I got a call from Dan Dvorak letting me know all my engine stuff was done and ready to be picked up.  I was stoked.  Getting the motor together would be a big leap forward in the progress of the car.  As mentioned before, I had always been a bit worried about the pile of used parts I was using for my motor, but after picking everything up from Dvoraks, those fears were gone.  Here is a rundown of what I have and what was done:

• Slightly used factory .005 over pistons... drilled for pin oiling, honed pin openings, pins polished
• Mopar Performance block... was bored to match pistons with plates, decks squared, line honed
• Factory small pad rocker assemblies... polished shafts, re-faced
• Ditched my factory rods for new Manley "H" beams
• Used std/std crank was turned to .01/.01 under
• Used heads were pressure tested, given "super performance" valve jobs (had all new valves already), all 3 sides clean cut, new springs to match new Comp Cams cam.
• The entire assembly was balanced

Here is a list of the some of the parts I'll be using in putting the thing together:

• Childs and Albert Dura Moly rings
• Cometic MLS (multi layered) head gaskets, special exact bore size, leak proof, blow proof and re-usable... WOW!
• Bearings-  Race bearings, narrowed and radiused.

Once I got everything home I laid it all out and started planning.  I made a shopping list of things I needed and placed some orders for a few things.  As soon as everything gets here, I'll get started.

It just so happens that my parts guy is right on the way to Dvorak's machine shop.  I took advantage of the trips by stopping by Jerry's both times and picked up more odds and ends that I was missing.  The first trip netted me a great some needed bolts and nuts I was missing along with a real nice AM radio.  I also picked up a nasty old cast iron Prestolite distributor for a big block... I had a plan.  I needed a distributor but didn't really want to fork out the big bucks for a correct HEMI unit.  I figured I would just restore a usable big block distributor, slap in a Pertronix electronic ignition kit and be done with it.  The unit I got was marked "69 440" and did not have a good advance on it.  That was no problem as my buddy/parts guy Jerry hooked me up with a NOS vacuum advance unit for that very distributor!  Disassembling the distributor was a snap along with cleaning, re-plating, polishing and refinishing all the parts.  After a bit of confusion as to which Pertronix kit to buy, the kit was installed and the whole thing went together easily.  After slapping on the correct rotor and tan cap, and aside from a red AND a black wire sticking out of it, the thing looks like I just yanked it out of it's NOS wrapping paper.  I'm looking into getting a re-production distributor tag for it... just to really top it off.

The other small accomplishment was adding the "Road Runner" to the decklid. This car has the standard decklid Road Runner stripe deleted. Normally there is a Road Runner call out in the stripe, along with the standing bird. When the rear stripe is deleted, cast "Road Runner" emblems, like the ones on the quarter panels, are mounted to the decklid on the passenger side. A standing bird decal is still in place along side the emblems on the car itself. The decklid I'm using does not have the holes for mounting the Road Runner emblems. I had planned all along to get a pair of the later, sticky-back emblems and just stick them in the correct spot. Since I still have the original decklid, all that was required was a bit of measuring, some masking tape for guide lines, and vola... the correct looking emblems in the correct spots... without drilling any holes in the deck lid. OK, OK... so I forgot to drill the friggin holes before the car was painted. The emblems look good anyway.