Lookey what I got for a project!! (Hyfire Poly!)

Enough with the dirty talk....

 

I had a 318 Poly and it was like an anvil, reliable, good powerband. Great engines!

 

I swear, I was like a little kid on Christmas. I stopped by the machine shop today on the way back from work and picked up the block, crank, rods, pistons, and camshaft. They're still working on the heads, but should be (not holding my breath) finished with the valve job sometime next week. I have the pieces laid out and the block set up on the engine stand in the garage now. Tomorrow, the mancub and I tackle painting the block and start polishing the Stromberg pieces before we put them back together. Boy - that Mac's solvent is some powerful stuff!

Check the last pictures - in case you can't remember what this pig USED to look like!!!

 

A day well spent. I got the motor taped off, then showed the little man how to paint. Yeah, there were a few runs/flows and drips, but it's an engine block... so who cares how pretty the paint is! Still, it looks a hell of a lot better than when I got it. Tomorrow - Strombergs!

 

I peeled the tape off this morning.... Well, it turned out OK. Not that I'm going to let him paint the car, but his first engine block wasn't so bad.

 

The Strombergs had to wait yesterday... I was taking the recycling out, and slipped going down the back steps. I would have been fine if I had been wearing steel toes, or even sneakers... but NOOOO... I was wearing *&%$# flip flops. I crunched my toe but good. Nothing like a trip to the ER and several hours of waiting to let them tell you what you already know: "Sir, your toe is broken." Really? I couldn't tell. So... instead of polishing and rebuilding carbs with my son, I sat in the ER next to vomiting kids and hacking octogenarians. Oh well, another day or two soaking in Macs won't kill 'em.

 

Picked up the heads from the machine shop, and they look great. I can't believe these are the same lumps of iron that I dispatched a few weeks ago! They looked so good, I couldn't resist setting them on the block for a minute... then throwing on the intake and one of those cool/funky valve covers. It's beginning to take shape, and I can imagine what it'll all look like in a few weeks/months/years! Today, the man cub and I will paint the heads and assemble everything so we can have it balanced next month... after I come back from an all expenses paid trip to Yakima.

 

cub and I will paint the heads and assemble everything so we can have it balanced next month... after I come back from an all expenses paid trip to Yakima. -------------- Are you going to the firing center? I spent some time there in '61-'62. I don't understand the Assemble everything so we can have it balanced. Could you elaborate?

 

I am going out to Yakima Training Center for a few weeks... leave Tuesday... found out about it at the last minute, so I'm not particularly pleased. Pause thought - After we paint the heads, Jack and I will be putting the pistons, rods, and bearings together this weekend. The whole thing will sit until I get back next month and can take it all back to the machinist and get it balanced (flywheel and harmonic balancer are being scrounged). Does that make more sense?

 

I liked Yakima better than Ft. Lewis. But I was only there in the summer.

 

wolfhound423 its time to plan a hamb barbacue at your place and lets give your coupe a new heart poly style. i'm in for it. gonna be nice with new motor. enjoy the desert!

 

I think we're a little ways away from the heart transplant just yet... but I am definitely planning on putting the word out to my fellow HAMBers. I have a few more parts to source, and need to save a few more shekels to make that happen (transmissions ain't cheap!). I figure I'll get the engine and tranny all together this fall (what else do you do in T-Town when it rains for 5 weekends in a row?), and then fire up the grill and ice down the beer! I know that some Bishops (Dynaflash, Rev Jack, et al) will show - free beer and food - and with enough warning, maybe even a few other curious/ local HAMBers! Heck, we could make it into a tech thread - how to shoehorn a Poly into an old flat-6 coupe!

In the meantime, I'll have a blast roasting in Yak.

 

A little more success today - got one of the heads successfully taped and painted, and got the pistons and rods all together. I had to mock-up the block/ head/ valve cover again now that it's all painted. I swear I saw the old girl looking over at me, checking out the new heart I'm building for her. Tomorrow, we paint the other head and get the rest of the goodies together.

 

Your guy balances things different than my guy. Mine makes all the pistons weigh the same. Then the rods. Big ends the same, pin ends the same. Then he weighs the piston with rings rods pin bearings. Then he does some magic guessing about what percentage is rotating weight and what is recipocating weight on the rod. Then he makes bob weights to go on the crank to simulate the rods and pistons and spins it on some machine that tells him where to drill and how much. Then I get to assemble the rods and pistons. How does your guy do it?

 

I will be first to admit that I am not versed in the dark arts of engine balancing. I'm pretty sure he has already weighed the pistons and rods - the Egge pistons all came in within a gram of each other, if I remember correctly. I'll reassemble the pistons and rods here, then when I get back from Yak (hah, that rhymed) next month, and have some spare shekels, I'll take the whole rotating mass back to him and let him do his voodoo/mojo. From what I have read on Scooter's Hemi archive, the Poly motors have a tendency to snap cranks - and it's all a balancing issue. No, this isn't going to be a drag/racing motor, but if I'm going to go through it from top to bottom, I may as well do it right. Blue will eventually become my daily, and the last thing I want to do is blow up the motor on I-5.

If I'm not making sense - somebody stop me now. The last thing I want to do is go down the wrong track and throw a bunch of moolah (tight as the budget already is) on a dry hole.

 

I have heard that the early Poly motors may snap a crank due to not havinf a harmonic dampner. I don't think thats to do with balancing although people call them balancer. But that is just what I heard. No personal experiance.

 

Rich - that makes sense. In that vein, I am also hunting a balancer that I can adapt to fit the Hyfire. I take any and all recommendations on what to use - Hot Heads has a 340 balancer, and there are ways to adapt a 318 balancer... Tell me what has worked for you my fellow HAMBers. Anyway, we'll cross that bridge in a few weeks - after a little time in the beautiful E. Washington desert.

On a side/ off topic note, I had a good laugh at the sign - "Yakima, the Palm Springs of WA." I seriously doubt the sign outside Palm Springs bills it as the "Yakima of CA," but I may be mistaken.

 

I have been (had been... retired) balancing motors for years... sorry but even if he equalized the pistons and rods and calculated the bob weight he needs the crank, balancer and flywheel in his balancer to finish the job.
If the engine is internal balanced then all he needs is the crank and he can check the balancer and flywheel separately... if its externally balanced he needs the crank, balancer and flywheel assembly in his balancer to spin it up and balance it.

 

Otto - yup, that's what he told me. I'll take the assembled pistons/ rods, crank, flywheel, and harmonic balancer back to him next month when I get back from the "Palm Springs of WA" and have a few more shekels saved up. Then Bud and Bob can do all the figgerin' and gozintas (Chinese Calculus), drag their voodoo chicken bones over the whole rotating/reciprocating mass, and make it spin beautifully.
- On a separate note -
If my fellow HAMBers know of a good way to adapt a harmonic balancer to an early Poly motor without giving an arm and a leg (HHH 340 balancer ain't cheap, and would it even work on my Hyfire?), please let me know. I have read that a 318 balancer can be adapted - anyone got any pics of how it's done? This is the very first V8 I have ever rebuilt, and only the 2nd engine ever, so I'm paddling in uncharted waters here - help a brother out! Thanks....

 

Chryslers That I have seen are internaly balanced. I don't know what if any effect adding a harmonic dampener that is Zero balance would have in doing the job. I used a BHJ dampener on mine. I had all my stuff at the machine shop for balanceing, I just never had the pistons assembled on the rods. But thats Ok if somebody else has a different way of doing things

 

I hope I didnt sound like he needed the rods and pistons assembled to balance... he (machinist) just needs the weight from the small end of the rods, weight of the big end of the rods the piston/pin/locks and ring weight and the weight of the rod bearings to calculate the bob weight.
I imagine he already equalized the rods and pistons and recorded the weights.
If its internally balanced as you said then all he needs is the crank and his recorded weights to balance the crank.
If he didnt record the weights he will have to disassemble the pistons/rods and weigh them.
There is no problem using a good harmonic balancer... it will help crank life.

 

This is a very kool thread!!

I put a 62 Dodge 318 Poly in a 48 Plymouth. Never tore the motor down except for taking the valve covers off to adjust the valves. Ran beatifully!!

I had steering shaft clearance issues on the left side. One night while sitting around with guys from the street rod club I was in, one of them noticed the exhaust manifolds were the same top and bottom. We took the right side manifold, turned it upside down and put it on the left side. Now the exhaust pointed straight out instead of down. Got my clearance! Maybe it will work for you? Sorry, no pics.

Marty

 

After being gone for 3 weeks (Yakima is not my favorite place on earth), I have returned and pose this question to my fellow HAMBers... I have found a 3spd o/d trans from a '65 Ford (came off a Fairlane w/ a 289). How adaptable is this going to be? Assuming I can find a bellhousing and a Wilcap/Waters/ HHH adapter, is this a good idea? Am I in for a headache, or is this not as bad as others. The T86 trannies are pretty solid, and should be easy to find parts for... and it'll allow me to get Hwy speeds while keeping my column shift....but I'm not going to be into spending an a$$load when there might be an easier way. Anyway... I value any and all input. Thanks.... and here are some pics to muse over.

 

Well, good karma pays off. A few weeks ago, one of my neighbors was unloading some sheetrock off his truck and I gave him a hand. This past weekend, he saw me working in the garage (finally) and stopped to say howdy - formally. Well, as it turns out, Fred has been a welder for 30+ years and teaches welding at the Public School here. He took one look at my project (scattered all over the garage) and inquired if I needed help on anything. I showed him my cracked manifold, and he said he could have it welded up in a jiffy. This evening, when I struggled home at 8pm (long day), Fred had it waiting for me. They heated it up, ground it down, and welded it back up with nickel rod. I got my manifold back good as new, and he got to teach several students how to weld cast iron (a dying art). It'll look awesome with a coat of hi-temp paint on it! Project Hyfire back on track!

Now if I could just find a MOPAR 3spd o/d tranny to fit the Poly/hemi block that easy!

 

Hey pete, is that tranny still around????

I could use that overdrive on it.

 

Check your email - sent you the guy's contact info on that toploader and another link to some Ford o/d's that popped up for sale out in Shelton.

 

I used a duel pattern Ford three speed behind my 392. I used a Lakewood blowshield for a SBC to make the addapter along with the plate Nostalga drag guys use to put powerglides behind Hemis. Cost me about $125. Worked good. I still have all those parts to use with my Poly if I ever get to it. If you think you might want to do the same thing pm me.

 

Wow cool new stuff. Man those heads look great, stock springs and retainers? Can't wait for mine to look that good. BTT please

 

Yessir -stock springs and retainers. My old springs were a little worn out, so Bud called me and told me they needed to be changed. I gulped ($$$) and said do it. Once you toast your build budget, it's just all downhill from there. I tell my son he will need to earn a scholarship, because daddy is using his college fund to teach him how to build the Hyfire. He laughs, but my wife doesn't think the joke is all that funny. Hmmmm. Today, after the soccer game, it's into the garage and getting busy on painting the manifolds! Who knows, by Sunday, we might have a Stromberg put back together!?!?!

 

Outstanding project ! Well Done. It's gonna be a screamer for sure. Thanks for posting.