One loose rocker, one bent push rod, and one broken push rod = a head pull.

So as I approached my drive way from 1000 feet away there became a loud ticking sound that once I made the turn into the yard it became very pronounced, and once into the garage very loud, the engine seemed to be running on five cylinders, idled way down and quit. I wanted to hear where the sound was coming from, got the engine running again, but the FiTech FI has to cycle through its high rpm start closed loop thing. So I shut it down. Went in for supper, ruminated about what happened, figured one of the rockers must have come loose and popped off the push rod.

Next morning I inspected the valve train, yup, one rocker flipped over, and its push rod was no where to be seen... Hummm? Its mate would not spin unlike all the others not under load. Its mate was bent in two directions , kinda like "Z", but still in contact with its lifter.

Several hours later I finally got the head unbolted, but have not removed it due to being a weak old fart. So that is where I'm at. New 6008 and 6001 Remflex gaskets are on the way.

I did notice that the spark plugs and intake manifold runners were showing a rich condition particularly # 3 & #4. I wonder if that is due to the wrong cam setting on the FITec Fuel injection. 1 being stock, 4 being a wild ass cam; I had set it 3 several years ago and not touched that setting since. I have noticed that the fuel economy has been not as good as before ditching the worn out Holley 390. I had chalked it up to the FI fuel tank not holding as much fuel as the stock tank. Now I'm thinking a lower cam setting might lean the mixture out. I think I tried #2 but the idle would run up and down, and on #3 the idle was more stable.

An Oregon Cam Grinding, Inc. cam is installed: grind #346

When I had the engine rebuilt 6 or 7K miles ago the guy didn't hit the compression 10:1 ratio I had planed for this engine with the standard replacement head gasket, currently at 9.6:1. I have a new steel head gasket here that would bring the ratio up to 10:1. There has been a total of 0.010" removed from the head and block. Would this help with fuel economy? The O2 sensor is reading the front three cylinders.

Clifford shorty headers
Duel exhaust
Converter locks around 2200 rpm range
3:55 8 3/4" rear end

At 3000 rpm, car is traveling 60 MPH, at 2000 rpm 40 MPH

Once I get the head off hopefully there is just a popped out lifter, the missing half of the broken push rod, and not much destruction in the lifter galley. It's the later head that has to come off to access the lifters.

To sum this long winded saga, should I install the steal head gasket, and if so will I need shorter push rods?

Will changing the cam setting to #2 in the FiTech dash board lean out the mixture?

Bill

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

One more thing.

I need two push rods and a rocker that will stay lashed. PM me if anyone can help.

Bill

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

ok, .010 off the head and block won't be anywhere near 10 to 1.
Typo?
I have push rods and rockers, it will just cost you shipping.

_________________
Hyper_pak

His steel head gasket will be thinner also.

_________________
2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

No, not really. Finding and fixing the cause of the rich condition will surely help.
"Lock" means something specific in context of torque converters. Do you mean lock, or do you mean that's its stall speed?
This will mean rather poor fuel economy even once you clean up the rich mixture, and…
…so will this.

The engine you describe does not sound like one configured for particularly good fuel economy.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I am happy to send you pushrods and rocker arms, including spares. Is this a 75-79 head? If not, then you can easily get the lifter out w/o pulling the head. You think it's just that the rocker adjuster backed out? That is common if the pushrods are a bit too long for the head/block setup. You can always put locknuts on the adjuster screws if you are right on the edge.

I would try the 2 setting on the FItech. You should be able to get good economy with that cam and compression. Some of my best economy numbers were with big cams and high CR (25-27 MPG at 75 MPH hwy, albeit with 5spd). Seymours 62 gets 21-23 MPG at high speed with a holley 500 2bbl and 10.5:1 and 250@0.050" cam, so comparable to a stocker.

The difference between steel gasket and composite will not force you to get shorter pushrods unless you are right on the edge (lots milled off head and/or block). I guess you got high CR pistons to hit 10:1 or 9.6:1 with almost no head/block mill? Please advise/specify.

What valve lash are you running. The specs from Oregon are comical and do not work well. That will give you crappy idle and poor MPG. You want 0.018" int and 0.025" exh for that cam.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Thanks Lou,

Yup newer head without spark plug tubes.

OK #2 cam selection change once this heap is back together. I suspected that the brain sees #3 setting and delivers additional fuel to make up for the overlap at low rpm. The engine did not like the #1 stock setting.

I haven't checked actual fuel economy numbers since years before installing FI. If I recall it would get around 15 mpg then with the Holley 390. Now traveling on a 200 mile round trip I have been making for years runs the tank almost dry, where before there was enough fuel to make several short trips before filling up. The only difference is the FI, and a some what reduced capacity Holley FI tank. Perhaps the venting of the tank is not correct to allow a complete fill.

There has been a total of 0.010" cut from head and cleaned up block. According to my notes that was to yeald 9.6:1 static. The re-bore was 40 over, compression of a Fel-Pro gasket is around 0.022". The stock steal head gasket is much less thick once installed.

0.018" int & 0.025" exh is about what I has set the lash per your instructions from years ago. You are right the grinder's setting are way to tight. It ran and idled real nice at 18 & 25.

I have been running that 346 cam for 12000 miles, around 5 or 6 years.

Later today I will have some beef here to assist in lifting the head off the block, and will know how much of a mess I'm dealing with.

Just last week I was thinking how nice not to have any major time sucking Dart projects for the second year in a row... Thanks Murphy.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

If you did not use custom pistons or rods, then you have more like 8.0:1 compression, not 9.6. This is very important, as that cam will not work well with 8.0:1. You will need to run it quite rich to get it to run decently at all. Perhaps someone else milled the head/block before you got to them and the machine shop just measured piston-deck at TDC and head chamber to get that 9.6 number? If they were milled, then pushrods could be too tall for that. Lots to consider here, and it would be good to assess everthing before you bolt it back together. What is the lowest comfortable idle speed you could get with this setup?

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I would like to confirm the amount of milling. You keep saying .010 (which is 10 thousanths of an inch). That is usually just a "cleanup" cut. Do you mean .100 (0ne hundread thousanths of an inch)? That is what a lot of slanters do to get near 10 to 1 CR. Also the felpro head gasket is more around .040+ where the stamped steel OEM gasket is about .022 thick.

_________________
Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Yup. It's 0.100". not 0.010"

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

This afternoon was somewhat successful. We got the head off of the block, fished out the two halves of the broken push rod, and after inspecting the lifter galley slid the undamaged lifter back in place. That all looks good to go.

The rest of the after noon was spent activating two new laptops of the windows persuasion. I had to up date my 10 machine to 11 the other day. It took 5 1/2 hours and several additional up dates to the new 11. My old machine became mind numbingly slow to boot up, and get to a site. Once on a site, say this one, it worked sort of OK. We had one of the grand kids help with this IT stuff. He spent 3 hours here dubbing around with my machine and Mrs wjajr's. I hate changing operating systems. I'll be weeks trying to find my files and photos... What a mess.

Lou please PM me on shipping cost of push rods and rockers. I think having several extra rockers if you can spare them would be helpful, as I suspect there may be a few more that won't hold a setting.

Technical question: Both the surfaces of the head and block are black from the head gasket, smooth with no chunks. Can I clean those surfaces with a Scotch bright pad by hand. Also when installing the metal head gasket should it be coated with copper gasket spry?

For Valve cover gaskets what is the preferred maker; Fel-Pro rubberized cork, or Mahle that look to be dense cork. I have several of each on hand.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Yesterday the intake/exhaust Reflex gasket arrived in a 5" x x5" x 30" box folded such to fit in the too short box. The gasket was cracked bu the knuckle head that packed it. Not happy. I got it through Amazon because Mrs wjajr has free shipping on her account. Then bundle it up, print a return label, and drive 12 miles to the PO.

I ordered another from Summit. Hopefully those guys will know how to ship fragile gaskets. ETA is the Friday May 22.

What a PIA this project is becoming.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC