New for the 2016 season was a new lowered stance.
As this car has torsion bar suspension, it's very easy to lower,
just a matter of turning the adjusters till the height is right.

The lowered front end makes the Dodge look much meaner.
(April2016)



The rear view is improved too, the result a kind of an eighties look.

The traditional may day family photo, minus big brother, who's away at this time.
Sadly, The oil pressure went missing later, just before the may day cruising, so the day ended in a kind of an anti climax...
(May 1, 2016)



The Dodge on the jack stands, the engine unbolted from both the car and the transmission, save for a couple bolts to keep it in situ till the hoist is put in place.
(fall 2016)

After the engine hoisted out, it was bolted to an engine stand and the oil pan was removed.
There was a huge amount of sludge in the pan. Maybe this sludge had clogged the oil pump pick up strainer?



All the oil and coolant drained out of it, the engine was turned upside down and the Oli pump removed.
All the bearings were visually checked. They looked well used, but not in any way catastrophically worn, all of the main and big end bearings looking similarly worn, just as supposed to in an old engine.

The innards of the oil pump looks about as worn and ground as one would expect, considering the sludge in the bottom of the crank case.
We expected the pressure release valve to be stuck open, but it seems to work as it's supposed to.



After turning the engine right side up it was time for the two barrel intake to go. Hopefully for the last time, as we have a four barrel intake off a 340 cube engine.
 
 
 

Then the exhaust manifolds were unbolted, the rocker shafts, pushrods and lifters came out, followed by the heads.
So far nothing out of the ordinary has been found that can be the reason for the lack of oil pressure. It would be great to know what's been wrong, and thus easy to remedy. Now all that can be done is to check and clean everything thoroughly, and rebuild the engine meticulously to avoid problems later.
The block and heads really need a good cleaning, there's lots of carbon like dirt and more sludge in the heads and top surfaces in the block.


The lifters (above left) were filled with sludge. All sixteen of them were cleaned out, checked and lubed thoroughly.
The oil filter mount plate (center) was all sludgy on the inside too, lots of some softish goo. Feels real good to get rid of all this dirt.
All the oil galleys were cleaned out using different rods and brushes in a power drill. No small wonder this engine started knocking, it would soon have died a slow death in any case if all that dirt had come loose.
In this pic (right) the block has been shot with some black paint to make it look a bit tidier.
(January 2017)


A box of parts for the engine arrived. Piston rings, rod and main bearings, oil pump, double roller timing gear and a gasket kit.
This should make for a decent engine. Together with the four barrel intake and new 600 cfm Edelbrock carb it should, once done, run better than new.

The engine comes together (left). Here the crankshaft, bearings, rods and pistons and rings, the cam with its chain and sprockets are mounted to the block, as are the heads, with new valve seals. The round thing in the front of the cam sprocket is the fuel pump excenter.
In the top pic the lifters, pushrods rockershaft and rockers are mounted.
In the right top pic is the opened oilpump pick up before cleaning, and, below, after. The amount of gunk in this engine is (was) mindblowing.
(February 2017)


The oil pan mounted it was time to oil up the engine. Oil was poured into the intake valley,and a tool was made so we were able to drive the oil pump with a power drill. An oil pressure indicator lamp was made, using a battery charger, andwe soon had oil pressure!
The engine was turned with a wrench on the damper bolt. Everything seemed ok, and the oil light didn't come on when the drill was stopped, before a few seconds had passed.
Apparently the new bearings and oil pump fixed the problem with the almost non existent oil pressure.
(March 2017)

After completing the engine build, it was connected to the hoist, the engine stand unhooked...
(April 2017)



... And the engine lifted high up, over the front of the car, and down into the surprisingly short engine bay. Some wiggling later, the engine was bolted to the transmission with a couple bolts, and the engine mount bolts slid in.

A big thumbs up!
Fuel was pumped up into the carb with an electric fuel pump. The engine fired up after a bit of cranking, and immediately ran smooth and nice. Adjusting the timing a bit earlier made it run sweet at idle with good throttle response.



The original air filter mounted on the four barrel carb after the bottom of the housing was modified to fit.

At long last a testdrive!
The roads weren't any good for driving at any kind of speed, but the throttle response was completely different than with the two barrel carb, which barely made the engine run at all.
(April 16, 2017)


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