Well, the time had come.  No more waiting around for someone to break into the shop and do it for me.  I got the block and some engine components together and started the motor assembly this weekend.  I was a bit nervous at first but once I had my hands oily... I got into it.

This will be the 4th motor I've assembled.  Now I'm far from an experienced engine builder as I have merely followed whatever book or instructions I have and tighten the bolts to the correct specs.  I guess I've just never been scared to dive into it, never really feared screwing it up.  This motor might have thrown a small bit of intimidation at me but... it's still an engine and it goes together with lube, bolts and tolerances... I can do it.  As with the last 2 motors, a 383 and a 440, I will be using the "How To Rebuild Big Block Mopar Engines" book as a sorta guide or checklist.  It's a great book and reads like your buddy is helping you out.  I would recommend it to anyone that may need that little extra kick in the ass of confidence to rebuild their own motor.

I had washed the block a couple of weekends ago and it waited patiently by the workbench with a trash bag over it.  I had to order the "block hardware kit" as I needed some of the oil gallery and water jacket plugs along with the alignment pins for the heads, the oil pump gear drive bushing and rear cam plug.  I had forgotten to install the cam plug before I put the block on the stand and had to take it off to get it in.  After it was back on the stand I just started down the list of things to do as spelled out in the "Big Block" book.  The first major component to install is the cam.  My cam was chosen/supplied by Dvorak as the closest to factory profile that Comp Cams makes.  Dan Dvorak, for whatever reason, is not happy with Mopar Performance cams and always opts for Comp Cams for off the shelf grinds.  The cam comes with a little packet of lube for the cam lobes.  After making sure the oiling holes at each bearing lined up and that the cam bearings were totally clean, I smeared a nice thickish combination coating of moly grease and motor oil on the bearings and the cam.  With a long bolt treaded into the end of the cam I slowly worked the cam into the block until it was all the way in.  It turned freely so on to the next step.

Crank installation is a bit time consuming... sorta... well, you should measure your clearances before actually torquing the thing in for good.  My crank had been cut .010 under at both the main and rod journals.  It only makes sense to make sure that the bearings and the crank match and that any machine work was properly done.  My crank was coated with some crap that the machine shop put on it for protection.  I stood it up in the parts washer and washed it thoroughly to remove the coating.  With it back on the bench I wiped down the journals with lacquer thinner to remove the oil based cleaner from the washer.  With the caps removed from the block and the upper bearings pressed into place, I laid the crank in the block.  Of course this time around there is absolutely no lubrication on anything so you absolutely don't want to turn the crank now.  This is just for measuring clearances.  I put a little piece of the green Plastigauge on each journal and torqued down each cap to 100 lbs.  After removing the caps you just measure how much the Plastigauge flattened out.  There is a little scale on the Plastigauge wrapper to measure with.  All mine came out with .002 in. of clearance.  The book says it should be between .001 and .003... I'm right there.  With the crank back out of the block I cleaned the smashed Plastigauge off of everything and then applied the moly/oil coating to everything.  Next the rear seal half was pushed into place in the block and oiled.  Using anti-seize on the cap bolts and the bolt head bearing surface on the cap, I re-installed the crank and torqued #1, 2, 4 and 5 caps to 100lbs in like 30 lb. increments.  The #3 cap was left to torque after your rock the crank back and forth a couple times and force the crank forward as you torque it.  Honestly, I really don't know what that little procedure actually does but since all the books say to do it... I do it.  The HEMI has cross-bolted main caps so those bolts were installed and torqued to 45 lbs.  I had to dig the rear seal retainer out of my box labeled "motor parts", bead blast and clean it before making use of it.  The rear seal supplied by Dvorak's is suppose to be some fancy "leak proof" seal.  I was sure to follow the instructions on installing it.  I did.  It seemed to look good and go in as described so I guess I did id right.

So how's that for a first day of motor building, huh?  I was very happy about getting started.  During the week I'm going to get things organized for fitting the rings and assembling the rods and pistons.  I feel this part of the current project will go very smoothly.