stroke!!!.....there you have it, a SE story, and an idiot NHRA tech, back in '87.......nice vid, hope u enjoyed the little story!!!.....LOVE UR STUFF my brother!!
Tony you're too modest... I'm sure I could build an engine from bottom up, only relying on the videos that you put out.. Thanks for sharing your knowlege & experience ...EPIC!
I bushing rods all the time to correct rod lengths. Plus the rods and minus the pistons and hopefully you can get everything to be the same height. Then you got to have the crank ground exactly right or it starts getting off again.
Tony, I find very few vids here I care to watch, your channel is far superior to most, love the 390 fe info as your info is helping my wife and I with our current D4TE budget build . I'm sure I have as much age as you, just not near the knowledge, much appreciate you sharing in such a perfect manor for people like me with a limited budget.
Great stuff as usual. I do wonder how easily Uncle turns those blocks on the engine stands. When I've done that the dang thing binds and makes for a battle royale. I can only suspect the bind is because the engine pulls the rotating assembly down just enough to not let it turn freely, one end being slightly lower than the other.
I'd call it about 100 hours for a serious build. We used 1 machine shop for all the precision work, but we would go over to help and learn. Pay your money and your dues to a reliable machine shop. This always pays off, you have to realize your capabilities. Just because you can assemble a working engine doesn't mean it's going to be good or long lasting.
While working in the DIRECT CONECTION END of dealerships near Pittsburgh pa had a street stock team come to several dealers measured 81 rod piston assembly sets to get 8 this team was sponsored by Broadway Dodge in Mc keys rocks just out side of Pittsburgh. I will never forget that... I was Amazed....
I love the comment at the end "I'm a careful assembler." I strive to be that as well. Just recently put my aircooled vw engine together, and realized how much time could've been spent blueprinting that. Like you said though, I'm not an expert, I just measured bearing and stuff. Made sure it was all as clean as I can make it. Hope it lasts at least 50k lol
seen plenty of them last +150k with just nice driving and religious 2k oil changes. edit: valve adjust every 4k and the rest of the easy regular maintenance of course.
So the difference in piston height front to back is the main bearings not machined parallel to the deck? I'm not an engine builder but an .018" difference between one piston assembly to another seems like a lot, even for the 1960s. Where does this difference TYPICALLY come from? Is it in the rod, piston or a stacking of tolerances?
Not uncommon to see up to 0.020" difference in deck heights on older blocks. What is also playing a factor in this form of measuring is that the crank stroke is also most likely 0.006" - 0.010" different from front throw to the rear one. Which means when measuring and cutting a block based in this information, you are NOT getting a square block. Just something that will work good enough.
My original factory 1985 5.0 HO Mustang engine pistons and bores varied .005 from smallest to largest diameter. You could not swap the pistons around from bore to bore. This was an untouched since new 1985 Mustang 5.0 that I bought new!
Thanks again Tony , your videos are rare in the way that I always watch them in there entirety , they are that good . You were saying that the factory built basically loose engines , I agree. , when I was coming up from 67 - 70 I dragged raced many factory stock muscle cars on the street and at the strip GTO s to Coronet RTs and found that rare bird that was about 10 percent more , those cars I always thought were built just perfect probably one in ten thousand , just flukes
I want to rebuilt my 73 VW Beetle motor and might as well blueprint it. I believe you have to get each and every set of components to weigh exactly the same. So take the weight of your lightest piston and remove where you can do so safely from the rest until all 4 weigh the same. And so forth for everything. Sounds like a lot of work but might be worth it?
You can't be a Performance Engine "Builder"..... not in any real sense, unless you have sufficient knowledge, skill sets, and experience necessary to not just recognize/check... but 'modify' and change the Machining and parts to attain what YOU want. If you can't Machine.... you are an Engine ASSEMBLER .... Full Stop ! What's the difference in Bearing eccentricity between a CB527P Rod Bearing.... a CB527H Rod Bearing... or a CB527V Rod Bearing..... and WHAT size Crank within the Std or even .010" under Tolerance would you use each ? The Rod Sizing within the Tolerance for each ? See what I mean here ? And forget asking some NAPA Store Machine Shop.... BLANK STARES !
I don't care that this is 1 year old, show us on video that the pistons in your hand have a compression height difference of .018 from the factory And in fact the pistons are not from different engines and haven't been top cut by some mechanic /Machinists I have seen dodge engines have very different deck heights from front to back. You should set up a bar centered on the main journals and deck the block true so that now all the pistons are the same height from the deck from front to rear. Never seen the same set of pistons out of the exact same engine with varying compression heights. Never .005 is almost 1cc of volume That is a ton in my world
There most DEFINITELY IS a text book definition of a blueprinted engine !! In regards to the block, Chrysler made a "blueprint" of it before they produced it which exactly placed the lifter bores and cylinders in relation to the crank centerline. If you correctly machine a factory block to those specs, it is now "blueprinted". Doesn't usually happen on most builds, its expensive and you're better off buying an aftermarket block. Oh, your compression heights on your pistons are .018" off from each other? Knowing 60's & 70's Mopars, they are probably worse than that between all 8. GOOD aftermarket pistons will solve that. Now, the rods, are they all the correct length? If you reconditioned them, they are definitely not. Again, new aftermarket rods solve this. Is the crank the right stroke? Well, if you use aftermarket rods and pistons AND you zero deck the block, you'll know during assembly. All that being said, the machine being used, the machinist running it and the quality of factory parts all play a huge part in "blueprinting" a block. Then we can move on to blueprinting the heads ... etc, etc. MOST engines that claim to be balanced and blueprinted are not. Making sure clearances are correct is just a small part towards blueprinting an engine. Blueprinting has become a made up word among engine builders who know enough to be dangerous.
Stamped rockers and factory pushrods are junk. If you want to even come close to saying "blueprinted", you need aftermarket parts. The time and effort saved in buying multiple versions is well worth the extra money. Going fast is just a question of money, that question being "how fast do you want to go?".
Tony, after watching this video to the end, I have to agree with you, you are a skilled engine assembler, not a builder. I take issue with the amount of time you are willing to waste sifting through factory parts, though. When I build an engine for a customer, it is cheaper and easier to just write the check for GOOD aftermarket parts. In the end, it actually saves money.
@@TTGTO288. when you “build for a customer”. UTG videos are targeting the home engine builder. They may not have the budget to just hand it all to a machine shop. Not worth my time.. …. Right. I know that if I spend a day sorting parts, the amount of money I have doesn’t change at the end of the day. Not on a deadline , don’t have to build to satisfy anyone but myself.
It's nice to work on the older stuff because it's all SAE. Screwing with mixed thread nut and bolt pitches on the newer stuff, all day, with plastic parts mixed in, makes me just want to take up gardening.
Totally agree!!! Building the Stealths and 3000gts has been fun, but the Dart is so much nicer to work on... Much more, idk, relaxing and stress free(??)
I've kinda picked up a little trick for most of the newer plasticy stuff you talk of besides going off the old bolt marks deal. Where's the item from? Chances are if it's overseas it's gonna be metric. It's taken a while but I can usually just look at a some fastener threads and know if it's metric or sae.
all domestic brands use metric now. Has nothing to do with being overseas or not. They do it because metric is easier for the average halfwit to understand. That's why machining is done in Imperial still
a few inaccuracies .. buying stock cast pistons ,rockers and picking thru them ? maybe a long time ago .. 99 % of competitive NHRA stock class racers buy their race engines .. Stock Eliminator - 283, 327, 350ci Small Block Chevrolet Starting at $27,000..Patterson Elite Stock Eliminator SBCs are equipped with: Dart SHP block: complete blueprinted including bore, deck, cylinder and line hone Patterson Elite custom pistons Class approved connecting rods Bullet crankshaft, balanced in-house Bullet custom ground flat tappet camshaft Total Seal custom diamond finish piston rings Class accepted intake and exhaust valves PAC valve springs Precision Products lifters Aftermarket rocker system Trend pushrods Melling oil pump Stef's oil pan Cloyes timing set MSD distributor MSD spark plug wires ATI damper ARP fasteners FelPro gaskets Accepted carburetion per class specs CSR starter
You're so lucky. Get to fux with high precision engines all the time. Every engine I've built has been "GET IT DONE! I NEED THE CAR LAST WEEK!" No time for the fun, time-consuming, detail oriented stuff.
HAH! I'm doing my first engine refresh trying to reuse as many parts as possible. 2 weeks into it and still don't have it stripped down. One week to get it out of the car. Just finished 2nd week making a hot tank to clean parts. Still looking for torque specs for the important stuff with wild disparity on the interwebs. So I guess I'll have to schedule a year and a dedicated space if I ever attempt a custom build. Expectations...
Measuring and really looking over tolerances on everything key..( coming from a keyboard warrior).. But you have to be your own quality control.. I have worked factories and most worker are great but some don't five a crap or are newbs and try to hide their junk.. If you have a bin of 1000's of parts.. They go through quality control but they don't usually check every single one so it's good to go through things.. We all know by now junk sometimes passes under the radar.. Some companies take more pride in manufacturing and check everything.. Casting, round, flat.. Extra shmoo left from a lazy worker.. You never know what you might find that you never expected.. Always something.. Some new aspect never thought of yet.. I try to buy oldschool anything if I can and it's quality.. Crap now is disposable more and more..tools ect..
Could the crankshaft contribute to variation in where the piston lies relative to the top of the cylinder as well? Or is the radius of the rod journal travel generally precise enough across the crank that it's a non-factor?
There should only be about 1/2 thousands of difference between the clearances. If there is actually any measurable difference in stroke between two journals, it needs to be looked at.
Yeah, I think the crank could contribute to variations in deck height. On straight six engines its basically 3 pairs of of cylinders rising and falling together. I had a block set up for 0 deck , then smashed a rod bearing because of detonation after I had the crank cut 020 under it came back with #2 and #5 sticking out positive deck height had to use a thicker head gasket after that , I could be wrong but it seems the crank grinder tech offset those to journals together as a pair.
Yes, the stroke accuraccy will play part in this. Most cranks I have measured stroke accuracy on (100's of them) have been out enough to know I should not try and square block like this
Probably how sloppy the rod length tolerance was back then, hard to believe OEM pistons were +/- .018 thousandths , half that maybe, then the same +/- tolerance on pistons, tolerance of each rod journal and wallah.. you see what you are seeing.
I bought a beautiful red "57 Chevy Bel air 2 door, the engine is begging for a rebuild , with limited funds and back yard mechanic experience. Should I just do it? Also the frame is not great either. Clunks and rust. Would I be crazy to get involved?
The rolls Royce merlin engines were all blueprinted when assembled in the U.K. factories. When Packard got the drawings and specs they said ‘this won’t work for mass production, and had to re-spec all the tolerance for mass production. They never made as much power as the U.K. built engines but obviously could me made way faster
"blueprinting" is a term like "original miles", it's thrown around to make a sale but no one really agrees on what it means. Does original miles mean the engine has the same miles as the odometer reading? or does it refer to the days of 99,999 odometer and mean it hasn't rolled over twice? If you're building a race engine to last to the finish line (can't win otherwise) you want to build as fine as a gnat's nose hair. Especially when an opponent challenges your engine to a tear down after the race. But I don't think Mopar is building 707 Hemis by hand, right? oh sure they have computers but even back in the day, like UT said a 400 hp engine was built on a moving assembly line in minutes. One guy did the same procedure 100 times a day, maybe he did a better job than the guy building an entire Ferrari engine. I used to work with the son of a marine sniper who became an aeronautic machinist--there was ONLY one way to do things. i try not to get that particular, but i will do things like buy a stroker assembly complete on the theory the company balanced it all together. If i'm going to go thru a pile of rocker arms and check each ratio, i'd only do it on a single carb engine so the outside cylinders got a slightly longer valve opening since their runners are longer than the inboard cylinders. but i'll weight connecting rods and slugs and match the lightest one with the heaviest other, and get "close enough for government work" balance. After all, as the engine runs, oil is sloshing and spraying around the crankcase so those rods are gaining and losing weight every rotation. I will suggest, when it comes to grinding away, put a rare earth magnet nearby to catch slag and fill in nearby holes with shaving cream--that'll catch other gack and then you wash it out. As for measuring reciprocating clearance, remember metal "grows" when hot and the crank flexes like a spring. as always, measure twice, cut once, and you avoid ending up with a "monday morning/friday afternoon" engine.
The amount of time required to go through everything, not my cup of tea. I'm taking everything to a machine shop. Let them square the block, line bore, zero every piston. The cost is negligible, and they'll get it done a hell of a lot faster, than the cost of my time.
I started this stuff 55 years ago when I was a kid but before I could ever drive in in 70 and 71 I was building a go-kart engine I was using these basic ideas then before I could drive without a shop I was somewhat meticulous on repertoire checking things and and looking at measurements because I also took drafting which is a dead trade now on top of machine shop on top of automotive but I was always into finite checking stuff which I used to get in trouble for because it was I was slow but I was meticulous a good mechanic but slow you can't build a motor overnight I don't care who you are I don't care what business you got I don't care what your famous name is you can't build a motor overnight you can't even build it in a week!? It takes 40 hours to Port a set of heads by hand and you can assemble an engine take it apart put it back together take it apart three times dry just checking for things and I would do it if I had a shop but I was always into checking and double checking and checking and double checking and to my knowledge in 55 years I've never had an engine blow up and if I built one for someone or fixed it I don't recall it ever blowing up but there's an awful lot of meticulous checking I just wish I had a big shop like some of these guys on RUclips
do you agree that when replacing pistons and cylinders, it is not even worth measuring their weight differences? and shouldn't you start removing the substance? normal in a car? if it was a special car that would be driven at maximum revs then what? because in my opinion you don't even notice the difference in weight when you visit, isn't that right?
Don't over look a 400 SBC. With a cam and a set of 64cc cylinder heads with stock pistons they can run really fast on the cheap and run a long time if you put it together right.
assemble disassembled reassemble over n over till its right then do it a few more times unless its a top fuel motor good for 2 passes . i must have spent 100hours on my last set of 906s clean and smooth everything especially oil passages and anything thats going to be under pressure
then another question: when do you know if the crankshaft needs to be polished? if you can't see any scratches and it doesn't shine bright and the nail doesn't feel grooves either, is it ready for use? or is it always worth polishing when the bearings are replaced?
Production products tend to suck, so if you can take even a “proper high performance” production set up to actually perform and live on for a bit is a bigger deal than most people think 💭
@@elmerfudpucker3204 Wrong, two very different phenomenon, root causes are completely different. The only similarity is they are abnormal combustion events.
Can you please do a tutorial on the big block mopar rear crank seal. The big block mopar is the best designed and built engine but I feel the rear crank seal is the Achilles heal of it.
Tony, I believe you have found your "true calling".
This channel is exceptional in that you give max wisdom with minimal dog and pony show. No 2 minute intro nonsense, no manufacturered drama, just straight to the point info and wisdom.
God bless you.
@@DanEBoyd
Yeah, but only rarely.
95% of the vids are what I just described.
And let's face it, getting a look at unobtainum old cars owned by cool people isn't the worst.
Beats 2 minute intros with horrible techno nonsense "music" through the whole video.
Exactly. No schtick, no clickbait titles of videos, no goofy thumbnails. Gets right down to business without the five minute time waster introductions. A font of knowledge for up and coming gearheads. Thanks U.T.G.
He's telling stuff alot of people will not . Hats off brother.
exactly my thoughts
Man! You are so right Tony. I have spent forever putting my slant six together. Piston height, rod length, cylinder head alignment, pushrod length, cam timing, it's never ending. Sometimes I had to force myself to take the proper steps and not cut corners. And that's not mentioning the worst part, finally starting the engine. A whole new level of fear factor.
I know thats right . It's like damn i spent all this time and money . Lawd Don't let me fu€K this up now.__
Hahaha.. truth! I've seen a hundred + hour build blow in 3 min flat. I get the jitters just doing a basic lol. Call it PTSD I guess. It wasn't even my engine that blew.
I can relate also. Thinking about my last build, a short list of stuff I had to sort, above & beyond: resize inside diameter of crank sprocket [only that one area of crank was 0.015" larger than spec as received for no apparent reason], knock 0.012-0.013" off pistons to get zero deck, measure/match grind areas of cylinder heads for equal cross section [pinch point & runner openings, the latter forced by a "gasket match" that left steps like a 3/8" end mill tends to do on a rough pass shaping], regroup on springs & retainers [after finding first set were a little off for the cam selected], and haul the block off to a machine shop for mains honing because they were too tight as delivered [as in off the chart on plastigage]. That leaves out a couple things [like lash caps used to correct rocker geometry], but these probably ate up an extra 40+ hours beyond a simple clean/measure/assemble with no real problems. I am no pro - just a home gamer. That short block gave me a headache - especially after seeing pistons had to come back out. I assembled that 4 times before moving to heads.
Wow! Gave me flashbacks lol. I learned how to use micrometers, calipers, dial gauges, and bore mics as a pretty young lad, by measuring assemblies for my uncle in his shop, as he was building dirt track engines. I took right to it, and I just had a flood of memories come back, as it was in the late 60s and 70s that I was first learning it. Spent many days and nights sorting long rods to short piston pins, and so on.
As a block machinist I worked for four different current or former Pro Stock racers. and what engine Builders go through to give a customer a good high horsepower, long lasting engine most people don't even have a Clue! A younger fellow I know tried to tell me that "Building an engine is a no brainer!" Oh how I wish he'd try & build his own race engine! lol
I'm not professional builder but trying to talk about the details in my niche Mazda market is frustrating. People seem to think these things only apply to old American engines. And they keep breaking pistons after they shoot down my statements on the importance of clearances.
My favorite was the boys that added up the gains they'd get from their after market parts, slap the thing together, and brag about the 500 plus hp they had. Hmmm
Sad nobody wants to pay for your time anymore though... they just expect hours of work and perfection for free 99
I have found that trial and error, tinkering experimenting and most of all listening to experience does make it a no brainer.
I have assembled $75 engines that screamed, and ive also fallowed formulas that i could beat with junk.
Engines are a wonderful thing, but its simply just science
@@oops1952 Yeah ive always laughed at them.
I have a group of younger guys who say my car is fast. 🤦
Its just a stock early a body with a stock 360, the same engine formula that engine master deemed "the worst engine ever at west tech performance"
🤷 It aint fast yet. But my next engine, thanks to tony, will be a chassis breaker.
This is great information I wish I knew years ago. No one ever explains this stuff. I never knew there was so much slop in these engines and maybe that is why the newer engines are better with computer cnc and modern castings.
Thanks again Unk. Stock eliminator always inspired me. I always wanted to take a small block dodge using best parts from different years (eg. '72 360 short block, '66 273 D stock dart cam and rockers, '70 340 heads and 6pack, etc). After you blow the doors off of someone you can say the engine is all stock parts....wink wink...nudge nudge.
Don't forget, the crankshaft in a 273 is factory Forged and is the same stroke as a 340 and 318. Good stuff here.
@@butcher4842 Good point. I liked the 318-3 truck crank. It was forged with shot peened journals. For the extra cubes I like the 360. The '71/'72 had flat top pistons. The HP '74 had a cast crank with shot peened journals good for 6500 rpm. It also had a windage tray and double roller chain.
So good and to the point. I would add get to know a machinist well. As an 17 year old I mixed Buick 350 pistons, early 60s forged rods, cast odd-fire crank, high-port heads on a low-port block, 252 intake and more, all on a 231 V6. Then Turboed it. Just so I didn't have to stick a belly button 350 in my Sunbird. All the tediousness was worth it.
Great video Tony!! I am currently building a stroker engine with a lot of aftermarket parts and I have found measuring every little detail is key.
The late former owner of my house (and my employer at one time) was a maintenance electrician at Dodge Main. Because all the assembly line folks wanted to keep the maintenance people happy when he ordered an employee deal vehicle all the various lines went out of their way to make sure his car was better than typical. The engine guys basically built him a balanced and blueprinted engine. The engine was still running strong when the car it was in finally rusted and fell apart.
My late neighbor was a Windsor plant machine shop manager ... he told me the same story .
All the extra time was put in and it was a Dodge nothing when it rolled out .
Jeebus Tony! Do you know how many "internet know-it-all's" heads you just made explode?! You can't use that block with those wonky decks! (snark snark)
Personally I blame squirrels
Glad to see you're on top of things.
Squirrels are so 2021 🙄
@@craig8187 ......2019 👈🏻✅
@@unclesquirrel6951 🤣🤣👍
I had a 66 Val, Signet with a 272 2bll. and ran 14.63 all day long and drove it to and from the track. This was in the early 1970's.
Tony is being humble! He says he’s not an engine builder but he was building nitro motors in his youth. I think he’s an awesome engine builder and extremely intelligent in terms of engines so we should all listen closely to him.
Uncle Tony is a wealth of knowledge.
Yes I’ve seen a 253 holden V8 that when mocked up…..
Two lifters were not spinning in the bore
and that was believed to be due to an anomaly with the casting of the block itself…… the angles were not quite right on that particular casting….
To correct that they used shims……
OR you could go to solid roller lifters…..
Point being is blueprinting should detect and correct these things………
So glad I didn't take on what I considered to be my first full rebuild until I worked at an engine shop.
Gave the crank polisher guy a pizza to polish the crank.
Gave some beers and hot dogs to the cyl head guy.
Worked out great, I built it at home but had everything I needed bought in house.
That made it a bunch easier.
Oh and don't be in a hurry at all.
It took me about 2-3 months of 3-5 evenings a week to get it done.
Remember this is for fun too, so there's no sense in rushing it.
"Don't Hurry" is the cardinal rule of this stuff.
This is why many people only run a particular engine no matter what body it's going into, building up a hoard of parts so they can mix and match.
I did this with the valvetrain on a Ford 302. Moved rockers and pushrods around until it all came out exactly where it needed to be. Some have thin shims, some have thick, some have none, but the lifter preload is dead nuts and the top end is very quiet now.
I've been interested in cars and the mechanical aspects thereof for 15 years and I think half off my technical knowledge has come from you in the last couple. Thank you
Said it once and I'll say it again , I learn something new every time I watch tony explained things , bloody good teacher .
As always, you enlighten me to ways of thinking that are valuable for the home builder. Thank you again.
Germany destroyed the Detroit Chrysler assembly line. Long ago it's gone. #2 cyl. Pulling shavings.
What's amazing to me is that 383 is the exact same build we did for my brother's truck Hookers N Blow, he bored his out .060 but he used stock replacement pistons that came to the top of the deck, 516 heads, weiand tunnel ram, and it is a good engine. This will be a cool engine build
It is amazing how a 383
Is a 383?
You have to remember your Rod Bearing wear will cause the piston to sit lower then normal! Upper rod bearing will wear faster then the bottom one in a high mileage engine which will make the piston dit lower by 3 or 4 or more thousandths of an inch.
Stock eliminator and Stock class cars are crazy.. My 72yo freind Steve that was a Nhra tech inspector and licensing official has a buddy in California with a 440 6brl Stock class car, Steve said there is over $20k in that "stock" engine... I was talking to a guy with a 318 2brl 69 Dart that was running 11.0s at Topeka a few years back, it still blows my mind how they get so much out of stock configurations even knowing what they actually go through to do it.. Those people have more time and money in there combination than most do in their full on race engines..
What is the acceptable clearance between the top of the piston and the cylinder head on closed chamber heads?
.040
Thanks again Uncle Tony. When my buddy Ken and I are working together on my engine for the Green Goblin I always refer to your videos as a point of reference.
Leave it to UT to get it right! I always thought calling it "blueprinting" wasn't an adequate term. I knew several racers that ran cars in stock and super stock in the mid to late '70s. I saw some of the work they went through (only as a helper). It's difficult to describe their dedication and skills. Assembling and balancing everything "tighter than a gnat's ass" is amazingly tedious. You really need to 'embrace the suck' to get positive results. I never saw a blueprint or dimensional drawing for an engine. It was usually well-worn pages of clearance and tolerance charts from a service manual. I feel 'optimizing' is a much better description. Much respect to those 'optimizing' out there in YT land! Embrace the suck'!
Have torn apart many many mopar engines. Never witnessed an 0.018 difference in piston height, WOW. Sounds like someone was in this engine and replaced some stock pistons in there. The deck difference you have is very common especially on B motors.
I'm old lol, but I have seen it, especially with the early Mopars. I've never seen a factory gen II hemi block that had parallel deck heights. I've been around for a lot of years, and it's not uncommon for every make.
My '70 340 was spec'd for a plus .045 deck hight...only 1 made it. The lowest was about .015 with most around .030. Most of the difference was in the rod length
This is absolutely fascinating. Getting the most out of what youhave, instead of just buying something shiny and new, is a real art form.
Funny I liked your post and then saw we have matching cars, my '57 is wanting a rebuild, just bought it and spending money already , oil plugs filters the usual , then I see there's just water in radiator, and she's over heating. Some previous owners never care for the rights parts of a car. How's yours doing?
the simplicity of your explanations, straight to it, is like a massage for my brain. this is bliss for the inquisitive mind
Most people would just buy a new set of Pistons they don't even cost that much especially the old Dodge stuff the castes were horrible nothing was normal across-the-board you could have one head that looked great in the next head had slag in it so why would you use old Pistons when you can buy a nice new set for just a couple bucks and it be uniform across the board
And this is why good engines cost 40k
When I go to rebuilt modify my LA 360 I'm going to check this stuff out especially with my buddy at his machine shop in Harrison ark = Premier machine shop Rick Cross . to save money I will be buying a 60.00 digital scale from the kitchen supply section at walmart super center to weight my pistions and rods but will have to drop my crank off at the machine shop to have it checked for balancing 😎🔧💪🏁
As I said before,this man came out of his mom with a torque wrench in hand lol...
Hey Tony,
Tim here, i love the "stock Eliminator" reference used, as those guys go thru HOURS of painstaking time to create a good motor, ex: my stock eliminator buddy set a new record in 1987.....and they had to retire the time slip, cuz nobody cud get there, and beat it!! one of the things he and his partner did, was go thru 120 Rockers, to find 16 that had the max ratio allowed, also off-set ground the crank for max tolerance of stroke......those are the time consuming, painstaking things an engine builder for SE has/shud do......btw it was a '69 BB Camaro.......when they broke the record, NHRA, has to tear it down to chk.....understandably, but the idiot measuring the stroke, measured it on the exhaust side of the piston, and told my guys they were not legal.....my man, argued, and said "WHY ARE YOU MEASURING ON THE SIDE OF THE PISTON?? ARE YOU STUPID??, YOU MEASURE AT THE CENTER OF THE PISTON, AS IT ROCKS IN THE BORE FOR SKIRT CLEARENCE!!!!".......dude took new measurements, and they were PERFECT on the max allowed stroke!!!.....there you have it, a SE story, and an idiot NHRA tech, back in '87.......nice vid, hope u enjoyed the little story!!!.....LOVE UR STUFF my brother!!
Tony you're too modest... I'm sure I could build an engine from bottom up, only relying on the videos that you put out..
Thanks for sharing your knowlege & experience ...EPIC!
I bushing rods all the time to correct rod lengths. Plus the rods and minus the pistons and hopefully you can get everything to be the same height. Then you got to have the crank ground exactly right or it starts getting off again.
Measure center to center on the rods. Match them to the pistons.
Tony, I find very few vids here I care to watch, your channel is far superior to most, love the 390 fe info as your info is helping my wife and I with our current D4TE budget build . I'm sure I have as much age as you, just not near the knowledge, much appreciate you sharing in such a perfect manor for people like me with a limited budget.
Awesome information, now I know what blue printing actually means.lol
This guy needs to be cloned and then frozen for future generations...exceptional advice and teaching.
Very informative and great to hear someone say it out loud. Parts replacement techs and mechanics are far apart in skill level.
Uncle Tony I love the way you tell it.
No Bull$hit in your shows!
Cheers & stay safe😊
Great stuff as usual. I do wonder how easily Uncle turns those blocks on the engine stands. When I've done that the dang thing binds and makes for a battle royale. I can only suspect the bind is because the engine pulls the rotating assembly down just enough to not let it turn freely, one end being slightly lower than the other.
A light coating of good quality grease goes a long way with engine stand rotating assemblies.
I'd call it about 100 hours for a serious build. We used 1 machine shop for all the precision work, but we would go over to help and learn. Pay your money and your dues to a reliable machine shop. This always pays off, you have to realize your capabilities. Just because you can assemble a working engine doesn't mean it's going to be good or long lasting.
Thanks Tony, that was a great video.
While working in the DIRECT CONECTION END of dealerships near Pittsburgh pa had a street stock team come to several dealers measured 81 rod piston assembly sets to get 8 this team was sponsored by Broadway Dodge in Mc keys rocks just out side of Pittsburgh. I will never forget that... I was Amazed....
I love the comment at the end "I'm a careful assembler." I strive to be that as well. Just recently put my aircooled vw engine together, and realized how much time could've been spent blueprinting that. Like you said though, I'm not an expert, I just measured bearing and stuff. Made sure it was all as clean as I can make it. Hope it lasts at least 50k lol
seen plenty of them last +150k with just nice driving and religious 2k oil changes.
edit: valve adjust every 4k and the rest of the easy regular maintenance of course.
11mm is basically 7/16
So the difference in piston height front to back is the main bearings not machined parallel to the deck?
I'm not an engine builder but an .018" difference between one piston assembly to another seems like a lot, even for the 1960s. Where does this difference TYPICALLY come from? Is it in the rod, piston or a stacking of tolerances?
Not uncommon to see up to 0.020" difference in deck heights on older blocks. What is also playing a factor in this form of measuring is that the crank stroke is also most likely 0.006" - 0.010" different from front throw to the rear one. Which means when measuring and cutting a block based in this information, you are NOT getting a square block. Just something that will work good enough.
Show them how to build it, and they will come, UTGs field of dreams
My original factory 1985 5.0 HO Mustang engine pistons and bores varied .005 from smallest to largest diameter. You could not swap the pistons around from bore to bore. This was an untouched since new 1985 Mustang 5.0 that I bought new!
A younger fellow (Non racer) I know tried to tell me, "Building' an engine is no brainer!" Oh how I wish he'd try & build his own racing engine! Lol
For him it probably is a no brainer…
He’s prob more of a credit card swiper
Thanks again Tony , your videos are rare in the way that I always watch them in there entirety , they are that good . You were saying that the factory built basically loose engines , I agree. , when I was coming up from 67 - 70 I dragged raced many factory stock muscle cars on the street and at the strip GTO s to Coronet RTs and found that rare bird that was about 10 percent more , those cars I always thought were built just perfect probably one in ten thousand , just flukes
There are lots of engine assemblers not very many engine builders.
I want to rebuilt my 73 VW Beetle motor and might as well blueprint it. I believe you have to get each and every set of components to weigh exactly the same. So take the weight of your lightest piston and remove where you can do so safely from the rest until all 4 weigh the same. And so forth for everything. Sounds like a lot of work but might be worth it?
Now I have a small idea what "blueprinting" an engine means.
You can't be a Performance Engine "Builder"..... not in any real sense, unless you have sufficient knowledge, skill sets, and experience necessary to not just recognize/check... but 'modify' and change the Machining and parts to attain what YOU want. If you can't Machine.... you are an Engine ASSEMBLER .... Full Stop !
What's the difference in Bearing eccentricity between a CB527P Rod Bearing.... a CB527H Rod Bearing... or a CB527V Rod Bearing..... and WHAT size Crank within the Std or even .010" under Tolerance would you use each ? The Rod Sizing within the Tolerance for each ?
See what I mean here ?
And forget asking some NAPA Store Machine Shop.... BLANK STARES !
I don't care that this is 1 year old, show us on video that the pistons in your hand have a compression height difference of .018 from the factory And in fact the pistons are not from different engines and haven't been top cut by some mechanic /Machinists
I have seen dodge engines have very different deck heights from front to back. You should set up a bar centered on the main journals and deck the block true so that now all the pistons are the same height from the deck from front to rear.
Never seen the same set of pistons out of the exact same engine with varying compression heights. Never
.005 is almost 1cc of volume
That is a ton in my world
There most DEFINITELY IS a text book definition of a blueprinted engine !! In regards to the block, Chrysler made a "blueprint" of it before they produced it which exactly placed the lifter bores and cylinders in relation to the crank centerline. If you correctly machine a factory block to those specs, it is now "blueprinted". Doesn't usually happen on most builds, its expensive and you're better off buying an aftermarket block.
Oh, your compression heights on your pistons are .018" off from each other? Knowing 60's & 70's Mopars, they are probably worse than that between all 8. GOOD aftermarket pistons will solve that. Now, the rods, are they all the correct length? If you reconditioned them, they are definitely not. Again, new aftermarket rods solve this.
Is the crank the right stroke? Well, if you use aftermarket rods and pistons AND you zero deck the block, you'll know during assembly.
All that being said, the machine being used, the machinist running it and the quality of factory parts all play a huge part in "blueprinting" a block.
Then we can move on to blueprinting the heads ... etc, etc. MOST engines that claim to be balanced and blueprinted are not. Making sure clearances are correct is just a small part towards blueprinting an engine.
Blueprinting has become a made up word among engine builders who know enough to be dangerous.
Stamped rockers and factory pushrods are junk. If you want to even come close to saying "blueprinted", you need aftermarket parts. The time and effort saved in buying multiple versions is well worth the extra money. Going fast is just a question of money, that question being "how fast do you want to go?".
Tony, after watching this video to the end, I have to agree with you, you are a skilled engine assembler, not a builder. I take issue with the amount of time you are willing to waste sifting through factory parts, though. When I build an engine for a customer, it is cheaper and easier to just write the check for GOOD aftermarket parts. In the end, it actually saves money.
@@TTGTO288. when you “build for a customer”. UTG videos are targeting the home engine builder. They may not have the budget to just hand it all to a machine shop. Not worth my time.. …. Right. I know that if I spend a day sorting parts, the amount of money I have doesn’t change at the end of the day. Not on a deadline , don’t have to build to satisfy anyone but myself.
It's nice to work on the older stuff because it's all SAE. Screwing with mixed thread nut and bolt pitches on the newer stuff, all day, with plastic parts mixed in, makes me just want to take up gardening.
Totally agree!!! Building the Stealths and 3000gts has been fun, but the Dart is so much nicer to work on... Much more, idk, relaxing and stress free(??)
I've kinda picked up a little trick for most of the newer plasticy stuff you talk of besides going off the old bolt marks deal.
Where's the item from?
Chances are if it's overseas it's gonna be metric.
It's taken a while but I can usually just look at a some fastener threads and know if it's metric or sae.
all domestic brands use metric now.
Has nothing to do with being overseas or not. They do it because metric is easier for the average halfwit to understand.
That's why machining is done in Imperial still
Preparation i crucial because without preparation it's just H.
a few inaccuracies .. buying stock cast pistons ,rockers and picking thru them ? maybe a long time ago .. 99 % of competitive NHRA stock class racers buy their race engines .. Stock Eliminator - 283, 327, 350ci Small Block Chevrolet
Starting at $27,000..Patterson Elite Stock Eliminator SBCs are equipped with:
Dart SHP block: complete blueprinted including bore, deck, cylinder and line hone
Patterson Elite custom pistons
Class approved connecting rods
Bullet crankshaft, balanced in-house
Bullet custom ground flat tappet camshaft
Total Seal custom diamond finish piston rings
Class accepted intake and exhaust valves
PAC valve springs
Precision Products lifters
Aftermarket rocker system
Trend pushrods
Melling oil pump
Stef's oil pan
Cloyes timing set
MSD distributor
MSD spark plug wires
ATI damper
ARP fasteners
FelPro gaskets
Accepted carburetion per class specs
CSR starter
You're so lucky. Get to fux with high precision engines all the time. Every engine I've built has been "GET IT DONE! I NEED THE CAR LAST WEEK!" No time for the fun, time-consuming, detail oriented stuff.
Thank you for educating me Tony. About to blueprint a Aston Martin V12 engine & doing due diligence.
HAH! I'm doing my first engine refresh trying to reuse as many parts as possible. 2 weeks into it and still don't have it stripped down. One week to get it out of the car. Just finished 2nd week making a hot tank to clean parts. Still looking for torque specs for the important stuff with wild disparity on the interwebs. So I guess I'll have to schedule a year and a dedicated space if I ever attempt a custom build. Expectations...
Measuring and really looking over tolerances on everything key..( coming from a keyboard warrior)..
But you have to be your own quality control.. I have worked factories and most worker are great but some don't five a crap or are newbs and try to hide their junk.. If you have a bin of 1000's of parts.. They go through quality control but they don't usually check every single one so it's good to go through things.. We all know by now junk sometimes passes under the radar.. Some companies take more pride in manufacturing and check everything.. Casting, round, flat.. Extra shmoo left from a lazy worker.. You never know what you might find that you never expected.. Always something.. Some new aspect never thought of yet.. I try to buy oldschool anything if I can and it's quality.. Crap now is disposable more and more..tools ect..
Could the crankshaft contribute to variation in where the piston lies relative to the top of the cylinder as well? Or is the radius of the rod journal travel generally precise enough across the crank that it's a non-factor?
There should only be about 1/2 thousands of difference between the clearances. If there is actually any measurable difference in stroke between two journals, it needs to be looked at.
Yeah, I think the crank could contribute to variations in deck height. On straight six engines its basically 3 pairs of of cylinders rising and falling together. I had a block set up for 0 deck , then smashed a rod bearing because of detonation after I had the crank cut 020 under it came back with #2 and #5 sticking out positive deck height had to use a thicker head gasket after that , I could be wrong but it seems the crank grinder tech offset those to journals together as a pair.
Yes, the stroke accuraccy will play part in this. Most cranks I have measured stroke accuracy on (100's of them) have been out enough to know I should not try and square block like this
@13:21, "I'm not an -Engine builder-" lololololol ya, ok mr. blueprint, measure, re- measure, go over everything meticulously.
Probably how sloppy the rod length tolerance was back then, hard to believe OEM pistons were +/- .018 thousandths , half that maybe, then the same +/- tolerance on pistons, tolerance of each rod journal and wallah.. you see what you are seeing.
I bought a beautiful red "57 Chevy Bel air 2 door, the engine is begging for a rebuild , with limited funds and back yard mechanic experience. Should I just do it? Also the frame is not great either. Clunks and rust. Would I be crazy to get involved?
The rolls Royce merlin engines were all blueprinted when assembled in the U.K. factories. When Packard got the drawings and specs they said ‘this won’t work for mass production, and had to re-spec all the tolerance for mass production. They never made as much power as the U.K. built engines but obviously could me made way faster
To start, I would have measured the Piston from the Pin Hole to the top of the Piston. Quick and easy. Remember, I said to START.
"blueprinting" is a term like "original miles", it's thrown around to make a sale but no one really agrees on what it means. Does original miles mean the engine has the same miles as the odometer reading? or does it refer to the days of 99,999 odometer and mean it hasn't rolled over twice?
If you're building a race engine to last to the finish line (can't win otherwise) you want to build as fine as a gnat's nose hair. Especially when an opponent challenges your engine to a tear down after the race. But I don't think Mopar is building 707 Hemis by hand, right? oh sure they have computers but even back in the day, like UT said a 400 hp engine was built on a moving assembly line in minutes. One guy did the same procedure 100 times a day, maybe he did a better job than the guy building an entire Ferrari engine.
I used to work with the son of a marine sniper who became an aeronautic machinist--there was ONLY one way to do things. i try not to get that particular, but i will do things like buy a stroker assembly complete on the theory the company balanced it all together. If i'm going to go thru a pile of rocker arms and check each ratio, i'd only do it on a single carb engine so the outside cylinders got a slightly longer valve opening since their runners are longer than the inboard cylinders. but i'll weight connecting rods and slugs and match the lightest one with the heaviest other, and get "close enough for government work" balance. After all, as the engine runs, oil is sloshing and spraying around the crankcase so those rods are gaining and losing weight every rotation.
I will suggest, when it comes to grinding away, put a rare earth magnet nearby to catch slag and fill in nearby holes with shaving cream--that'll catch other gack and then you wash it out. As for measuring reciprocating clearance, remember metal "grows" when hot and the crank flexes like a spring.
as always, measure twice, cut once, and you avoid ending up with a "monday morning/friday afternoon" engine.
I'm new to Building Dodge Do you have any? Formulas for a small block. To make them fast without spending a lot of money
The amount of time required to go through everything, not my cup of tea. I'm taking everything to a machine shop. Let them square the block, line bore, zero every piston. The cost is negligible, and they'll get it done a hell of a lot faster, than the cost of my time.
CULT LEADER UTG
I started this stuff 55 years ago when I was a kid but before I could ever drive in in 70 and 71 I was building a go-kart engine I was using these basic ideas then before I could drive without a shop I was somewhat meticulous on repertoire checking things and and looking at measurements because I also took drafting which is a dead trade now on top of machine shop on top of automotive but I was always into finite checking stuff which I used to get in trouble for because it was I was slow but I was meticulous a good mechanic but slow you can't build a motor overnight I don't care who you are I don't care what business you got I don't care what your famous name is you can't build a motor overnight you can't even build it in a week!? It takes 40 hours to Port a set of heads by hand and you can assemble an engine take it apart put it back together take it apart three times dry just checking for things and I would do it if I had a shop but I was always into checking and double checking and checking and double checking and to my knowledge in 55 years I've never had an engine blow up and if I built one for someone or fixed it I don't recall it ever blowing up but there's an awful lot of meticulous checking I just wish I had a big shop like some of these guys on RUclips
Tony, what do the engine builders do beyond this? Are they machining parts or what? How is a stroker built?
do you agree that when replacing pistons and cylinders, it is not even worth measuring their weight differences? and shouldn't you start removing the substance? normal in a car? if it was a special car that would be driven at maximum revs then what? because in my opinion you don't even notice the difference in weight when you visit, isn't that right?
That is an insane difference. I'd never run them in a performance engine
Don't over look a 400 SBC. With a cam and a set of 64cc cylinder heads with stock pistons they can run really fast on the cheap and run a long time if you put it together right.
assemble disassembled reassemble over n over till its right then do it a few more times unless its a top fuel motor good for 2 passes . i must have spent 100hours on my last set of 906s clean and smooth everything especially oil passages and anything thats going to be under pressure
then another question: when do you know if the crankshaft needs to be polished? if you can't see any scratches and it doesn't shine bright and the nail doesn't feel grooves either, is it ready for use? or is it always worth polishing when the bearings are replaced?
Production products tend to suck, so if you can take even a “proper high performance” production set up to actually perform and live on for a bit is a bigger deal than most people think 💭
Tony, Why did you not have the deck milled so it would be even? I am not being a jackass I am just curious.
Someone got too jiggy with their rod stretcher on that one. Detonation isn't pre-ignition, those are different animals.
Laymen's use of both in engine work, both are close enough to mean almost the same. The point gets across, regardless.
@@elmerfudpucker3204 Wrong, two very different phenomenon, root causes are completely different. The only similarity is they are abnormal combustion events.
Dang….I wish i lived closer. I want a 440 4bbl that Tony builds.
This day in age you have to blueprint any engine you assemble way too many options,too many parts coming from all over the world.
Can you please do a tutorial on the big block mopar rear crank seal. The big block mopar is the best designed and built engine but I feel the rear crank seal is the Achilles heal of it.
I know is I love our country. Damn shame where the world's heading
it remind me the videos of JafroMobile , saving the diferences between clasic american V8 and dsm
Mate, I subscribed. Thanks for keeping it real.
Interesting. So the block itself doesn't get machined et cetera . Heads can ???
Just picked some pretty good new knowledge thanks 👍.
😎✌🖖👍👌🤓
Nice video 👍🏼
The more of your videos I watch the more I want to send you my 390fe stroker to go through.
I have to wonder if that deck height variation could have been variation of the crank throws. Or rod center to centers.