01-13-2018, 01:14 PM
So this probably explains a lot:
![[Image: 8B35oZT.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/8B35oZT.jpg)
I have six pushrods that are bent pretty bad. Not sure how or how much damage it did. I'm thinking they were a hair short and the slop in the stock style rockers let them wander just enough to bind up. It would make a lot more sense if there were 8 bent and not six since I could blame the intake or exhaust side. Time to do things the expensive way. Ordering some adjustable rocker arms. From there I'm going to put a dial indicator on each rocker to measure the lift to see if I wiped any of the lobes. I guess I should pull my intake to get a look at the lifters and cam at a minimum. I'd like to pull the heads as well if I'm opening that can of worms though.
The leak-down test came back good for all but 2 cylinder. Everything was holding around 90 psi with the tool set at 100 but 2 cylinders were at 22 psi. There's no way I was running with that kinda leakage in 2 cylinders. I spun the engine around until it was at TDC on the compression stroke again and they were good. Tried it a third time and they were bad again. It seems the rings aren't fully seated in these cylinders, only way I can explain that. More motivation to open it up I guess. The scope didn't show any marks on the pistons at least.
It's getting real tempting to start tallying up what I can part out on this engine and front end to simply redo it as a proper restomod with a newer Hemi. For the price I paid in machine work and bling, I very easily could have had a running 6.4L with the necessary K-member to make it straight drop in and go swap. The major flaw in this plan is I'll be stuck selling to a small subset within a small subset. Convincing the average Mopar guy a 318 is worth anything more than a boat anchor is a battle I don't feel like fighting. You can't even mention the word aftermarket without at least a couple guys swearing that stamped steel from 1970 is the best thing ever made to corner around a track at 100 mph.
Time to bust out the booze and spreadsheets.
I have six pushrods that are bent pretty bad. Not sure how or how much damage it did. I'm thinking they were a hair short and the slop in the stock style rockers let them wander just enough to bind up. It would make a lot more sense if there were 8 bent and not six since I could blame the intake or exhaust side. Time to do things the expensive way. Ordering some adjustable rocker arms. From there I'm going to put a dial indicator on each rocker to measure the lift to see if I wiped any of the lobes. I guess I should pull my intake to get a look at the lifters and cam at a minimum. I'd like to pull the heads as well if I'm opening that can of worms though.
The leak-down test came back good for all but 2 cylinder. Everything was holding around 90 psi with the tool set at 100 but 2 cylinders were at 22 psi. There's no way I was running with that kinda leakage in 2 cylinders. I spun the engine around until it was at TDC on the compression stroke again and they were good. Tried it a third time and they were bad again. It seems the rings aren't fully seated in these cylinders, only way I can explain that. More motivation to open it up I guess. The scope didn't show any marks on the pistons at least.
It's getting real tempting to start tallying up what I can part out on this engine and front end to simply redo it as a proper restomod with a newer Hemi. For the price I paid in machine work and bling, I very easily could have had a running 6.4L with the necessary K-member to make it straight drop in and go swap. The major flaw in this plan is I'll be stuck selling to a small subset within a small subset. Convincing the average Mopar guy a 318 is worth anything more than a boat anchor is a battle I don't feel like fighting. You can't even mention the word aftermarket without at least a couple guys swearing that stamped steel from 1970 is the best thing ever made to corner around a track at 100 mph.
Time to bust out the booze and spreadsheets.