RE: Engine Inspection Questions

[Steven Charette <stevec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dennis,
	This is my opinion only...

	Get your cam lift as you planned.  It will give you a rough idea of
the general "size" of the camshaft.  If you have a degree wheel, you can
check the duration.  Rotate up to .050" lift, re-zero degree wheel, then
rotate around to .050" lift again and read the wheel.

	Then do a compression test.  Probably more important for your peace
of mind just to know that all cylinders are within 10% or so.  The cold
cranking pressure will indicate approximate compression, depending on what
you learn about the camshaft... cams with alot of duration bleed off
cylinder pressure. 

	If you know what heads you have you'll have a rough idea of the
chamber volume, if they haven't been milled or ground on.  You can fish
around through a spark plug hole to get an idea if your pistons are
flat-tops, domed, or dished.  I borrowed a bore scope from work years ago
that actually let you look inside the hole and see what there was to see...
know anybody you can borrow one from?

	Again, this will just get you a rough idea.  If the pan is off, you
can see if there are any markings on the pistons that might help ID them.
Fact is, you really won't know without pulling a head and checking.  You can
cc the chambers, then measure how far down in the hole the pistons are at
TDC... those pieces of information along with the gasket thickness will
allow you to calculate the compression pretty close, as long as you have
flat-top pistons.  Dished or domed pistons will require a little more work.

	This will get you in the ballpark.  How accurately you need to
measure is proportional to your need to know.

	IMHO you should have hard seats if you plan to put ALOT of miles on
your car.  I'm thinking like 50,000-ish.  If the heads have hard seats now,
you're all set.  If they don't run 'em until they need seats and do it then.

	We rolled over 100,000K at the Woodward Dream Cruise last week on
the '64 Fury.  Still runs like a swiss watch.  In fact, we've put 5000 miles
on it since we picked it up in June.  I figure drive it and enjoy it and
worry about the valve seats when I have a problem.

My $.02
SC

-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis C. [mailto:dennis.2914@xxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 12:35 AM
To: 1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Engine Inspection Questions


I need to know more about the engine I have in my 63 SF.  How much can I
learn about the engine without total taking it apart?

I'm going to try to measure current cam lift using a dial indicator, If I am
correct if I measure on the lifter I well need to multiply by 1.5 to get the
actual lift.

Is there any way to get an estimate of compression ratio without removing a
head?

Is there anything else I should look for?

I don't know if it has hardened valve seats, I've read that is not necessary
and others say it is a must.  If I pull a head I'll have it checked.  Any
comments would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dennis


1996 Dodge Ram 3500 Van Conversion
1964 Plymouth Belvedere 318 Auto
1963 Plymouth Sport Fury 383 4-speed
1949 Dodge Pickup 289/C4 soon to be changed
1998 Honda Valkyrie Standard


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Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person.  I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic.  Thanks!

'62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.