Double Dingo's 1965 3/4 Ton "Crusty Biscuit"

[crpntr78]

Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials. Not sure but on our squares it's a couple bolts on the ends plus some spot welds along the windshield. IIRC

 

[DoubleDingo]

Thanks. Looking forward to it.

I suspected the dash removal was just that. Will see if it is the same on the older models too.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Over the weekend I got the engine tore down. Who glues heads to the block? With some force I was able to pop the passenger side head off the block, but the driver's side was a different story. I pried, and pulled, and tugged from every angle possible, and when that didn't work I got my 4 foot cheater bar and put it over the pry bar and that didn't even work, it just bent my pry bar. Out of desperation I used two bolts, one threaded into an accessory hole on the head, and the other threaded into a water pump hole on the block. They are close enough to get the pry bar in there, and with some encouragement it finally popped loose from the block. That happened around 530pm Saturday, so I stopped to clean the head bolts since they had a bunch of crap on them. Seriously, the threads were covered in copper coat, the shanks were covered in gunk, I was surprised to see this, but it won't be going back together like that, that's for sure. The passenger side head gasket peeled off okay, but the driver's side gasket had to be coaxed off with a scraper and pulling, and half of it was left on the block. Made for some fun scraping and cleaning of the mounting surfaces on Sunday. But, 3 hours later I got it all cleaned up. I didn't see any signs of a blown head gasket on either side, but with them being glued down I wonder if they could. Since I cannot locate my torque wrench, good ol' rearranging of the house has hidden it, I decided to spend the rest of the day Sunday cleaning parts and painting them. I thought using a purple cleaner on my edelbrock manifold was a good idea since it had some gunk on it, but I have ruined the finish. So, I'll be cleaning it again with acetone, and then paint it Chevy Orange to match the block and accessories. I need to clean the old stamped self-aligning rocker arms from these freshened-up heads, and the aforementioned intake manifold, then I can bolt on the heads and swap out the old cam. I need to use the self-aligning rockers because the freshened-up heads are 1996 Mexico heads that have round holes for the pushrods to pass thru. Glad I looked at that because I was tempted to use the rockers that came off the heads from the block. I need to get a tap and chase the head bolt holes to try and rid them of any copper coat so I get a decent torque of the bolts. Speaking of which, the head bolts broke loose way too easily, so I highly doubt they were torqued to spec, or the copper coat they used didn't allow them to torque properly. It's always fun to see what a previous owner has done, can you sense the sarcasm of that last statement.... I have a bunch of photos, but this is a quick update before I tackle a rush project here at work.

 

[HotRodPC]

So is this a 283 engine with those 96 model Heche En Mexico heads? That's No Bueno !!! Those are 76cc heads on a small bore short stroke motor. That won't be making alot of compression. Need to find you some power pak or double hump 64 cc heads for that block.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I had two sets of heads lying around, some 624's and the Mexico heads. I knew the history of the Mexico heads because they were on my crate engine from Mean Green and only had roughly 60k miles on them. They had sat out and got rusty, but they cleaned up nicely, just Mexico castings so there's that . The 624's I read are notorious to cracking so I opted to have the Mexico heads freshened-up, knowing they too are crappy heads. I took the liberty of getting the casting number off the back of the block since the heads are off, and the block is a 3970010, the partial VIN is 12L518466, and the other stamp is V1005CDD. I need to check the other side to see what that casting number is, because I think it'll show what the block actually is. From the research I've done thus far it appears the block is a 302, 327, or 350 according to the casting number. It is definitely not a 283, although I wish it were, but since this engine doesn't leak or burn oil, and there is no ridge in the cylinders, I'm hoping the torquey cam will provide more usable power. The rpm range of the new cam is from 600 to 4600.

Oh yeah, there is "30" on the top of each piston, does that mean it's bored 0.030 over? If it is, they didn't deck the block. The cylinders have good cross hatching though.

 

[HotRodPC]

I had two sets of heads lying around, some 624's and the Mexico heads. I knew the history of the Mexico heads because they were on my crate engine from Mean Green and only had roughly 60k miles on them. They had sat out and got rusty, but they cleaned up nicely, just Mexico castings so there's that . The 624's I read are notorious to cracking so I opted to have the Mexico heads freshened-up, knowing they too are crappy heads. I took the liberty of getting the casting number off the back of the block since the heads are off, and the block is a 3970010, the partial VIN is 12L518466, and the other stamp is V1005CDD. I need to check the other side to see what that casting number is, because I think it'll show what the block actually is. From the research I've done thus far it appears the block is a 302, 327, or 350 according to the casting number. It is definitely not a 283, although I wish it were, but since this engine doesn't leak or burn oil, and there is no ridge in the cylinders, I'm hoping the torquey cam will provide more usable power. The rpm range of the new cam is from 600 to 4600.

Oh yeah, there is "30" on the top of each piston, does that mean it's bored 0.030 over? If it is, they didn't deck the block. The cylinders have good cross hatching though.

3970010 is most commonly a 350 and usually a 4 bolt, but could be 2 bolt also. Since you had the heads off, were the pistons a bit of a dish? If so, I'd say there is 95% chance it's a 350. If they're flat tops, I'd say 80% chance it's a 327 and highly unlikely it's a 302 since that was only in the 69 Z28 Camaro with a solid lift 30 30 Duntov Camshaft. So you'll be OK with those Mexican heads. They're very much like the 882 heads as far as flow and compression. Not as prone to cracking as the OEM 882's though.

 

[DoubleDingo]

It has the normal dished pistons for the valves. The lifters are hydraulic, not solid, so my guess is a low compression truck 350. The idle was a little lopey, not a lot. I'm wanting a nice smooth idle with good torque so I can engage the overdrive and use minimal pedal to keep going down the road. I'll find out if it's 4 bolt or 2 bolt main when I change the pan gasket. That'll be this up coming weekend.

 

[HotRodPC]

Yep, that sounds like 350 Pistons so those Heche En Mexico heads will be just fine. Doesn't really matter if it's 2 or 4 bolt. For this build 2 bolt is just fine. 4 bolt is just a bonus for if and when ever needed.

 

[DoubleDingo]

This project keeps throwing me curves, but I am making progress. Still need to post up some photos. It's been crazy busy for me lately so I haven't brought the data cord to get access to my phone at work. Almost to the point where I can fully assemble the engine. Found out yesterday that it's a 2 bolt main. The one-piece oil pan gasket I bought was wrong for the front of the pan. Fortunately Oreilly's was open, so out of pure curiosity I asked for a 72 Camaro oil pan gasket and it fit like a glove. A few more items to clean and prep and paint, then to bolt on and I can fire it up. Unfortunately it's too many items as a whole to be done in time for my road trip, so I'll be renting a car instead. Probably better though. To drive this beast I calculated refills at the pump roughly every 180 miles, or 3 hours of driving, which was 9ish on the approach, so double that to make it 19, and assume the worse case scenario for gas prices at just over $3 and it came out to around $1,2** for fuel alone. I miss the days of filling 2 tanks for $40. I promise to post up some photos the next time I make a progress report, so bear with me, I know how we like the porn I know you'll like the engine cleaned up. Just wish I could do the whole engine bay but that can wait for a later date.

 

[HotRodPC]

Dammit, I can't move back to Cali. We're paying $2.23 for 100% real gas without ethanol. That's what I run in the C20. In the 2004 ricer I run the 10% Ethanol blend for $1.87.

 

[Craig 85]

This is a great project. I always loved this body style. Had I not found my K30, I was going to find a 64-66 3/4 ton and make it a 4x4.

Dammit, I can't move back to Cali. We're paying $2.23 for 100% real gas without ethanol. That's what I run in the C20. In the 2004 ricer I run the 10% Ethanol blend for $1.87.

You definitely can't move back now. Our a**hole governor just signed a 10 year $52 Billion dollar gas tax to pay for road repairs we're already paying for. Gas is going up 12 cents per gallon and diesel is going up 20 cents. They are also are raising the license fee an average of $38, but can be as high as $175 more! And on top of this, they are letting everyone out of jail and are talking about getting rid of the bail system!

 

[DoubleDingo]

Back tracking, here we go...

The refreshed Mexico heads. I painted them orange years ago and the guy painted them black, so I had to paint them orange again. They cleaned up nicely, but the exhaust ports aren't exactly uniform. Oh well, they ran fine on Mean Green years ago, so I'm not going to sweat it.

The dirty engine before taking it apart.

The casting number. I know now that this is a 2 bolt main engine, but I need to research some more to see if I can accurately identify what this engine was in from the factory.

The Right bank.

The Left bank.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I was going to buy new pushrods, but these were all straight so I re-used them.

The valve covers before and after. I really like how they look with the Chevy Orange. Looks sharp.

A little paint on the front before re-camming the engine. The wind blew each time I worked on this thing, so I had to tape it up to keep debris out while I did other stuff. Glad I did because it took me longer than I wanted to get the rest of the stuff cleaned, prepped, painted, and cured.

Out with the old...

 

[DoubleDingo]

In with the new. I wound up re-using the timing set, I didn't like that comp cams sent me the old style. I wanted a double-roller, and the old one barely had any slack.

What's that baking in the oven...lol...it's not edible that's for sure...lol... Did the first two bakes in the oven, and the final on the engine.

Curing the intake...lol... Luckily it was cool outside because running the over as hot as I was and the heater on full heat in the tiny bathroom, it was pretty warm in the house.

#6 lifters and #1 lifters after being dropped into their bores.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Ready to adjust the valves.

The two roll method for those that don't know how to do it. The book says 3/4 turn, and also 1 turn past zero lash, but I personally go with 1/2 turn.

Got the rotor pointing back to correct position for #1. I know, the HEI is supposed to be one terminal counterclockwise, but when I switched to HEI I left #1 where the PO had it, and I actually like it because it evens out the plug wires. It is symmetrical from left to right, instead of #1 and #2 both coming from the left front of the cap, they are both on the front.

It's coming together. I decided to use more of the Blue where it's visible, so the radiator got some, and the air cleaner assembly will too. Ran out of time to paint to air cleaner assembly, but it'll get sprayed this week. The dirty engine bay looks out of place now that the engine is all spruced up.