It's just that whenever I read about or watch any sort of engine build . It's always take this big bundle of cash and throw it at some machine shop , Hope they know how to build a Mopar and what parts are best for it , and tada you've got this motor that's "hopefully" half as good as they say it is and the owner of the car really doesn't know for sure . In the real world , we all have a budget and most of us do the work ourselves or hopefully know someone we can trust to help us with it . I grew up in a time period that you worked with what you had and in my case I worked at making the best , the strongest and the fastest with what I had .If you where building a mopar , there was very little off the shelf parts for you . When I was building the Charger I had , I was a mechanic for a good size speed shop and there was nothing on the shelves for it . I even had to order the dam cam for it because we didn't stock it . Stuff like linkage's for the tunnel ram I had fabricate , ect. ect. . So long story longer , I appreciate just a straight up Mopar build like yours and you putting it out there . As far as the fuel thing you mentioned , I agree . The fuel that's at the pumps now is garbage . As of towards the end of last season , I've been doing a custom mix for the 440 in my Warlock . I think I've almost got the ratio right , I know I'm on the right track because my millage has almost tripled and a noticeable power increase . I'll be playing around with it more this season as soon as I start driving it more .
Not me, I'm not anywhere close to rich so a lot of thought goes into best bang for the buck when I start piecing together an engine. This particular one cost me around $4,500 and is around 500hp. For his goals it will be less, I spent extra $$ putting larger Ferra valves in the heads along with the extra machine work involved but a list of the work done by the machine shop would be.
Hot tank block and heads.
Deck block to zero deck height.
Install cam bearings... it is very important when taking it to a shop that doesn't do Mopars to point out that the cam bearing placement feeds the rockers (2 of them).. put them in wrong and you have no oil upstairs.
Resize rods... for those not familiar with the term this doesn't mean changing the size, they simply remove a small amount from the clamping surfaces then re-machine the bore to remove any out of round from years of use.
Hone rods for a floating pin (not necessary)
Turn crank
Surface the heads
3 angle valve job.
Install bronze guides.
Set up the springs.
Bore and hone with deck plate.
Balance rotating assembly.
Check main alignment. (Checked out good)
I'm running a solid lift Comp Cam camshaft, Comp Cam Magnum rockers, a Quickfuel 750 DP, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and Hooker Super Comps. Knowing it was going to have a Viper 6 speed pulling the rpm's down on the freeway I built the motor with an RPM range of 1,800-5,800 rpm. I can't stress how important it is to know the intended use and build the engine around that.
I'd recommend this book, lots of great info. Going off of what I learned from this book I was able to port my factory 452 heads to support a .550-.600 lift cam.
