I promised Beater that I'd put together a list of parts for this little 153" engine. There are several pieces that I am using from the original engine which actually came with he car when I bought it and a few parts that I fabricated myself. I'll identify those as I list them.
The block: a 153" automotive block from a Jeep mail truck of unknown vintage. Bored 0.030,cleaned, magnafluxed, and decked to make sure the head surface is flat. Final deck height is 9.158" (I left the other .008 rather than going back and decking more)
The crankshaft: an early 181 industrial crankshaft, checked for true, mains turned 0.010, rods turned offset to earlier small journal standard producing a 3.650 stroke. (I could have had them turned another 0.020 offset and gotten another 0.005", but this leaves a little more material if the crank ever needed to be turned again). Had the machine shop drill and tap for a balancer bolt. I never trusted that balancer and pulley just pressed on.
Rods: 6.00" Scat H-beam rods with bushed little ends. Got these from 12bolt Tom
Pistons: 3.905" forged pistons. Custom made from RaceTec. these are 9.75:1 small dome pistons set to zero deck height. Lightweight tool steel .927 piston pins. Spiro lock retainers.
Rings: Total Seal metric rings matched to the pistons, medium tension, (file to fit)
Lifters: Hydraulic roller lifters, got 'em from 12bolt Tom
Camshaft: McGurk #55 roller cam. Got this from Impala in a trade. It was damaged and I sent it to Oregon Cam Grinding to be repaired and reground to a hydraulic profile. .540"+ lift and 110 centerline. Great folks!!
Timing set: Cloyes straight cut gears with aluminum cam gear and three position crank gear. I bought new cam retainer ring/plate and bolts from a Mercruiser supply.
Rocker arms: Comp Cams stainless Pro Mag roller rocker arms, 1.75:1 ratio, polly locks included.
Stud girdle: V8 small block. Crane Cams. (NOTE! the V8 Chevy small block stud girdle is around $100.00 cheaper than one for a six cylinder and you don't have to modify it. For 4banger you get two and for a six, you can modify the two girdles to do three cylinders each!)
Lump Port kit for intake ports. Again, 12bolt Tom
Valves: Manley, 1.65" stainless exhaust, 1.95" stainless intake
Cylinder head: 153" Chevy II head, ported and polished, combustion chamber slightly relieved around valves, milled 0.035", intake lumps installed and blended, 7/16" studs and guide plates installed, bench flowed and final polishing where warranted, and Crane valve springs installed. 74cc chambers.
I decided to use a different balancer for this project to keep costs down. It is SFI approved and manufactured in Australia. I'll post the brand here if it passes muster with the machine shop where I sent the reciprocating assembly for balancing! (More on machine shops later)
I built the header and intake manifold myself from header tubing. It mounts a Holley 4150 NASCAR 390 cfm carb with mechanical secondaries. This was a swap meet find that wasn't supposed to be sold to the public. It has no choke tower and uses removable jet plates on both ends. Both bowls have accelerator pumps. This setup works well on the stock engine that's in the car now, but I figure I'll have to re-jet and maybe put the big accelerator pump back on the secondary bowl.
I'm using a BBC starter on the little engine. I had it laying around and figured, "Why Not??"
The distributor is a slightly modified, stock, points type unit with a vacuum advance and a re-curved mechanical advance. We tinkered with it on one of the old Sun distributor machines 'til we were happy with it.
I haven't mocked up the head and cam yet, so I'm not sure what pushrod I'll be using. I doubt if I'll be lucky enough that the stock ones will work!
The head work was done by Bridges Machine in Nashville, Tennessee. Jimmy is an old friend from my racing days and he's held multiple NHRA World Records over the years and built heads for many other NHRA and NASCAR competitors. He has a flow bench and complete porting facilities as well as that Sun distributor machine and he does carburetor work for many drag and circle track racers.
The block and crank were done by Simpkins Machine in Springfield, Tennessee. Again, an old racing buddy who does things right. He's been around here forever and is happy to do custom work.
The camshaft was repaired and reground by Oregon Cam Grinders. It had one lobe that was flattened out because of a lifter failure. they built it back up with hard surface weld and reground it to a hydraulic profile that should be very streetable in this combination. Great communication and a stellar reputation among the people I've dealt with.
Balancing and final fit on the reciprocating assembly is by Kirt's Machine in Nashville, Tennessee. Peanut Watson is a racer. He's been in and around drag racing for more than forty years as a mechanic, driver, and machinist. Again, a producer of work for multiple NHRA and IHRA World Record holders and a major supplier to local racers of every kind!!
There's more that I'll add later. I'm certain I've forgotten or overlooked something.
Thanks to Beater of the Pack for his help with research and his connections with so many Inliners.
Thanks to Impala for trading that cam to me!
Thanks to 12bolt Tom for his help and for busting up six cylinder packages to get me what I needed and for information used in this build.
FINALLY!! Thanks to CNC Dude!! He pointed me in the right direction several times in compiling information and collecting "the right stuff the first time" and spent hours on the phone and on the web, helping me to get through all of the myth and misinformation that's out there to confuse and discourage a neat project.
Last edited by Blackwater; 11/24/20 09:10 PM.
