New Engine! - Ready for the Rally

[53Crusher]

Attached is a short video clip of my new 230 engine! Some of the highlights are Finned aluminum head and valve covers. Vintage Edmunds intake with dual carbs and headers. HEI distributor and coil. Special thanks to Dave Brownlow for putting this all together! He's the star of the video :-)

Will be at the Rally and am looking forward to meeting the Power Wagon family.

http://youtu.be/tBoJ-8nztcU

[Gordon Maney]

Great job! We look forward to seeing your truck.

[im02crazy]

Congratulations!

Glad to hear a successful engine story. Best of luck with the unit. What oil will you use during the break-in??

[KenaiGary]

What kind of HP are you going to get from this setup?

[Doc Dave]

Beautiful job Tim!
Look forward to seeing you at the Rally!
Dave

[53Crusher]

Thanks!

Thanks Gordon and everyone! Both the Advertiser and these forums have been a tremendous wealth of knowledge over the last three years. Don't know what I would do without them. Everyone on the forum has great input and advice. I am not done with the truck yet, but it is completely restored mechanically. Will do paint and body work over the next year......

KenaiGary - I too am interested in how much HP the engine will have. The new cam was reground by Earl Edgerton, and he recommended his 260 dur, .410 lift which was just the ticket for me. It has a slight lope but isn't rough at all. Aluminum head is supposed to give just under 9:1 compression. Dual carbs and intake along with headers should let it "breathe" better :-) I also felt like the HEI distributor and coil from Tom Langdon would be a nice improvement. Although it looks like a hot rod, it should be a nice daily driver. I wanted something with just enough power to run my new 4.89 gears. Will have to find a way to get the engine tested for it's new HP output.

IM02Crazy - we elected to use Valvoline 10W-40 with a pint of additive from the machinist for the cam. Might not be easy to see in the video, but it now has both the standard bypass oil filter as well as a new MOON full flow oil filter. Vintage look with modern spin on filter inside.

[brk1]

new engine

Great looking engine, do you have contact info for david? I'd like to chat with him about some engine work. I'm in mt Thanks

[53Crusher]

Contact info

brk1-

I am sure you can touch base with him on the forums here. He goes by Cheyenne Dave. I will also let him know you want to visit.

[brk1]

New Engine

Thanks, I'll look for him

[brk1]

New Engine

I'm new to this but i have a barn fresh 48 that i'm trying to figure out what direction to go with it. i've been told to turn the 489's i should drop in a 2 carb 251 or 265, same look fit and feel. I'd rather have some one build, rebuild my original 230. So my question is do you think you'll get the same level of performance out of your new engine as a 251 or 265? Hope this makes sense, any help or thoughts would be much appreciated.

[53Crusher]

Performance

brk1-
GREAT QUESTION, and probably the hardest decision I had to make for MY truck. There are a LOT of much smarter/experienced people than I on this forum, so you are absolutely in the right place! Welcome.

I would encourage you to do some searching of the archives as you will find this situation discussed in a variety of ways. I can only tell you what my thought process was. Primarily I wanted to stay relatively true to the original design, but was not opposed to more modern upgrades that I felt were worthwhile. My ultimate goal was a truck that could drive down the road at about 55 mph without sounding like it was going to explode :-)

I've been working on my truck for about three years now, and there have certainly been some surprises. Like you, I decided to change the stock 5:83 gears for 4:89 and did so. It didn't take too long to discover that I had a tired engine that was compensated for with the low gears. My new gears were really lugging it down on hills. Not what I had expected at all!

My desire was to create a 230 engine that had enough pep to run the 4:89 gears up the same hill. I am pleased to report that my testing this week confirms what I had hoped for. The truck doesn't race over the hill, and it never will. It does keep up a nice speed without the need to drop down to third gear. Overall, we have to learn to slow down a bit and enjoy the ride in these majestic vehicles!

Smarter people than I on this site will be able to give you more detail, but my suspicion is that the peppy 230 we built should be similar to a stock 251 without the fit problems.

[wayneh]

So... With those gears, what kind of speeds are you seeing with the new engine? My wife still thinks I am forgetting to shift to another gear with my 5.83''s at 35 MPH!

Wayne

[Matt Ely]

Stock 230 in the WDX had, I believe 74 HP. The WM300, with the 251, was up to 125 HP. That is something to consider. People who have both stock, say there is a world of difference. Matt

[53Crusher]

Our base elevation here is above 6000 feet, which always robs power from any engine. I am not pushing the new engine very hard, but it is comfortably running down the road at 50 - 55 on the flat.

[wayneh]

Wow, that is great. And I guess it does not sound like it is ready to blow up??

Wayne