|
The motor was definately a good place to
begin on this project, after researching for more than
a year, the block was sent to the machine shop. Here it
would receive a line hone, decking, and some other small
miscellaneous items. One word of caution, do not go cheap
on a crank, the machinest went through 3 different cranks
before he was satisfied.
The final crank was from Probe, the first
two I won't mention any names here, but email
me for what not to do! After many months of prep work,
the block came back ready to be assembled. Thanks to the
fellow patrons at Mustang
Motorsports for there help with the assembly.
The rotating assembly was sent to be balanced,
and ended up using a 50 oz. balancer with a 28 oz. flywheel.
Again, don't skimp here! We used Probe forged pistons,
Probe H-beam rods, and a Probe crank. All passed with
flying colors at the shop! So spend the money up front,
if for nothing but peace of mind!
I will be adding to this as the motor progresses,
right now we have the motor together and the Probe pan
on, Brent Frazier assembled the AFR 185 heads with upgraded
valve spring last week. We have since put the heads on
the motor, but no pictures yet!
...And the DART cometh?
Well the motor start-up has come and gone.
And the 15 minutes of fame lived up to last winters 393
motor start-up, although this one was a bit more costly.
After the first 3 runs, the passenger head was removed
to see that the #1 cylinder was full of water. First thoughts
were that the head gasket didn't seal, and calls were
made to AFR. Upon complete disassembly of the motor, a
small pinhole was found in the #1 cylinder!
So a couple of brainstorming sessions let
to the fact that a broken bolt in the water pump led to
the hole in the cyldiner wall. Word of caution here, when
drilling out a bolt in a block, be very careful on gauging
the depth of the hole!!
Instead of going with another production
block and risking splitting it and being down again in
6 months, we have opted for a DART block and going to
punch her in the mouth right away. So stayed tuned again,
as soon as the funds become available we will be putting
the 331 back together, hopefully for the last time, or
at least a couple of months!!!!
Well another change of plans and the motor
is back in the car as of 9/9/03. The Dart block will still
be in the plans, Scott just wanted to run the car as is
first. The crew at Mustang Motorsports have been busy
over the weekend putting the car back together, after
water leaks, fires, and unexpected down time, the car
should fire sometime this week. Keep your fingers crossed.
A special thanks goes out to Brent Frazier for his work
on putting the motor back together in record time!!
|
