It has begun- Project Delmae

[cbarge]

If the rocker panels below the front doors under the hinges and behind where the fenders bolt onto, are not rusted out, you csn put jack stands there to support the body with stub frame removal. With the drivetrain already out, the car is already 800 pounds lighter....
The old stub frame being rotted out dont be afraid to cut it out in pieces. Dont forget to undo the torsion bars!!! Work smarter not harder...

 

[Walter Joy]

If the rocker panels below the front doors under the hinges and behind where the fenders bolt onto, are not rusted out, you csn put jack stands there to support the body with stub frame removal. With the drivetrain already out, the car is already 800 pounds lighter....
The old stub frame being rotted out dont be afraid to cut it out in pieces. Dont forget to undo the torsion bars!!! Work smarter not harder...

For sure! We aren’t in a rush yet. And I’m trying to convince myself that I should spend the $100 for the sway bar struts, even though I really want to find a set of Mcquay Norris FA1672

 

[71Polara383]

The extensions on the stub for the isolators make it fun. I usually have to move one jack stand out of the way, as it is wider then the pinch weld on the rockers.

Good thing you arent pulling the rear end too...if you don't have it balanced right you'll get this...

 

[Walter Joy]

The extensions on the stub for the isolators make it fun. I usually have to move one jack stand out of the way, as it is wider then the pinch weld on the rockers.
View attachment 434563

Good thing you arent pulling the rear end too...if you don't have it balanced right you'll get this...View attachment 434568

Next question- what is the best way to get the rubber isolators out of where they mounted on the radiator support?

 

[71Polara383]

Next question- what is the best way to get the rubber isolators out of where they mounted on the radiator support?

Dont. Just unbolt it. Lift it up and put the nut/washers back on so you dont lose them.

 

[Walter Joy]

Dont. Just unbolt it. Lift it up and put the nut/washers back on so you dont lose them.

Just had a brain fart on them, because that’s exactly what I did. Do the other isolators come out fine or require some TLC? Below the cowl and under the floors

 

[71Polara383]

Just had a brain fart on them, because that’s exactly what I did. Do the other isolators come out fine or require some TLC? Below the cowl and under the floors

They usually stay stuck to the frame, stuck to the body, or a combination of both. Keep each one together and make sure they go back into their original locations.

 

[Walter Joy]

Tear down has begun! Valley looks super clean with no sludge. Just for gits and shiggles I found the VIN stamping and checked the distributor pad for any interesting codes. Appears to be assembled March 31st.

My initial plan was to keep the engine block blue and put on the orange heads and intake to make everyone upset, but I think now I’m just going to paint the block and heads blue and intake silver. Next step will be checking the pistons and determining what the current compression ratio is.

 

[Walter Joy]

Unfortunately had a busy week (my 22nd birthday was Monday and we had snow the first half of the week), so I waited until today when the temperatures tickled 50 degrees Fahrenheit (or I think 7 Maple Syrup bottles in Canada and the rest of the world) to do a little more work. Surprisingly went pretty well. I did tear up a little bit of the top of the timing chain cover when separating the water pump housing from the block, but China makes a million of them a day. From there, I put a shiny non-impact socket on the impact gun and got the crankshaft bolt off, followed by the lower pulley and balancer with the 3 claw puller.

After scraping a few tons of oil and goo off the timing cover bolts, I got my first look at the timing gear. Surprisingly all the teeth were there, and there was a little slop. May need to keep this as the spare. Anyways, I failed to mention that I dropped one of the valley pan bolts down the distributor hole, but luckily it was sitting right there waiting for me to get it out.

My biggest worry was getting these manifolds off, as I know the ones on my 360 in W250 daily driver have rusted off and missing manifold bolts. I was shocked when I put the breaker bar on the nuts and they came loose like butter...did NOT expect that. Really holding off the urge to put the HP manifolds and DP4B on it until it is final assembly time.

If weather is just as nice tomorrow, I’m going to be 1) Pulling oil pump 2) Pulling valve train 3) Pulling heads and 4) Pulling camshaft if time allows. Not tearing all the way down and apart, as I’ll leave the machine shop to do that and all the extra work. Will be spending a few months in storage in the corner of the garage as I finish up my degree.

 

[polara71]

Do not keep it as a spare. Hang it on the wall. Toss it in the scrap pile but do not consider the chain or gear as spare.

 

[Walter Joy]

Do not keep it as a spare. Hang it on the wall. Toss it in the scrap pile but do not consider the chain or gear as spare.

Yeah I know. Going to be going with a double roller so in theory, shouldn’t need any attention for a few decades

 

[Walter Joy]

After a good week plus of nothing but cold and wet, it was nice enough out today to pull the passenger side head. As far as I can tell, all the pushrods were nice and tight, with no slop. My biggest shock was seeing that I have flat top pistons, and surprisingly very little wear on the walls.

Left: Pushrod that bent in August 2018 on the first start. Was thrown in the Vice and put back in.
Right: Non-bent pushrod for comparison

 

[70bigblockdodge]

How far down in the hole are the pistons?

 

[Walter Joy]

How far down in the hole are the pistons?

Have not checked yet. I’ll do all of them once the other side is off.

 

[Walter Joy]

And tear down of the 383 has finished! Driver side head is off, cam is out, oil pump is out, and it is ready to head to the machine shop (which won’t happen until probably after Carlisle). Cylinder walls look really good, as do the original lifters and cams. Will be going through some time this week with the dial indicator to get some measurements. Not spending any money on it now, as I have some leads on sheetmetal (and the daily driver is getting jealous so it’s deciding it needs some money thrown at it too). Everything has been coated with WD40 so the rust doesn’t set in. Hopefully warmer and drier weather comes this way and we can get to work on the subframe.

 

[Walter Joy]

I like to give the illusion of knowing how to do the task in doing, when in all reality I’m not even sure if I’m doing things right and wondering if I’m just keeping my mind and hands busy. Case in point- measuring piston depth. I’m expecting pistons to be close to .050 in the hole or more. However, according to my brake-kleen fogged mind and the computer, this 8.5 to 1 compression 1971 383 2bbl is in actuality a 8.6-8.8 to 1 engine. Yes I will be redoing my calculations.

Also took a few minutes to spray down the 28 years of caked on oil and dirt off and brush it down. Looks better already and I can even see some paint marks!

 

[Walter Joy]

Went back and redid my numbers with not only a new dial indicator, but also cleaning the tops off with acetone and a brass wire brush. Numbers look way better. Honestly still shocked on the numbers. Was definitely expecting a 8.2 to 1 engine

 

[Chandler]

Great job thus far! Looking forward to seeing this resto progress and its great that you're giving this car a second lease on life.

 

[Walter Joy]

And now the whole reason why I took the car apart- to replace the rusted subframe. It’s not horrible, but there is definitely holes in spots where there shouldn’t be holes and things bent where they shouldn’t be. I expected the whole ordeal with removal to be also tedious and stressful, but the only hang ups we had was trying to get the parking brake cable out of the way and moving the Jack stands to allow for the frame to move out. With god willing, nice weather, and a stress free Spring break starting next week, I think we should be close to installing the finished rust free subframe before the end of the month. Time to finally put my NOS Moog parts to use (yes you can get jealous).

 

[Walter Joy]

One side is apart and off! I think I can reuse the brake pads, but the shocks might be a stretch....