DodgeForum.com - I put heads on a 240k engine

Well title says it all. I also threw a RT +10 cam in it I had bought a year ago for a song.

Im well aware of the cams reputation so spare me that talk.

I had a crazy amount of oil burning off at initial startup, but solid compression numbers at 140 psi across the board. At first I planned for a full rebuild but I chatted with oddessa and got their EQ 1.92 stock sized valves heads for 890, with upgraded .600 lift springs and 1 piece stainless valves. I figured that even if i put the heads on and the lower end blew up i was only really out 100 and some change for the gaskets.

So i proceeded to tear the engine apart to replace the heads. I reused the double roller timing chain I installed some 20 thousand miles ago. Plenum looked good still from that repair. The chain had no slack on it.

Didnt really run into any hiccups. I only snapped a few pics as it was cold and I was in a hurry to get the truck back and running over a weekend.

I used new mopar performance roller lifters and mopar pushrods that are 6.9 inches long. Stocker are around 6.936 I think. Either way they are supposed to go with this cam.

I cleaned the heads very well with razor blades and brake cleaner and used fel pro permatorque gaskets to seal them back up. No signs of blown gaskets on the old ones. Cleaning took a fair amount of time.

Got it all buttoned up on a Saturday morning. Damn thing didnt start. Thus i went on my battle with the dreaded fuel sync. If you didnt know you must pull the dizzy out to change the camshaft. Thus ruining the stock fuel sync.

Also, a cam easily fits with the radiator removed.

Well digging through the fsm i discovered this little gem.

Attachment 31069

So i got the engine lined up on TDC with the timing cover. Using my thumb to verify it was on the compression stroke. Pop the dizzy off and sure enough its all jacked up.

On that pic you can see the little notch for the number one cylinder. Basically this HAS to be the number one cylinder plug. The camshaft sensor is right under that. If you try to wire the plugs a different way it will never fire because the computer is firing the injectors according to where that sensor reads which plug is about to fire. You can see how this will lead to a very strong smell of unburnt gasoline.

You can pull the dizzy out and rotate the oil pump shaft with a long flathead screwdriver. First clockwise to get the dizzy gear to spin up and away from the camshaft drive gear, continue rotating until you think it is lined up right then rotate counter clockwise to seat it back down. This causes it to spin some back the other way, so several tries are likely needed. Once its close enough you put the dizzy back on but leave the hold down loose.

Then you can rotate the dizzy a little bit until the rotor lines up on the dead center of that little notch. Its tight work with the intake on but is doable with a lot of "sight by feel"

I used my finger to feel the notch with my finger nail. I then checked it with a small piece of cardboard with the square end down on the dizzy. Then put the cap on and make sure the post for one lines up. It will be slightly behind the notch, I marked the dizzy side with a sharpie where the notch was so i know where it was with the cap on, dont forget that the cap only goes on one way.

Put the wires back on after that. Remember you dont rotate the engine at all after its at TDC.

Jumped in, put the clutch in and turned the key. BOOM it fired right up like it used too stock. At this point the sync is at +/- 0. or as close as is possible without a scanner.

truck runs pretty well but does feel slightly sluggish and misses or backfires a rarely once warm. This is normal without having the sync set with a scanner yet. Hopefully that will be done the end of this week and I will report back. At this point it is fine to drive the truck as long as you dont wail on it.

Back to the reasoning for this, I know have no appreciable oil burning in the few hundred miles I have accumulated since then. So far so good the problem is fixed to no detrimental effects. We will see how long the stock bottom end lasts, but as we all know the bottom ends on these workhorses have a long lasting reputation.

I also threw some used mopar magnum valve covers I bought off a user here a year ago for fifty some bucks.

Old valves. THey basically fell out after removing the retainers.

Attachment 31070

Fairly good looking valley

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you can still see what vaguely resembles crosshatching on the cylinder walls. Not sure about this though.... definitely not scoring though. Ill let others chime in on what shape the cylinders seem to be in. No ring edge on the top of the cylinder either.

Attachment 31072

old gasket

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mostly clean block almost ready for the new head

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other side, that one cylinder had more carbon on it for some reason than the others

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I painted the heads black with duplicolor to try to ward off some rust

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typical magnum cam bearings

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this pic is terrible, it does not look that bad in person

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I did not do anything to the cam bearings. Only two of them looked questionable. Apparently magnum motors just do that and its not too big of a deal as long as they arent completely destroyed or anything. Could be fine, could be bad. Its just a repair on a 240k engine done by a poor college student, not that that is justification or anything, normal people would just buy another junker or a junkyard motor. Blast me if you want too. Its already done.