Here is what $5000 buys you.

[Kern Dog]

I have several wire harnesses from various A body cars that I either parted out or bought from wrecking yards. The A and B body cars used the same fuse panel and bulkhead stuff for a few years.
The bulkhead block has female spade connectors pushed in from the interior side. I seem to recall that they are called Packard 56 connectors? Correct me if I have that wrong. They have a thin tab at the top to keep them in place. To remove them, a small screwdriver can push the tab down and the wire comes out.

[Kern Dog]

I will do the same to the wires that are in the car, then one by one, push them into the replacement block.
I have a headlight harness from Ginger that was modified in 2013 in the vain attempt to add relays to the headlights. The effort failed miserably. The headlight doors would not open, then the headlights wouldn't shut off, then the doors only opened when I shut the car off....Turns out, I didn't account for the factory headlight door relay in the dash.
Regardless, I just had to solder 2 wires back together to make the harness functional. I bought an engine harness from Evans Wiring, Big Block with electronic ignition.
So, the plan for now it to wire the car back to stock specs and sometime later when the engine runs, the turn signals, horn, taillights and everything works, I'll bypass the ammeter as shown in the diagram.
Another thing: Breaking in a fresh engine, they say to keep rpms up in the 2500-3000 range for 20-30 minutes. I've done this without a tach before, just guessing at the engine speed. It has never resulted in a cam failure but why take the chance?
This car has the basic XH gauge package. No tach, not even a clock:

[Kern Dog]

The faces of the gauges look bad too.
I think I'll use the cluster that I had in Ginger. The tach and speedometer worked. The ammeter and fuel gauge did too. The oil pressure gauge is dead and the temp was not reliable enough to trust.
I have 3 gauge sets including the one in this car. Maybe I'll look around to see how to test them. Maybe one of the three will work.
These are the ones I had in the red car, Ginger:

[Kern Dog]

Sorry if it look like I bounce around.
I do. I sometimes get bored easily and look to do something else. The same thing happens here at home. I'll do some landscaping tasks for a few days and then get bored with that and then do car things.
The 383 finally came back from the shop.
The man bored and honed the block, installed cam bearings, set the crank to establish deck height, then square decked the block to get it so the pistons sit to .009 below deck. The crank was polished and the heads got a 3 angle valve job. Everything is all clean, no paint on the block anywhere.
Total price for machine work : $600.

[Kern Dog]

I figured that since the engine block was essentially bare, now would be the best time to check camshaft fitment.
Back in 2014, I changed cams in my other Charger. I had a Mopar 292/509 in there and was going to a Lunati Solid. The Lunati didn't want to spin once I got it in. I asked around, then called my Machinist. He said that in his experience, Mopar big blocks are known for having tight fitting cams and that the factory actually line bored the blocks with the bearings in them to allow them to spin freely. He suggested that I take an old stock cam and cut grooves in the journals and use it as a poor man's line boring tool.

[Kern Dog]

So, with a cam sprocket and a head bolt in the end, I lubed up the journals and stuffed the old cam in there. It was tight. I had to use a rubber mallet to get it in there.
The sprocket didn't spin easily but it did turn. I spun it slowly in both directions until it started to free up a bit.

[Kern Dog]

I've read of guys using a bearing knife to do this but to me, this seems less crude. Check out the shavings that came off.

[Kern Dog]

This 383 came with a #402 oil pan. Low profile with a baffle at the front and rear of the sump. The original was banged up a bit so I am going to use a different one. I have a few other pans with 5 quart sumps but I don't have the matching pickup for any of them.

[Kern Dog]

I traded a pair of A body LCAs for some Holley cast aluminum valve covers. Trades are fun. They are dirty but will clean up nicely.
I cleaned a lot of bolts....that really eats a lot of time.

[darbgnik]

Nice to see it's still moving forward. Getting the engine back definitely opens up more work fronts.

[Wasco]

I'd prefer the "gun sight" to the clock anyway!

[Kern Dog]

I wear a watch, the phone has a clock, the radio will have one too.
A tach will be in that spot anyway.

[Kern Dog]

The crank is in. It was in great shape and only needed a clean and polish to be serviceable. The oil clearance was within spec. It rotated so easy with the fresh standard bearings and REDLINE assembly lube!

I used the stock rear main seal retainer and the cardboard side seals. I used some RTV at the bottom and sides of the retainer.

[Kern Dog]

Pistons #1,3, 5 and 7 are in.
I checked the ring gaps for the top and the second rings. All the tops were between .020 and .022. The second rings were almost the same size. I've read that the second ring should have a larger gap than the top ring so I took out my trusty ring filer and sized every second ring to .025.
Pistons sit .009 below deck. If I were using closed chamber heads, this would give some quench even if I used the common .039 Fel Pro head gasket. I'm using #346 heads though, I CC'd them and found that they are at 86 ccs.

[cdr]

Pistons #1,3, 5 and 7 are in.
I checked the ring gaps for the top and the second rings. All the tops were between .020 and .022. The second rings were almost the same size. I've read that the second ring should have a larger gap than the top ring so I took out my trusty ring filer and sized every second ring to .025.
Pistons sit .009 below deck. If I were using closed chamber heads, this would give some quench even if I used the common .039 Fel Pro head gasket. I'm using #356 heads though, I CC'd them and found that they are at 86 ccs.

356 heads ? I looked but can't find that #

[Kern Dog]

Ha..Yeah, that was a typo.
346 heads is what I meant to type in.

[cdr]

Ha..Yeah, that was a typo.
346 heads is what I meant to type in.

[Kern Dog]

The '346 heads have stock valve springs. I'm going to change them to the Edelbrock springs that come on the big block heads.
All the pistons are in now. I do need to find a 2 9/64" plug for the rear of the block/cam journal.

[XH29N0G]

KD,

For testing the gauges, look at the lilwendal's cluster restoration thread.  There are some ways to do this.  I did it by monkeying with a 5 v telephone charger.  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,37999.msg1291136.html#msg1291136 but there are better ways.  You might be able to use a battery or series of batteries. 

I like the tach set up you have.  I also put in a tach into the cluster in place of the cross hairs aiming device on the XH dash.

I like this thread a lot.  Thanks for posting it.

[cdr]

looks like a 440 cast crank harmonic Dampener ?

[Kern Dog]

KD,

For testing the gauges, look at the lilwendal's cluster restoration thread.  There are some ways to do this.  I did it by monkeying with a 5 v telephone charger.  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,37999.msg1291136.html#msg1291136 but there are better ways.  You might be able to use a battery or series of batteries. 

I like the tach set up you have.  I also put in a tach into the cluster in place of the cross hairs aiming device on the XH dash.

I like this thread a lot.  Thanks for posting it.

You are welcome!

Yeah, that is a 440 harmonic balancer. The shape is better for getting a grip to rotate the crank. The crank snout is the same as the 383 and since my 383 balancer is freshly painted, it is stowed away until I need to install it.

I changed the valve springs using a hand held spring compressor. Yeah, a few times, the retainer and spring came loose.....causing me to chase after them. I lost one of the keepers and had to pop a valve out of a spare head to get another pair.

[Kern Dog]

The stock springs sat a little taller, had more coils but the wire diameter was .18. The Edelbrock springs are a bit shorter, have a dampner spring, fewer coils but the wire diameter is .20. I could feel the difference in spring stiffness in the spring compressor.

[Kern Dog]

A lot of this car build and the engine is coming together using some "seasoned" parts. Some stuff is leftovers from other builds.
I have partial gasket sets. Partial freeze plug sets. low mile valve springs, timing set, fuel pump, a good used radiator and hoses, vintage Holley valve covers, etc. Of course the block, crank and rods are late 1969 originals.
The cam journal at the back of the block uses an unusual sized block off plug. I didn't have any spares. It measures 2 9/64". I have 3 coming so I'll have spares.
I have an engine harness I got from Evans, set up for factory electronic ignition. I like using factory ignition stuff for simplicity and ease of finding replacement parts. I checked with 2 stores today looking for a 1972-76 400 V8 electronic distributor. No luck....nothing listed and no way to order one. Summit has THIS one:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pro-440-431

I've heard of Pro Comp. They state that that are Mopar Licensed.
Rick Ehrenberg from Mopar Action magazine says that the Mopar Performance electronic distributors are junk because they are "Scaled down" Mallory built units. The weights are too light, making the timing fluctuate. I have one in my Red car and He is right. Putting the timing light on mine, you have to aim for the spread in terms of setting the timing since it flutters around so much.
Later this month is the So Cal Fall Fling. I'm hoping to find a decent 383 Intake. Ideally I want to find a Performer RPM or a DP4B.

[Dano 1]

I had this distributor recommended to me as having a 'good' performance curve out of the box: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=27955&cc=1093115&jsn=1025&_nck=HllVxRCey1%2B2aVRDo41oQXhbegy63eH0CjjrC3%2B3S70mXEh5znuSsxHww4aDMwPSCetSOHmH%2
FWxBomk%2BCT2ScAJTs2W4jkc7ahDCXyQUdU%2B%2F7SbmfzAiXPE6IAnJODzg8GUebIooquzbMLvglSTyHIBX%2FzDp58wJ7J5cVGhVb6JWeGzPLe
5EFAABH31asTfbCd3HkyrhRInbTSClwMzqpUwx5rErWu9ZzG9UPulGVM%2F7H7haoOL6V6Wwg9XUtFh%2F9ZY0lPJHNUJBByAj3HxHVzqheiy4TBF8KiNUF9TiZ1lhYSSzpC6jX42cvyokcIiKf2k0cPPP9YTZ5faaazmrUQ%3D%3D

I have not personally used it, it was just recommended to me for mild performance big block applications. Rock Auto has it for $50 plus $35 for a core, might be an option worth checking out.

[Kern Dog]

Thank you. I took a look at it. The stock based distributors appeal to me for the ease of finding replacement parts.
A guy at FBBO sent me this link:
https://www.manciniracing.com/maravaadeldi1.html

This is interesting. Adjustable vacuum advance like a stock unit but also an adjustable mechanical advance too?  That is a great feature. It uses a stock type distributor cap.