340 basement resto

[JedIEG]

Recently I decided to drag an old 68 340 out and strat to fix it up. I'm hopeing to resuse as much of the stock material as possible since my budget is esentially what change I find under the coutch. Frist I have little experience with valve springs and I need to remove them. I have an overhead spring compressor and I can compress the springs but I can't get the retainer clips to budge. Is there some trick to getting them off or are they just stuck on from sitting thirty years?

 

[3404speed]

find an open end wrench that fits around the retainer and compressor and smack it with a hammer. Yep you need three hands.

 

[JedIEG]

Yep brute force worked. Now to the three stuck valves and a whole lot of crud to clean. I'm hopeing that all this isn't for nothing. On to question 2 and 3 and 4 and so on- as I said this motor has been sitting in pieces for awhile and there are some problematic areas. First there is alittle bit of pitting in some of the cylinder walls. Can I get away with just honeing instead of boreing them out? Second I was sondering if the previous owner(who I know little about. The engine came as a. spare with another car) didn't run this thing right. The intake, where the exaust runs thorugh to preheat the fuel is packed with carbon along with the heads and there appears to be some sort of weld or reworked metal on the intake manifold. Anyone know why this happed? I have a theory but ill throw it out for anyone.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

1 - you can get away with anything for a while but the right thing to od is remove the rust , if it is just surface rust it may clean up ok but if there is pitting you already know the correct answer !!
probably runs better with the at cross over blocked anyway , , where is he weld ?

 

[moparleo]

It's hard to give answers without pictures. I would start with having all the parts hot tanked or whatever they do in your area. It's hard to determine the real condition of something that is greasy,carboned,rusted etc... If you plan on rebuilding this thing on any kind of budget , you have to know exactly what you are working with. Have a reputable machine shop inspect and or clean the parts to find out what is really reusable and what is not. A few dollars invested up front will save you many dollars down the line.

 

[JedIEG]

Here are some of the pictures i took of the block and heads so you can take a look and see what you think

 

[btceng]

I'm into a similar situation but yours looks a little worse than mine. My cylinders have less flash rust and most have given opinion to bore. The problem with mine is that its already. 040 over. I'm still leaning toward berry honing and new rings sized. .010 over then filing them to fit. Those heads look rough. Good luck.

 

[Brads70]

Wow those heads look "tough" before you any spend money on parts I'd have them glass beaded and crack tested. They look like they will need seats? You most likley will be further ahead to buy a rebuilt pair from Indy or Edelbrock etc...

 

[moparleo]

btceng, .040 is about max for a 340. I would have it sonic tested before buying any parts. JedIEG, Thats what I mean about knowing what you are starting with. Get your parts to a reputable engine building machine shop and get her checked out properly before buying parts . Doesn't look good though.