My 71 Duster work in progress

[Dr.Jass]

It's got a 4-bolt. Pretty sure it's a Volare part, supplied by Dr. Diff.

The A- and F-body parts were essentially identical through '78, along with a few other body series going back several years. The '79-up F-bodies--and everything else--used the aluminum 2-bolt master with the plastic reservoir, which may have been a rolling change during the '78 model year. My Imperial was born that way. That's what's on my '69 Valiant and what will probably land on the '68 as well when I do the disc swap. I'm a big fan of the 47lb weight difference (OK, it just seems like it's that much). On two of my Challengers, I'll probably go with the nifty aluminum copy of the factory iron 4-bolt unit. Look stock and lose weight = win-win. If anything ever becomes of the junker '74, well, I can do whatever I want there because by rights that car should be crushed.

Now that I can forget about the home water situation for a while I'm back to spending money I mean working on the Duster.

"Working on" sounds like solid justification. "Spending money" on the other hand just sounds like gratuitous waste.

I thought it odd that the Edelbrock recommended plugs (RC12YC) were individually carded and not in a box.

I find it odd that they even offer that plug on a card, but I suppose the RC12YC isn't uncommon for outdoor equipment like lawn tractors, tillers, etc. The part number is just 71 for the boxed (automotve) version, rather than 71-1. It's also strange that it's an RC rather than an RN, but hey--it's their cylinder head.

Despite what everyone lists now, the original 360HP plug (as well as the 340) used a heat range of 9 rather than 12 (N9Y, now known as the RN9YC). The 12 will last longer in non-racing use and perform the same other than a tick less resistance to preignition, so it's not a big deal. With the aluminum heads, I would think even a 14 might work OK since the head's going to wick heat out of the plug quickly--perhaps that's why they specified the 12. Most later (emissions-era) small-blocks currently list the RN14YC already, rather than the 12 I suspect was installed originally.

 

[b-body-bob]

I find it odd that they even offer that plug on a card, but I suppose the RC12YC isn't uncommon for outdoor equipment like lawn tractors, tillers, etc. The part number is just 71 for the boxed (automotve) version, rather than 71-1. It's also strange that it's an RC rather than an RN, but hey--it's their cylinder head.

The first thing I did after opening the box was to check the edelbrock doc again
"14mm x 3/4” reach gasketed spark plugs; Champion RC-12YC or equivalent"

Part of this order was dielectric grease since the first thing I need to do is reassemble the distributor. Keeping up the tradition you (Jass) pushed me toward with the 400, I've got some old random mopar distributor with the replaceable parts about to be replaced. I'm reusing the 4 seconds flat timing limiter out of the 400 and have a set of Mr Gasket springs and 2 different vac canisters to choose from.

 

[b-body-bob]

Distributor - new canister is 6.5, old one is 8.5. I'm going to use the new one.

Limiter - setting that timing limiter to 18, assuming an initial of 15. That's the best choice toward 34 total from 15.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Distributor - new canister is 6.5, old one is 8.5. I'm going to use the new one.

Limiter - setting that timing limiter to 18, assuming an initial of 15. That's the best choice toward 34 total from 15.

I don't know how much highway or steady part-throttle cruise the car will see, but the 8.5 canister might improve fuel economy and drivability in those situation. It's not uncommon for stock applications to have 50+ degrees of advance at highway speeds w/low throttle input. I have a timing map for a programmable distributorless ignition in a fella's Jenson Interceptor (with a Six Pack, no less). If I recall, it's got about 52° of lead in it at "high" RPM light load (highway driving).

Of course, with Ye Olde Whirly-Spark it's more of a "try it and see" proposition. I'm pretty sure the OE can on a 340 Six Pack pulls 11.5.

 

[b-body-bob]

I went ahead and put the new can on it. I get the point but I'm not all that bothered by highway speeds with a 4-speed and 3.91s. Not a big deal to change it later either.

I decided to go with the Gibbs Driven brand assembly grease on the valve train. I'm kind of skep that any of it makes a difference, since a selling point of the stuff is it dissolves in oil. Following the lead I've seen you youtube, you lube the cam up real good, put the lifters, pushrods, rockers on,, then dump a can of fortified oil right down the center of the valley all over the cam and woops, all my grease just dissolved.

Anyway I went ahead and regreased them cam - #1 and #2 exhaust lobes are not so easy - checked the rockers for clearance again - think I've got 2 or 3 I might revisit - then realized I didn't have the info I needed to set the rockers printed out.

Also - the paint is peeling off the water pump. I should've left that thing alone.

 

[b-body-bob]

Took the water pump off, aha there is that timing cover bolt I forgot to torque before putting the water pump on. Couldn't find torque specs, went ahead and put the lifters/pushrods/rockers on. Found the spec sheet last thing, 3/8-16, cast cover, 35, torqued it down but it went soft on me before that.

At first I thought I had broken it, took a beat to get over that oshit moment, then went back and removed the bolt in one piece. I don't see a crack or thread damage on the bolt. This is the one that goes through at the fuel pump so there's no way to inspect further without removing the cover.

I had a brief panic attack when I remembered that it's possible to crack a cylinder wall with one of the timing cover bolts so I had to confirm this isn't it. (Driver's side 2nd from the bottom)

Thinking of hunting down a thick-ish flat washer to add hoping that will keep me out of any damaged threads, and stop around 25 this time. Or more likely, add a washer and go to hand tight with a normal 3/8" rachet.

I also got entranced by a thread on FABO discussing the cam holes and oil passages to the head. People were talking about sticking a wire through to the cam and turning the engine to find exactly where each side opens up, but I never saw anyone talk about taking that head bolt out first. So I tried it thinkingit was worth a shot to find and mark the locations where there is oil flowing to the top - but in reality the head bolt is in the way and you aren't getting a wire down to the cam without removing it.

"Turn the motor to 90* before top dead center coming up on #1 compression. The pass. side rockers should get oil.
Turn the motor to 20* after top dead center just past #6 compression. The drivers side rockers should get oil.”

#1 and #6 are 1 turn of the crank apart, so It seems odd the spread between sides isn't equal.

ETA: Printing some things off to work with and found a site that calls for 30 lb/ft on the cast timing cover bolts.

 

[b-body-bob]

I took a good hard look at that bolt and it looks like something has cut a straight line through the threads. Odd. I didn't do it. I thought I chased all the bolt holes in the block too. Thread file and die and it threads on smooth now. Can still see the damage though.


I found a duplicate bolt in a coffee can so I'm thinking about swapping it out just because.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Can't even think of what would do that to a bolt?

 

[b-body-bob]

I'm just hoping I can get it to tighten up and not slip again with an extra washer on it

And hoping there's enough room to put another washer on it

 

[b-body-bob]

And hoping there's enough room to put another washer on it

There was not. The second washer put the head of the bolt into the lower outlet of the WP.

I used the found bolt, some sealer, one washer and torqued it to tight enough with a 3/8 ratchet, so I guess there's no damage in the block. Sure I could stick the 1/2 torque wrench on it to put it to 30 lb/ft but nah I'll pass on that.

 

[b-body-bob]

I'm having a struggle with cognitive dissonance between the common wisdom to lube the shit out of the cam and lifters and the need to turn the cam over several times wiping the lube off before even bolting the starter on.

It's the same thought process that led me to want to use the factory rockers that won't fit Edelbrock heads anyway.

 

[Dr.Jass]

That cut in the threads reminds me of the "damage" to my shifter rods when I had to cut the swivels off. Unless there were burs, that cut shouldn't have affected anything other than chasing threads.

I'm having a struggle with cognitive dissonance between the common wisdom to lube the shit out of the cam and lifters and the need to turn the cam over several times wiping the lube off before even bolting the starter on.

No matter how much lube you glop onto the cam and lifters, it'll virtually all be smeared off during first crank prior to the engine firing. That doesn't makes a ton of difference anyhow, since the only source of lifter-face lubrication is splash oiling.

I also got entranced by a thread on FABO discussing the cam holes and oil passages to the head. People were talking about sticking a wire through to the cam and turning the engine to find exactly where each side opens up, but I never saw anyone talk about taking that head bolt out first. So I tried it thinkingit was worth a shot to find and mark the locations where there is oil flowing to the top - but in reality the head bolt is in the way and you aren't getting a wire down to the cam without removing it.

There's a lot of dumb in the world.

It would be a neat trick, though, since the oil passage from the rocker shaft to the cam is far from a straight line, even with the head bolt removed. The head-bolt opening is part of the passage, and the two cast-in passages both intersect it from the same side. In other words, your wire needs to make about a 120-degree turn several inches down the oil passage, then find another hole in the same side of the head-bolt opening. Taking the head bolt out makes this a potentially-achievable trick, if an extremely frustrating one. For common, non-Uri-Gellar types unable to bend objects with their minds, the head has to come off.

 

[b-body-bob]

That cut in the threads reminds me of the "damage" to my shifter rods when I had to cut the swivels off. Unless there were burs, that cut shouldn't have affected anything other than chasing threads.

I don't know what the heck was going on but that bolt slipped to the point I thought I had broken it. It had been tightened up but I forgot to torque it before putting the water pump on, so when I took that paint peeling thing off I intended to do that. Anyway it's OK now.

That doesn't makes a ton of difference anyhow, since the only source of lifter-face lubrication is splash oiling.

It's almost enough to make me suspect the whole cam-going-flat scare is from Big Cam Lube increasing sales.

For common, non-Uri-Gellar types unable to bend objects with their minds, the head has to come off.

It seems to be a pretty common thing over there - someone talks about something they know but don't provide enough context for it to be used. Then that same person attacks some poor schlub who didn't provide an album of photos and 10 formatted paragraphs explaining a problem with background info.

 

[Dr.Jass]

It's almost enough to make me suspect the whole cam-going-flat scare is from Big Cam Lube increasing sales.

Take it for what it's worth, but way back when GM was an American company they did a lot of lubricant testing with regard to claims they considered questionable.

One result? If GM finds evidence of Slick 50 in your oil, your warranty is prima facie voided. No further investigation will occur, and there is no appeals process. You lose.
Another finding they claimed was that the reduced zinc/phosphorous did not noticeably effect cam wear on flat tappets during a long-term mileage-equivalent test (I think it was 100,000 miles).

Part of the impetus behind the latter may have been that Chevy truck small-block V8s didn't get roller lifters until 1996--after the first and most dramatic change in oil additives. I've been doing the parts gig a long time, and I've seen lots of pre-'96 trucks with 200K+ on them still rockin' the original camshaft after 30 years of "crap" oil. In my experience, where factory-assembled engines are concerned, camshaft failure is essentially a non-issue on GM's flat-tappet V8s of that era.
The only really "problematic" OE SBC cams I recall were well before the additive change: From the late 1970s well into the 1980s, 305s consistently ate camshafts. Even so, they usually lasted about 120K miles before the lifter noise got worrisome. Why that was limited to the 305s and while the 267 and 350 remained essentially immune, I've no clue.

I'm not going to go as far as saying it's much ado about nothing, but it's not something that'll cause me lost sleep. If I have to change a cam, big deal. It's neither difficult nor particularly time-consuming. I got 9,800 miles out of a cam after not even achieving break-in RPM on (at least) the first six starts. I changed the cam and broke in the replacement on a Sunday afternoon and drove it to work the next day.

 

[b-body-bob]

If I have to change a cam, big deal

I remember going with a guy who had a hot 70 mustang to swap cams with another car in a parking lot, in one day. He pulled in, we swapped the cams, started the car up, and drove away. Not always, but it seems like not knowing is sometimes better.

I'm pretty confident with mine given I found sticky lifter bores and burnished them until they were not.

TBH the only real concern I've got is I squirted some oil on the pistons that might interfere with starting, but I doubt it. I'll have the timing set, everything primed, carb full of fuel, etc so hopefully it will clear the oil with the first spark.

 

[74DartSport]

Oh god I remember the 305 cam debacle. Always had a couple on the shelf with lifters.
TM274 was a 350 cam I think people used in place of the 305 one.

 

[b-body-bob]

An odd thing is it looks like it's been repainted under the hood, and I don't mean the black.

I was reinstalling stuff under the hood and noticed the bottom of the fender tag is painted glossy blue. Weird.

I've gotta re-patch the engine harness. Whatta mess. Somebody in this car's past had a jar of that brush-on insulation in their toolbox.

 

[Dr.Jass]

I'm beyond patching harnesses anymore unless they're unobtainium. Seriously, for the little they cost--even the Year One E-body dash harnesses that are $700--they're well worth it. If there's something wrong with the ignition in my Valiant, I know it's not wiring-related. On my application, it's also the forward lamp harness so everything forward of the firewall is new. Booya.

Year One number HU230A would be the guy if you're using OE electronic ignition. HU203A is the version for points or aftermarket igntion. Both show being eligible for discounts, so 30% is just a thrice-weekly e-mail away (they're always bombarding me with discount codes). Either way you're well under $200... cheap, like borscht.

 

[b-body-bob]

Solder, flux, shrink wrap and a few terminals is all I need. There's a few places where the insulation has gone brittle so I find where that starts, snip it off, and re-run with new wire. If I get really petty about it (and I probably should) I'll try to match the wire colors or save the terminal ends so the exposed wire colors match.

I did check prices yesterday though, $50 would have been a yes, $150 is a no.

 

[b-body-bob]

The wiring is mostly complete. I need to figure out what else I can install before finishing the assembly and lifting it in. I probably got carried away, using a terminal block for the gauges and radio when twisting and taping would have done the trick

Next, I looked at the trans hump and saw this:


The carpet is cut right around the hole, and the blue structure there beneath it is the t-bar crossmember. I'm not sure the hump is in the right place, but I put it right back where it was when the fun started - I even used the same screw holes to attach it.

Is the hump supposed to be there, or is it shifted to the rear?