In 2006 I found a 392ci Hemi for sale up north in the country. I hauled it back home, along with a Dana 60-HD housing, in the back of my ’62 Chrysler wagon.
First disassembly…
The engine had never been opened before and it was therefore also still at its virgin bore.
I knew the engine had spun a rodbearing, but I wasn’t really prepared for the junk I found inside of this engine. All the parts inside had a rubberlike coating on them because of the years of neglect during proper oilchanges, or should I say ‘refills’?
Someone had even WELDED the outside damper-ring to the inner crank hub, rendering its dampening properties useless. What a moron!
Engine cleaning
In a fruitless attempt to clean the inside of the engine block, I only found out that nothing I threw at it actually did something. I tried numerous of things on the block (inside) to get it clean, but nothing worked; Petroleum, engine degreaser, thinner, brakecleaner, ovencleaner… all was to no avail.
Only after I had the engine block professionally ‘lyed’ was when it became usable again;
Block boring
After I measured the wear inside the cylinders I purchased a set of .020″ over pistons from PAW. This won’t be a race-engine so I chose for cast-aluminium pistons from Egge.
Boring the block…
New parts
The crank’s rod journal was deeply worn so I had to get that welded, the entire crank turned to .010″ under, and completely nitrided again. Cost me an arm and a leg overhere. Now I’m ready to start buying other parts for the engine. I’ve also decided a Weiand dual quad intake will be on the engine.
