Technical 354 Hemi Build Thread (Again)

Put the oil pump pickup and pan on tonight. Had to use two bolts instead of studs in one place because we lost a couple, but we've got some more somewhere.


I also screwed in the plug that goes in front of the distributor shaft inside the block. This plug is super important, if you don't install it you will have little to no oil pressure.


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Paint came out real nice.

 

A common trick is to drill a .050 hole in the plug to help oil the cam/dizzy gears.

 

Does anyone know what this hole is for in the rear of the block? It takes a 3/8 fine thread bolt so I'll see if I can find a plug for it, but I'm just curious.


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Nice job. One of my problems was with a small hole in a plug for oiling on my 331. Maybe by next month I'll get it back to the dyno.

 

Certainly nothing oem related...
You probably should have run an NPT tap in there so a normal pie plug would seal. A bit harder to do now.

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I just looked at my Dodge 354 and it does not have that hole.

 

Is that hole making a cameo appearance in the lower left hand corner?

It's got to be aftermarket oil transfer related somehow. It should be pipe thread,,,we'll probably used to be pipe thread.

 

Yes that is the hole. Fastenal ended up having the size we needed but there is nothing to keep the plug from going all the way through. Might put a nut on it with red loctite.



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Well......... There's more than one out there.... Goofy part is= 58 cast into block, with the A1 casting, BUT= 354 Chrysler. Zero numbers on the front valley rail. = Replacement block. Your not the only one! BTW- Hi Gary!

 

Wow thats neat. I was wondering why there were no numbers on the front rail of the block, now I know!

 

Got any numbers to show off? I don't know if we'll be able to get this one on a dyno and I'd like to get a ballpark estimate of what it might make.

 

Some truck blocks have use codes stamped on the from of the block below the driver's side head. One of my blocks has seemingly random stamps there.

 

This was the case with my 331 shown on another thread.
However, it was used for powering an irrigation pump....somewhat common in the midwest,
thus the Chrysler Industrial valve covers.


It does not have that hole off to the side of the distributor housing like KID's does

 

...never say never when it comes to dealing with Early Mopar......
Perhaps, and only that, there was auxiliary equipment that received oil pressure from the engine and this was the return line. When dealing with Industrial/AG equipment there are no rules.
Mike, how is your project coming along?

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Little pre-move-in day mockup. I tried to get a good angle but I was backed up against the staircase and the darn thing was so heavy I couldn't be bothered to turn it around. I go back to school tomorrow, so updates are going to slow down... but if you have any Early Hemi tech tips or info, feel free to post here.


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Thought about doing that as well, just thought it didn't look as clean. May end up doing that, we'll see.


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Okay, 3/8-24 stainless button head, polished !

 

That's a good idea. I'll see if I have any.


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You're really moving along! I would love to hear it run!

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Hopefully we'll have it running soon. I'll post a bunch of videos when that happens!


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Yeah!!!!

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Well my brother and I are back home this weekend so we're gonna start working on this thing again. Here's what we've done today so far:



Installed the water pump using the HH BBC adapters


Shortened all of the head studs to fit under the valve covers as well.


Had to pull these stepped dowels out of the old block to put in this one, since we will be using the '55 heads. Haven't done much today yet, the head studs and the dowel pulling have been the most time consuming parts.


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This is probably my favorite view of this engine. Something about the head studs sticking straight up just makes it look nasty.



Put the rockers on and pushrods in as well, now I have to find out what dad did with the adjuster nuts...


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We got a lot done today. First, we put all of the pushrods in their respective domains, which was made easy by these rockers with removable adjusters. All of the pushrods are different lengths, because the adjuster has an oil hole in it that should line up with the hole in the rocker arm. When the pushrod length is correct, there should be .035 of thread sticking out of the top, which means the oil holes are lined up. Crane lists their preload recommendations between .060 and .090, so we went with .075.


Adjuster oil hole. The adjuster end takes a 3/8 ball and the lifter takes a 5/16.


The best looking valve covers ever produced by mortal men.


Stock plug tubes with the HH adapters for the plug wire boots.


In the time it took to get everything back from the machine shop we managed to build a pretty decent run stand for this thing. I'll post some more picture of it tomorrow.







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It's alive!! It really doesn't sound good in videos with these mufflers on unless you have some good speakers, we may get some action with open headers but the neighbor has a newborn and I don't want to piss her off. But we might

 

Looks like ya got a water leak

Sounds nice, well done!

 

CQQL Stuff! That alt is a lil bouncy though...... And that's at idle. Might want to beef it somehow.....
Other than that- Rock On!

 

What's with that 18 inch tall distributor?