1969 C10 SWB - Big Block project

[tantrumpipeline]

Sweet!!! lookin good, haven't checked in in awhile

[72ArizonaBurb]

Looks great. I'm subscribing to this thread.

[CC69Rat]

My new rear main goes in tomorrow, and will probably order my wheels one day this week

Will probably go with Coys, the grey C5's. 20x7 and 20x8.5 just so I can keep it low and keep a little extra lip on the rear wheels.
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[CC69Rat]

Bad news today. We did find the rear main seal was installed backwards by the PO, in addition to it the rear main bearing looked horrible. I'm going to pull it and go back through the bottom end. The guy I bought the engine from said it had just been gone through - maybe 1000 miles or so and I took his word for it. Interesting.

[68c20lwb]

what are you running for rad and fans? great build, it looks awesome!!

[VA72C10]

Stinks about the engine....

[aggieguy713]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

My brother in law made this stand for my cab. I'm going to use it to roll around and get a good line of sight for paint and making it as laser straight as I can. My garage space is a bit limited too so it will make it easier to store.

Dad had my driveshaft custom made by Hudlow Axle in Rossville GA. We set it up with Spicer heavy duty U joints just in case.

Man, hudlow does some good work, we had them do some rear end drilling for us...but it will cost you s ome $$$. We had our driveshaft made by Feltons. Best $300 i ever spent.

[502ms]

Sorry about the engine. But looks like a great build!
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[CC69Rat]

Dad and I pulled the bb yesterday and it is now on a stand, headed to the machine shop. I am going to go completely back through it (like I probably should have to begin with, but I just took his word for it) The end result being better than it would have been before anyway. Had I finsihed the truck, had it all painted then spun that main I would have been upset. I'd rather find it now ..

While it's apart (?) Who knows .. maybe some more goodies will find a new home. I have been eyeballing aluminum heads, maybe the Brodix or Dart top end kit. It's hard to say. It has the '290' 454 heads on it now which will flow pretty decent but just for the sake of weight on the nose and overall efficiency I'd really like to go with them. I just need to get the blessing from the wife.

We'll get it. One thing is for sure I'm not giving up.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

Dad and I pulled the bb yesterday and it is now on a stand, headed to the machine shop. I am going to go completely back through it (like I probably should have to begin with, but I just took his word for it) The end result being better than it would have been before anyway. Had I finsihed the truck, had it all painted then spun that main I would have been upset. I'd rather find it now ..

While it's apart (?) Who knows .. maybe some more goodies will find a new home. I have been eyeballing aluminum heads, maybe the Brodix or Dart top end kit. It's hard to say. It has the '290' 454 heads on it now which will flow pretty decent but just for the sake of weight on the nose and overall efficiency I'd really like to go with them. I just need to get the blessing from the wife.

We'll get it. One thing is for sure I'm not giving up.

Hope nothing is too screwed up in the engine.

The 75 pound weight savings of the aluminum heads is really nice, especially on your back when you are putting the engine together.

I like the Dart Pro 1 heads. We put a set of the 355cc CNC heads onto the dragster along with a huge .800" cam to go with it on the 496 over the winter to replace the smaller 049 oval port heads & .650" cam. Dropped two seconds in the quarter mile. It was obviously restricted heavily by the stock casting iron heads even though they had been professionally ported.

Our machine shop got the heads for 2/3 the cost of Summit or Jegs. You might want to check with yours too. At $4200 list that is a big savings.

The 355cc CNC heads are way too much head for a 396 powered street truck. I would look at the 275cc aluminum oval port Pro I heads. Oval port are much better on a street vehicle. The $2800 price is much easier to swallow too. You could keep your stock intake with these so that drops another $400 off the cost as well.

I ran the 310cc rectangular port Pro 1's on the 454 in my street/strip 70 Chevelle for years. They don't do too bad with a 4000 stall and a .713" solid roller.

I tried running less of a stall and a smaller cam with the 310cc heads but it just didn't build much torque down low. The car was faster with the modified big valve 049 oval port iron heads and the same smaller .600" cam & lower 3000 rpm stall I tried with the 310's.

The 310's could be too much for a street bound 396 as well. It will be a better street engine with the 275cc oval port Pro 1 heads.

[68greg]

that stinks about the engine, but like you said better to find it now then find it after the truck is done.

[67cheby]

very nice/clean...work on the truck, well done

[CC69Rat]

My big block left yesterday, and I got some news back today. The crank is out and all the main journals look great. I think maybe since the rear main was installed backwards, for the period of time it ran before I owned it (the PO said maybe a thousand miles since it had been rebuilt) it likely had an oil leak. A bad one. .. and/or it starved that rear main bearing of oil because it simply couldn't hold pressure. We're hoping the crank will clean up at .0010+ but we'll see.

We're going to tank the block, test it and rebuild with all good stuff. New rings, etc. It will get there ..

[67cheby]

sounds like good news !!

[-sean-]

Nice when the machinist actually has GOOD news. Rare in my case.

BTW, liked your old avatar much better... just saying.

[Dieselwrencher]

Sorry to hear about the engine, but like you said, it's better to find it now rather than when the truck is almost done. Great work on the truck!

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

Dad and I pulled the bb yesterday and it is now on a stand, headed to the machine shop. I am going to go completely back through it (like I probably should have to begin with, but I just took his word for it) The end result being better than it would have been before anyway. Had I finsihed the truck, had it all painted then spun that main I would have been upset. I'd rather find it now ..

While it's apart (?) Who knows .. maybe some more goodies will find a new home. I have been eyeballing aluminum heads, maybe the Brodix or Dart top end kit. It's hard to say. It has the '290' 454 heads on it now which will flow pretty decent but just for the sake of weight on the nose and overall efficiency I'd really like to go with them. I just need to get the blessing from the wife.

We'll get it. One thing is for sure I'm not giving up.

Looking good in the neighbor hood!!!

Aluminum heads for a 396 is a little different deal than a 454 or 496. You've got a smaller bore and less cubes. Most of the big block heads have huge chambers for larger displacement engines. There's nothing wrong w/ building a 396, done correctly, they can run w/ the big dogs.

I'd like to build the original 396 in mine, it will have to wait for a while.
My thought would be to call Brodix, they seem to have the largest selection of heads out there. I trust their product highly. They could direct you to the head you need. Or maybe make you something custom???

I am not familiar w/ the "290" heads. They might be a good head to run on the 396. THe smaller "open" chamber heads are a pretty good head to use. I'm mostly only familiar w/ small block stuff, the familiarlty is fading, the older I get...LOL

Do you have flat top pistons???

I plan to use oval port heads on mine.

I hate it when you asssume someone else has done a job right, you've paid money for, to find out different...

[CC69Rat]

I'm probably going to stay with the iron heads. To be perfectly honest I'm not what I'd call familiar with the heads either. From the research I have done though, they didn't come on this motor, and were originally a decent head of some sort. From what I understand they are closed-chamber oval-port head known to have issues with the valves being a little small. I am looking to be sure but I hear 2.19/1.88 really help on the bottom end. While I have it apart I might just flow these a little and go with larger valves (unless they already have them, which is possible) ..

.. just my thoughts right now. Could change.

[CC69Rat]

Originally Posted by -sean-

BTW, liked your old avatar much better... just saying.

I don't recall the old picture? The one with the 8" rallys on the front I think (?)

I will be changing it again soon .. New wheels on the way!

[-sean-]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

I don't recall the old picture? The one with the 8" rallys on the front I think (?)

I will be changing it again soon .. New wheels on the way!

With your better half maybe?

[CC69Rat]

Oh! Yeah. She's a beautiful woman. I'll change to something else later today. She is Taiwanese, but born and raised in Brazil. Latin flare and an Asian face. I'm pretty proud of her..

And she likes trucks too!!
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[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

I'm probably going to stay with the iron heads. To be perfectly honest I'm not what I'd call familiar with the heads either. From the research I have done though, they didn't come on this motor, and were originally a decent head of some sort. From what I understand they are closed-chamber oval-port head known to have issues with the valves being a little small. I am looking to be sure but I hear 2.19/1.88 really help on the bottom end. While I have it apart I might just flow these a little and go with larger valves (unless they already have them, which is possible) ..

.. just my thoughts right now. Could change.

It's not easy to always know what type of head is which. Most oval port 454 heads that I know of are open chamber. The ones I ws told to use by my builder friend, years ago are open chamber, but the small open chamber. If I remember correctly, the chamber is somewhat triangular shaped. The larger open chamber heads are similar, but just have larger chambers. You want to stay from too high compression, as you want to stay from too low compression.

Have any pic's of the head???

In my opinion, you're going the right direction. As a general rule of thumb, you want an aluminum head engine to have a comp ratio approximately one point higher than an iron head engine. Iron retains heat much better than aluminum, making an aluminum head selection for a 396 even more difficult.
Can't wait to see, the result!!!

Bigger valves in a smaller port engine is a good thing. BUT, even an oval port BB Chevy is not really a small port.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

I'm probably going to stay with the iron heads. To be perfectly honest I'm not what I'd call familiar with the heads either. From the research I have done though, they didn't come on this motor, and were originally a decent head of some sort. From what I understand they are closed-chamber oval-port head known to have issues with the valves being a little small. I am looking to be sure but I hear 2.19/1.88 really help on the bottom end. While I have it apart I might just flow these a little and go with larger valves (unless they already have them, which is possible) ..

.. just my thoughts right now. Could change.

The early closed chamber oval ports shroud the valves really bad when you punch them out to 2.19/1.88's. They still fit & work but not as well as the later semi-open chamber and full open chamber versions do.

I would look for some different mid 70's vintage oval ports to rebuild and have punched out for the larger valves. It really makes a big difference on the oval port engines when they have a decent sized cam and good intake & exhaust system.

The 049 casting is popular but is the large 124cc chamber so you have to run a domed piston to get the compression even up to 9.5 to 1. This isn't a problem though as the 396 did come with domed pistons stock so there are several budget friendly forged piston options out there.

[CC69Rat]

Just checking in -- I am still working on it. We have been working on the fenders and hood to get things laser straight for paint in the spring. I hate waiting !!

My block is supposed to be ready Wed / Thurs of this week. When we broke the engine all the way down we found a little 'egg shaping' in the bottoms of some of the cyl walls. We decided to bore it and clean things up. I originally thought it was .0030+ but when we broke it down it was STD bore 396. We took it to .0060 to make it a 408ci. (I think)

New everything through the entire bottom end. Clevite 77 bearings, crank turned .0020 on the mains and rods. New Keith Black pistons, cam bearings, rings, all gaskets of course. The heads had been gone through shortly after I bought the motor (dad and I just took it down to the heads, leaving the shortblock intact)

Once I get it back I'm going to re-paint and bolt things all back together. One good thing I know I have most of the parts and they're all cleaned up. It should go back together fairly quickly.

My wheels are supposed to ship 10/31. I have my tires ready to go, when they come in I'll post up some pics.

[VA72C10]

Cool! looking forward to the wheel pics