I bought a Hemi - Project Lit'lphant

[oldeskewltoy]

First update in 3 years..... no this didn't die.... it has been delayed (mostly the car.....) The engine was finished early in the summer of 2023, but let me go back and try to fill in some details.

This thread was posted to regularly - (https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/...28/page1/) if you'd like to see the order of events and the actual timeline.

So after Anthony built the mounts, the engine went back to Portland Engine Rebuilders. There was an issue (galling) with some of the rocker arms, they were sent out to be repaired, and refurbished.


While the rockers were being attended too, PER begin the rebuilding process with a full balancing of the bottom end.




The valve seals used came from the 4M engine, they worked just fine - note their shape for a bit later....




The shop fitted the new pistons to the rods - note the rod shape



The rods are known as giraffe, or in many cases diesel type rods. Also note that the rod caps and rods have jagged mating surfaces. Bearings are the used ones that came out - they are in great condition.




Short block went together



and the cam timing was set



Remember the flywheel.... It did need a few modifications - the center hole had to be enlarged by .015" so it would fit over the crank, and the bolt holes need to be changed(elongated slightly) so they would fit the crankshaft pattern.




And fitting the AR5 transmission




So now on to the valve spring search, and the valve seals from above. The stock spring package for the 5V is dual springs - here is where the valve seals come in, the inner spring holds the seal in place, so we need to keep it dual springs! Seat pressure is 65#s, and on the nose it is 175#s. Those numbers are rather mild, especially for something with dual springs.



With the new camshaft, Ted (owner at Portland Engine Rebuilders) felt 65#s on the seat and 175 on the nose would be too light for the new camshaft, he felt I needed about 100-110 on the seat, and about 220 on the nose. The inner spring rates were only 15#s on the seat, and 35# on the nose. (that makes the outer spring 50 on the seat, and 140 on the nose) The plan was to keep the outer spring, and upgrade the inner spring. Going though many sources for valve springs we weren't able to find anything suitable, until I sent an email to Pac Spring - they make many springs for many different companies - in fact they make 3 4AG springs!

They had a spring that would add 50#s on the seat, and 85#s on the nose, or as a total, the new spring would make seat pressure 100#s, and nose pressure 225#s.

The only hangup - the spring was a proprietary spring for AFR racing heads. Pac Spring asked AFR if they could sell me 8 inner springs, and AFR agreed. These springs are special as they have dual dampening features




So do to the rocker arm refurbish, and all the rest of the machine work, adjustable pushrods were used to make sure tolerances would be kept accurate.





Once the engine was mostly assembled it was fitted to a SimTest machine engine tester. She was spun upto about 600rpm.





(video of SimTest machine in use)

The engine is finished.... next step - getting it installed.......