SG1022's Engine/Drivetrain Build Thread

[SG1022]

This will be my thread for my current, and future drivetrain modifications.


Goal
To make a decently fast , always reliable daily driver out of my current car.


About
My car, and engine have been a collection of reamings given to me by, "friends" and, "buddies." To make a long story short; I had a long term friend of mine build my engine, and transmission for me*. I paid him not only in gunsmithing work, but in guns and cash. The car was bought, then painted by a friend of his. The engine was supposed to be installed by the engine builder, and the car was also supposed to be made driveable by him. Instead the painter(his friend) ended up doing the engine build. When I went to look at the finished paint job(the car was not moving under it's power at this time) I was welcomed by a really sub-par(and not 4,500$ as agreed upon) paint job and bodywork. The painter admitted it, made some excuses, and I ended up paying him substantially less, and taking my car as-is(he was happy with our agreed upon price, I might ad).

I was left to pick up the pieces. The motor was in the car(not installed, mind you), as was a transmission.  When I got started on my Charger I had extremely little knowledge about cars. Everything I know has been self-learned, and I was looking for a reliable person to help me with my project. In the small town I just moved to I met a guy named Greg Natvig. He is owner/operator of a small(ASE certified) mechanic shop. He also does a large amount of work on muscle cars, and he himself has a '69 notchback 'Cuda as a daily , and a streetable 800 horse '70 Cuda as a track car. I delivered the Charger to him, and he worked on it over the course of about 6 months, and helped me get it to where it was now. He has been a great mechanic, and great guy. Helping me with my car, and letting me work on it myself while it was in his shop.

During this time we found out that my transmission was not only, not rebuilt, but the @#$hole didn't even take the time to make it look clean. He dropped a dirty ass, used, 904 transmission in there. I ended up having Greg rebuild the transmission. We rebuilt it with a stage-two shift kit and Hughes 2,700 TQ. He got the car up and driving. During this we found out that the engine had a massive vacuum leak, caused by bad intake manifold gaskets, and replaced those. We also had serious engine oil leaks due to a blow pan gasket. We also replaced that.  We removed and blocked off the fuel pump, and went with a electrical setup. Once we got the motor running we realized it has a pretty weak cam.(as heard by the lope) He was able to determine that the sealed power pistons I bought are in the engine, and that the motor has been rebuilt, and the inside is nice and clean. Since I already have intake/exhaust, and a pretty solid bottom end, he suggested that I do cam/lifters as my next performance upgrade. Followed by a new carb.

At this point I am trying to determine what exactly is in my engine, what it is capable of, what parts to use on it next, and work out some of it's bugs. So far I have put about 300 miles on it.

* My engine builder and I had agreed upon a 375'ish horsepower smallblock 360 mated to a stage-two shift kit equipped fully rebuilt 904 tranny with a middle-top end torque converter.

Engine
Heads- 1992 Dodge 360 magnum truck heads(rebuilt)*
Cam-*
Block- It is believed to be a mid 70s 360 block*
Pistons-Sealed power 60 over hypereutectic pistons
Intake Manifold-Mopar Performance M1
Carb- Rebuilt Carter 650cfm*
Air filter-Mopar Performance dry element cold air intake

Transmission
Type-A904 TF
Torque Converter-Hughes 2,700 stall street/strip
Shift Kit-Stage 2*

Car
Exhaust-True dual 3 inch with flowmaster 40s
Headers-Hooker super comps
Fuel pump-Electric(located near gas tank)*
Rear End- 2.71:1 open diff



*Items that need further investigation or information

Questions

1.Where are the identifications for the year/type of engine block located?

2.Is there a way to identify my cam type (ex; flat tappet) with only removing the intake manifold?

3.How do I get more information on my Carter carb?



Current Problems
1. There are some extremely loud lifter clacking going on. Not sure what to do here. . . The engine was broke in with Royal Purple 15W40 oil, and changed out at 120 miles for fresh Royal Purple high perf oil. So I don't believe it is a lack of Zinc? I will upload a video of it making these noises.

2. Since I have magnum heads(and therefore magnum valvecovers) I need a breather to fit on the driver side. Problem is the 1 1/4, 1.22 inch, and 3/4 inch breathers that are commonly found will NOT fit in the 1.40 inch(approx) hole. It makes some pretty funny , "whoosh" of air noises with no breather there. By funny I mean annoying. Any suggestions are welcome.

3. This just started the other day; the car bogs down, and will not accelerate at anything over a "moderate" pace. By this I mean that if I give it anywhere near half-throttle it bogs down, and will not move faster, while sounding like it might die. This occurs when I try and accelerate at a medium pace over 45 mph. I am eventually able to break it, and it starts accelerating up to 65mph, but will not go faster than that. Showing the same symptoms when I try and move past 65mph. I will upload a video tomorrow of the car acting up like that.


****If you need any further information on my build, while trying to help me, just post, and I will be glad to supply pictures, stamping numbers, etc. Anything that might help the process.