445 build for 68 Torino GT

[machoneman]

Nice car, very clean! Yeah, looks like rust to me as well, rust that dropped off the valve covers as you struggled (I'm sure) to break them loose.

Take another look at the pushrods.....some have blue paint on them. Someone either had the covers off when re-painting the intake/block or had the entire top of the engine off at some point in time.

[Landlubberatsea]

Hi Bob, thanks for compliments on the car. Actually no struggle at all, no sealant used between covers and gasket so they came of pretty easy.
Maybe someone thought the blue paint would be a nice decorating touch......

[Barry_R]

If I were to take a wild guess on that engine it would be a piece that sat in a scrapyard or in a dead car somewhere for a decade and then got installed after a quick spray can rebuild.  I do not think that it was a functionally running engine for any period of recent history.

Pretty cool car by the way.  I am known to like Torinos, and the white/red stripe is an unusual color combination.

[Landlubberatsea]

Hi Barry, yes that's not impossible. It's just that some things have been changed out, for ex. the cam, but come to think about it, these changes can have been done decades ago.
Yeah the red on white is maybe not so common. It's not the original though, if I'm not remembering wrong it was turquois (I also got the paint code from the previous owner and when I looked it up it turned out to be "Olympian White" a chevy color )
Well hopefully I can reuse the block at least for my rebuild.
By the way Barry, what's the delivery time for a stroker kit?

[amdscooter]

Definitely some odd things going on in there. If I had to guess.. after they rattle canned the block with the valve covers off (see the over spray on the valve-train and push rods). They wire wheeled the remnants of the old cork gasket off the head and did not bother to cover anything up or clean it off before reinstalling the covers. While the old cork gaskets usually just break off, I've seen some where people use that black tar "form a gasket" stuff on both sides of the valve cover gasket to get it to seal and it's a bugger to get cleaned off. As for the rust on the inside of the valve cover itself.. looks like it was sitting off the car and water simply puddled in those spots.

My2c and nice ride!

[Landlubberatsea]

So I have finally reached point of no return (kind of at least )
The engine is now out of the car and along the way I discovered some more peculiar stuff.
You could almost believe there has been two persons working on each side of the car with different suppliers 
For example, the dust shields on the discbrakes are of different make, the motormounts are new but of different make on each side, there were used different gaskets on left and right exhaust manifold....... but more probable is that it is a "we take what we have and get this together quickly now" car 
The gaskets are interresting by the way, on the drivers side they used Mr Gasket 254G and on the passenger side they had used Fel-Pro 1442 and for me as a newbie it was real interresting to see the difference in matching with the heads.

And now time for questions.
1. I'm putting together the shopping list and I just wonder if there is any reason to change out the flywheel in a 500hp 445 build if there are no visible damages to it?

2. After reading on various sites regarding piping diameter I have come to the following conclusion; pipes are measured in inner diameter but tubing as in fuel and brake lines are measured in outside diameter which means that my fuel line which meassures 3/8 inches outside should be a so called "3/8 line" and be good enough for my build. Am I correct or is this a standard 5/16 line (with 3/8 o.d.)?

[Landlubberatsea]

Managed to clear the attached pictures.....

[Landlubberatsea]

More pics

[rockhouse66]

I'm late to the party and probably missing something.  You have what? a 390?  If so, the 445 kits are neutral balanced and you can't use your external balanced flywheel.

EDIT:  My bad - 390 is neutral and 410/428 are external.

[Landlubberatsea]

Hi Jim, don't worry the party will hopefully go on for a while
Yes it's a 390 and it feels like I'm just about to learn something new again I thought it was the 428 that was externally balanced but maybe that is just with regards to the damper? Can you re-balance the stock wheel or what is the best choice for my build (see earlier posts)?

[rockhouse66]

You are correct - I'm wrong.  Edited my post.  Wasn't thinking straight - sorry.

[Landlubberatsea]

Yes  , finally the engine is disassembled and ready to be delivered to the engine shop. It's been a fun and interesting task and I'm glad I decided to do it myself because I've learned a lot.
So early in the morning I will go on a 300 mile ride with all the parts. I'm really excited to sit down with the builder/mechanic and discuss the road to success for this build
Hopefully he will take some of the old stuff as trade since I will only be using the block, flywheel, valley pan, drip tray and  oilslinger. Could really need some help with the budget 
After that it's time to go back at sea for a month of work before I can continue with prepping the car for the engine
To be continued....
By the way, the rods were marked c7tea and the pistons 390 4v. Are those rods common to use in a 390 and does the 4v mean that they are for a 4 barrel car and high comp?

[machoneman]

Common rods here: http://www.mustangtek.com/rod/rod.html

4V yes...but high compression is a relative term as no 390 came with what most would call high compression!

[Landlubberatsea]

It turned out that I do not have a 390 that wants to become a 445 but a 360  well maybe the guy just happening to slip when writing and the ad and the 6 became a 9 or maybe I've been screwed again, lol.
This by the way is how you get some FE power into a modern small GM car (SAAB 9-3) you rear mount it   

[ScotiaFE]

Is this a 4 speed car?
I reread you OP and you said C6. doh