Anyone got a spare small block V8? a 273 or a 318 cu would be great? or rebuild my motor for a reasonable price? based west of London...
I am trying to rescue my 1967 VE Valiant and get it back on the road.
Unfortunately where it has sat for 2 years, the engine may have rust in the bores as my mechanic (who is making new brake pipes for her) has said it is hard to turn over by hand after running for 5 mins? Can't have bit the dust, surely?
Mopar 273ci V8
Moderator: Moderators
Re: Mopar 273ci V8
Welcome to the Message Board.
I hope you have luck in your search.
I hope you have luck in your search.
Pete Wiseman; Cambridge.
Mopar by the grace of God
Mopar by the grace of God
Re: Mopar 273ci V8
Bitten the dust
I don't think that is necessarily so, but depends, and it depends on what he did before he started it up after years of standing dormant.....
How Gung-ho do you want to be.... this advice is kinda wrong....
when you start an engine that has been standing for a long while there is a small chance that the oil filter, filter media, just fell apart and you dragged all kinds of crap through the bearings.
the filter media has a life, and if it sits dormant in slightly acidic old oil for a few years it just degrades, and it comes apart like wet bog roll..
in most cases this just blocks up the filter and the bypass kicks in. This is not an issue with the old style steel mesh rebuildable ones but a standard spin on fram or similar is made from paper and card (unless you spent a lot on it)
but don't worry, it didn't sieze so presume this has not happend....
how stiff is stiff?
if his bread and butter is small modern motors is his view correct?
Is it stiff turned over by hand with the plugs out?
Or is he fighting compression and yanking of the fan and fan belt? in which case YES it will be very stiff?
or did it just labour on the starter? (which is to be expected)
whack a splash of diesel and a squirt of WD40 in each bore leave it for a day or 2 to seep through the rings into the sump. should soften off some gunge at least.
dump the oil
dump the filter
dump the coolant
new coolant or water until you KNOW
new oil new filter just keep it cheap 10 w30 or 20w40 halfrods comma et al..
New fuel filter
start it with damp start and give it a few gentle revs to get it running on all 8
leave it running at 1500 for 10-20 minutes until it warms up nicley watch for smoke and burst pipes (fuel at the tank to steel pipe junction at the rear and up front, and the coolant pipes to radiator, if the top one has perished it will go when the themostat opens)
shut it down and do a leak down or compression test, should give you some top end health info
if its just sat there for a few years it will be 1 to 3 cylinders that had the inlet valve open that are in the worst state. the "first start" that you mention might have busted the rings i.e damage done, so the above will not necessarily make matters worse, although a total sieze is possible, but might just make it better if the rings are just stuck in their lands but not broken.
you do however risk picking up a massive amount of sludge from the sump which means its probably worth getting 2 filters and doing another oil change after a couple of hundred miles becasue your new filter will get full of crap quickly.
for an economical motor, 273 worth rebuilding, you might have the steel crank and you probably have adjustable rockers but the issue is new pistons are akward to get.
The proper way would be to either get one of those endoscope cameras and have a look via the plug hole at the bore on the lower side with each piston low in the cylinder. in-cylinder condensation would have been widley distributed all round BUT will have drained to the lowest point and sat fluffing up the edge of the piston and welding the rings to the bore
or pull it and strip it to check.
my last breakers yard motor had sat under an ex RAF base, water tower for years, out of the rain but that was it by way of protection. when i pulled off the head apart from a slight oranage tone in certain light the bores were good you could still see the cross hatch pattern all over except the very top. oily cloth cleaned them up enough for me to spot a small ridge, so it will need a hone or most likely rebore but it would have run fine for many years, pitsons looked pretty good and rings still moved... the oil however was like margarine
yours may well be the same the oily film may well have saved it like it did mine
if it all runs good again
new points
new plugs
new igntion leads
clean up earthing points, battery lead connectors, fuse box connectors, and all contacts in the igntion switch to coil wireing
some better oil with decent zddp level.
Back on the road....
how you approach this really depends on how much you are wiilling to risk, for a potential gain of not really needing to do anything much once its running... i have outlined the "I got away with it" route that served me well in my 20s
buy it, clean it out, stick it in and drive like you just don't care was kinda what i did, and i got away with it....mainly
Dave
I don't think that is necessarily so, but depends, and it depends on what he did before he started it up after years of standing dormant.....
How Gung-ho do you want to be.... this advice is kinda wrong....
when you start an engine that has been standing for a long while there is a small chance that the oil filter, filter media, just fell apart and you dragged all kinds of crap through the bearings.
the filter media has a life, and if it sits dormant in slightly acidic old oil for a few years it just degrades, and it comes apart like wet bog roll..
in most cases this just blocks up the filter and the bypass kicks in. This is not an issue with the old style steel mesh rebuildable ones but a standard spin on fram or similar is made from paper and card (unless you spent a lot on it)
but don't worry, it didn't sieze so presume this has not happend....
how stiff is stiff?
if his bread and butter is small modern motors is his view correct?
Is it stiff turned over by hand with the plugs out?
Or is he fighting compression and yanking of the fan and fan belt? in which case YES it will be very stiff?
or did it just labour on the starter? (which is to be expected)
whack a splash of diesel and a squirt of WD40 in each bore leave it for a day or 2 to seep through the rings into the sump. should soften off some gunge at least.
dump the oil
dump the filter
dump the coolant
new coolant or water until you KNOW
new oil new filter just keep it cheap 10 w30 or 20w40 halfrods comma et al..
New fuel filter
start it with damp start and give it a few gentle revs to get it running on all 8
leave it running at 1500 for 10-20 minutes until it warms up nicley watch for smoke and burst pipes (fuel at the tank to steel pipe junction at the rear and up front, and the coolant pipes to radiator, if the top one has perished it will go when the themostat opens)
shut it down and do a leak down or compression test, should give you some top end health info
if its just sat there for a few years it will be 1 to 3 cylinders that had the inlet valve open that are in the worst state. the "first start" that you mention might have busted the rings i.e damage done, so the above will not necessarily make matters worse, although a total sieze is possible, but might just make it better if the rings are just stuck in their lands but not broken.
you do however risk picking up a massive amount of sludge from the sump which means its probably worth getting 2 filters and doing another oil change after a couple of hundred miles becasue your new filter will get full of crap quickly.
for an economical motor, 273 worth rebuilding, you might have the steel crank and you probably have adjustable rockers but the issue is new pistons are akward to get.
The proper way would be to either get one of those endoscope cameras and have a look via the plug hole at the bore on the lower side with each piston low in the cylinder. in-cylinder condensation would have been widley distributed all round BUT will have drained to the lowest point and sat fluffing up the edge of the piston and welding the rings to the bore
or pull it and strip it to check.
my last breakers yard motor had sat under an ex RAF base, water tower for years, out of the rain but that was it by way of protection. when i pulled off the head apart from a slight oranage tone in certain light the bores were good you could still see the cross hatch pattern all over except the very top. oily cloth cleaned them up enough for me to spot a small ridge, so it will need a hone or most likely rebore but it would have run fine for many years, pitsons looked pretty good and rings still moved... the oil however was like margarine
yours may well be the same the oily film may well have saved it like it did mine
if it all runs good again
new points
new plugs
new igntion leads
clean up earthing points, battery lead connectors, fuse box connectors, and all contacts in the igntion switch to coil wireing
some better oil with decent zddp level.
Back on the road....
how you approach this really depends on how much you are wiilling to risk, for a potential gain of not really needing to do anything much once its running... i have outlined the "I got away with it" route that served me well in my 20s
buy it, clean it out, stick it in and drive like you just don't care was kinda what i did, and i got away with it....mainly
Dave
The Greater Knapweed near the Mugwort by the Buckthorn tree is dying
Re: Mopar 273ci V8
Very good advice there, often nothing much wrong and its worth the oil and filters to see how it is, as it might be really quite good.
These are tough old engines and continue to run when slightly knackered, so get it running and see how bad it is, you may be pleasantly surprised once it warms up and gets fresh oil through it, plus the £3 - 4K rebuild might not be needed.
These are tough old engines and continue to run when slightly knackered, so get it running and see how bad it is, you may be pleasantly surprised once it warms up and gets fresh oil through it, plus the £3 - 4K rebuild might not be needed.
Matt Hollingsworth - Vehicle Registrar
Panther Pink 73 Aussie Charger 265 Hemi 4 spd
Challenger Sam Posey Tribute car
Panther Pink 73 Aussie Charger 265 Hemi 4 spd
Challenger Sam Posey Tribute car