Swap meet info

[hauntedcbody]

Hi all, hitting the Canfield swap meet next weekend. Wanted to pick your guys brains. I'm looking for a few odds and ends.

4 barrel intake manifold- Shooting for $50
HP exhaust manifolds- $150-200
906 heads- $150

Are these parts interchangeable between 383, 400, 440? Any casting numbers I should avoid? Any model years I should avoid? I was thinking keep it within 5 years. I have the 400. Currently has a broken bolt for the valve cover which is causing an oil leak. Exhaust manifold is leaking as well. So my thinking is to freshin' up a set of heads... Possibly deck em .060... mild port and polish... That will give the old newport a bit more pep and fix the leak issues.

 

[Polara_500]

All of it swaps back and forth except the intake manifold. That's either low deck, (361, 383, 400); or tall deck, (413, 426, 440). There is an oddball tall deck 383, but that was only in 1959 so there's not many of those around.

 

[Wollfen]

The heads that came on the 400 are better than the 906's they have the same sized valves and port sizes too, only difference is that the 400 heads have hardened exhaust valve seats which is a must. If you are looking to do heavy porting work then the 452 heads are the way to go as they have more meat around the chambers, plus they have hardened seats as well. I see them for about $100 from time to time.

 

[cantflip]

... I have the 400. Currently has a broken bolt for the valve cover which is causing an oil leak. Exhaust manifold is leaking as well. So my thinking is to freshin' up a set of heads... Possibly deck em .060... mild port and polish... That will give the old newport a bit more pep and fix the leak issues.

Please don't discard your old heads over a broken V/C bolt... Even the worst case is an easy fix. Rust belt mechanics (like in Ohio) learn all kinds of good ways to extract broken bolts and drilling and tapping is always an option if they fail. I bet it wont cost you as much as the good quality extractor set and as long as you don't break a cheap, hardened tool off trying it yourself... should be pretty fast. Yes, the broken tool can be drilled/ground out of there too, just takes longer and is much harder on the tools.

I have an entire large toolbox drawer devoted to this sort of occasion... and there is lots I don't have... You are in the right place to get that work done, away from the road salt, less of those skills are required.

 

[celticwarlock]

Chrysler built a lot of engines of that vintage with no exhaust manifold gaskets whatsoever from the factory. If your exhaust manifolds are not cracked or badly warped, there's an excellent chance that installing a gasket between the exhaust manifold and the cylinder head will seal the leak. If you deck the heads, it's a good idea to make sure that you machine the sides of the manifold as well so that when you put everything back together it actually seals properly (milling the heads makes them shorter and will change their relationship with the manifold). There is a certain amount that you can mill the heads without running into this issue, but I am not sure what the limit is....though it isn't very much. Be careful with that.

 

[1978 NYB]

You can take a couple of thousands off the heads to true them up. I wouldn't go anymore than .005. Screwing around with machining the intake is a pain in the ***.

 

[hauntedcbody]

Thanks for the insight guys. Yeah I was planning on dressing up the new heads and get them ready to roll so when I get a free day I can plan on doing a head job on her instead of yanking the heads and waiting on the machine shop...She's 10x more fun to drive than to work on. So I like to keep her ready to go whenever I feel like cruising....
I've been doing research on milling down heads, looks like you gotta plan for the intake manifold not fitting correctly and you gotta shim the rockers. Which would work out if I were to buy a 4 barrel intake as well. I'm sure my local machine shop would be able to figure out how much needs to be removed from the intake.
And yeah "cantflip" I don't like to talk about the day the valve cover bolt broke lol. I broke off an extractor in the broken bolt .. So removing the broken bolt on a bench will be nice. I'll probably pretty em up and what not then sell em' on this website.
I would like to have her breathing well so I like the idea of the HP manifolds. But eventually I would like to yank the engine and do a lower rebuild maybe with higher compression pistons. So it might make sense to wait on the manifolds when I do the major engine work. Thanks again!

 

[fury fan]

Old thread but there's soemthign here that needs clarified:
Anytime the heads are milled, the proper amount should be removed from the intake face of the heads also, not the intake manifold itself. This keeps the heads as universal. The amount to remove is a calculation and is specific to each particular cyl head design, based on the angle between the 2 gasket surfaces. Any competent machine shop should do this for you automatically, if not, I would avoid them.

And I think any port/polish work on big-valve/open chamber heads on a low-CR stock 72 engine will yield little in performance. If anything, I'd go the other direction - a set of small valve -516 heads of 65-67 would increase port velocity, increase CR and give more throttle response. Although I've never tried that on a 400, and increasing CR like that on used rings is a chance to burn oil.