Last week I turned the boost up to somewhere around 9 psi. It made the car feel way quicker and it comes on more violently. On my street tires, it burns them down from a 30 roll. Still haven't plumbed the intercooler water system yet. I should probably be doing that instead of beating on it, but what can you do. I got a camera mount for my tripod, so I can post video instead of wrenching! Here's a launch on the two step (which I think is still set too low) at maybe 5 psi, building to around 9 once I get rolling. Road was cold and somewhat damp, and I didn't do a burnout first. 275/60 M/T Pro's that I forgot to air down. It hooked pretty well the last time I made a hit, this time I just spun the power away. Also, dig that half throttle turbo whistle and exhaust note on the way back around!

 

Well, I've been putting some miles on it. My Summit billet distributor fell apart on me and left me stranded on the way to work one day. Hooked it home, fixed it and I'm not sure what happened, but I made a hit and rattled it. Kicked a head gasket out and was pouring coolant out the side of the motor. The bearings on the hole in question took a beating too. It was only on 10 psi, 10.5:1, 32 degrees, pulling 2 per pound. Not sure if the BTM died or what. It had been running fine on the same tuneup on pump 93 for the last few months. What do you guys think of this piston? Slam it back in a let 'er eat?
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I would probably run it. Did you look at the rest of the bearings? You need to find out why that happened!

 

Run it! Like dwhip said, find out the root cause and you should be good.

 

That sucks. I popped the turbo fuse in my 360 back in January, first run of the night. Both head gaskets. I was running thin MrGasket gaskets. Have since switched to Felpros. I'm no expert but is that piston damage from detonation or a foreign object? What do the valves and cylinder walls look like?

 

I think the detonation beat the bearings out of it. The other one I pulled so far looked pretty decent. I think that piston damage was from the detonation and maybe a side effect of the blown head gasket. The ringlands don't look squished, so I'm gonna slam it back together and test the MSD out and make sure it's pulling timing when it should.

 

For the cost of a replacement cast piston I’d run a new one. That sucker will beat up the bore and you don’t want fuel pooling up in the piston divot areas and lighting off. Make sure to grind that are area smooth if you do reuse it.


Not that they can’t work, but the “timing pullers” are a crap design IMO. Might consider ditching/selling it? I’ve known way to many people that have junked motors because of them. I like to lock base timing at something reasonable. Try setting base at 18-20* with no mechanical advance. Then use a vac advance canister to advance while at idle/cruise. Install a one way check valve with small bleed so the canister doesn’t see boost. You can open up the “window” area on the canisters mechanical stops to add more advance in vacuum if you need it. That way you’ll never accidently be at 32* if the timing box doesn’t work. On a typical SB hotrod beater/toy I’ve had great success just locking the timing at 18* and apply boost until the plugs start to look hot. You’ll lose some power, but you can usually add more boost and make up for it with the lower timing. 12-14lbs and 18* locked would probably be hassle free and run forever. Little DIY water meth kit goes a long way as well.


Good luck!

 

Yeah, I bought the MSD before I knew any better. The off boost drivability kinda sucks, and I think the timing curve has something to do with it.

I do have another 318 kicking around in the garage, I need to see if it has the same piston/rod combo in it. I'm trying to make the math work to L33/4L80E swap it while it's apart.

 

Would be a beast with a boring old LS swap in it. Look for a 4.8 if you're on a budget. They are very underrated. I've picked up gen3 4.8 engines for $200 and gen4's for $400ish! 4L80E's are pretty expensive too! Toss a glide and a tall gear in that sucker instead!

 

The canister idea is a great idea, thanks!

 

Oh man...save the LS for your Mustang. Hate to see you put a non Mopar in it. Not because I'm a purist or anything. I just learn more from other Mopar guys and their mistakes. Lol. I have a $500 JY 5.9 Magnum in mine. You can hit 10s easily with your current setup and a 5.9. Food for thought.

 

A big motivator to LS swap it is to anger the purists, haha. Plus the fact it's totally proven to hold lots of power, already has good native fuel injection, is available in an all-aluminum set up for not too much more, can make 600+hp with stock decapped injectors...a solid electronic OD trans that can hold lots of power with minimal upgrades...it's kindof a no brainer. Cruising at 75mph at 1600rpm with the converter locked is appealing.

 

I know, I know. I want to build another car just so I can put a turbo LS in it. But I probably wouldn't do it to my Plymouth.

 

That's not a bad thought about Magnum swapping it though. I was debating a gen 3 Hemi swap, but it's so dang expensive.

 

X2 on what Forcefed said about the Msd, and the dist. I ran a locked dist with the vacuum advance a few years ago and it worked great. The bleed valve can be made from a few parts, and about $7 from the parts store. The Ls swap would be cool as well... the ls's are proving to be more reliable (even in stock form) than the early 5.7's.

 

Yeah, I think I've decided to pull the plug on the SBM and go LS. Posted my kit for sale on fb and had a lot of response, so hopefully I can cash out and start over. I really want to be able to cruise at 70+ on the highway in overdrive and not have to worry about spinning the motor at 3200rpm for hours at a time. Plus, plug and play Megasquirt harness!

 

Picked up a 13x,000 mile gen 3 5.3 for it for $550. Gotta do some hunting for bits and pieces to complete the engine, like throttle, a non-smashed fuel rail, etc. Debating on cutting the engine mount ears off of the K member and just running a motor plate setup. Initial mockup is promising, looks like I may even be able to cram this junk under a stock flat hood, even with the truck intake!

20170717_125026 by jaquetapus posted Aug 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM

Actually looks pretty clean inside!

20170717_124412 by jaquetapus posted Aug 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM

Cleaned up the outside a little.

20170717_134447 by jaquetapus posted Aug 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM

20170717_134452 by jaquetapus posted Aug 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM

First test fit. Picked up a GTO pan to fit around the K member.

20170719_203033 by jaquetapus posted Aug 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM

20170719_203057 by jaquetapus posted Aug 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM

$275 4L80E

20170722_190000 by jaquetapus posted Aug 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM

Snagged a new in box VS Racing billet 7875 for $100 off of list, and a big Treadstone intercooler for $50.

20170722_190354 by jaquetapus posted Aug 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM

20170722_190715 by jaquetapus posted Aug 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM

So the plan is:
Gen 3 5.3
LJMS Stage 2 cam kit
decapped stock injectors for now
EFISource plug n play Megasquirt goldbox with Micro trans controller and harness
Probably some el cheapo up and forward turbo headers
VSR billet 7875
big A2A cooler
4L80E with Transgo kit
PTC lockup converter
same 3.23:1 rear end
snagged a set of used 29.5x10.50 slicks to goof around with, will probably go back to a 275 pro radial once I burn them down

Goal is ~550rwhp and hopefully a solid 10 second timeslip and still be able to cruise anywhere.

 

Great finds, wish I would have found that turbo.

 

Should be a heck of a difference!

 

Yeah, I was super happy. Sloppy Mechanics classifieds FTW!

Here's hoping!