Motor take II
 

After much thought, and help from the fine people at Dart, we will now have a motor again. Here is the spec on it.

Dart 400 Short block assembly
Dart 11221111P 72 cc heads with 180 runners
Comp 987-16 1.430 springs
Comp cams hyd roller 294/300 .242/.248 .540/ .562 110 deg lobe.
Comp roller ultra pro magnum roller rockers 1.52
Pro magnum push rods
Dart sportsman II dual plane intake
Holley 770 street avenger
Hooker comp headers 2451 full length
Flowmater 2 1/2 American thunder exhaust and series 40 mufflers
MSD HEI
MSD 6AL2
3.73 gear
3200 stall

Dave

Sounds pretty good, too bad you had to replace the other one but this should be a fun one.

Did I miss the story somewhere? What happened to the other motor?

Long story short. Took the Chevelle to Milan last Saturday. Made one run and the car was smoking out the tail pipes all the way down the track. Glenn pulled off one of the valve covers and the oil was Black. There were also other problems that we were all shaking our heads at. So we were done for the day.

Engine was pulled on Monday, at that time we found out that we needed to replace the bottom end of the motor. With all that we had put into the car, the one thing that we did not replace was, guess what, the bottom end of the motor.

Thus, the search began. Grumpy spent all day Tuesday researching crate motors, checking stock, asking questions, checking build times, comparing prices, and being frustrated. On Wednesday morning he said "Screw it" and picked up the phone and called DART. We had running around to do and in between our appointments he was on the phone with the builders and DART. We initially looked at the 350, but when we found out that most of the parts we had, that we were going to use, were going to be a direct bolt on to the 400, there was no question on what block we were getting.

My brother and Glenn, met Grumpy and I at DART to pick up the parts. This was great because we were there for about an hour and all the technical questions that we had, were answered. Found out that one of the only changes we have is that the oil pan/dipstick is on the passenger side. I can deal with that.

Let's just say we are all happy. Especially the guys.....MORE POWER!!!

Milan Dragstrip?

My uncle lived just a short distance from Milan dragstrip and I can remember as a kid when we visited him the noise from the cars over there racing....I loved it!

Never got to go there as a spectator and they have moved from there (Plank Road) many years ago, still would like to go there and watch. I do make it up to Stanton to watch once in a while.

Sorry for the threaddrift......:D

No problem, it happens all the time. Sorry to hear about your motor Ms Grumpy; like you said it will turn out for the best at the end. Oh, Go with BLACK.....

One thing you might want to be aware of is camshaft interferance with the rods.Most people who build sb 400 will use a 350 rod because they are stronger.There is more meat where the rod bolts to the crank and its notisable if you sit the rods side by side.This doesent mean you have to replace the cam as I had this situation with my engin and the machine shop didnt tell me after recamending I use 350 rods.I had to clearance the rods to a minamum .080 between the cam and rods.This took a long time and now I know next time to buy a small base circle came.

Thanks for the info, but the guys at Dart made sure that everything would work together. And my guys building the motor were right there to make sure that everything was gonna work.

I gotta question. Do you think a TH350 will stand up to this motor at the strip. I know the weak point for us is the 8.2 rear end but is the 350 up to the task ? Thanks

Dave

Dave:

I'm no expert but if it was properly built, it should handle the output from your engine just fine. T350's can handle a lot more than people think if properly built and maintained.

Durand