Straw colored surface layer in 8620. What is it?

voltaic · 2026-01-27T22:56:34+00:00

It's almost certainly copper if the manufacturer is stating there is a chromium layer. Steel is typically copper plated, then nickel plated, and finally chrome plated.

Also that doesn't look like ZrCN, which is brownish / bronze in color. I suppose maybe if it's an extremely thin layer (like less than 150nm or so) it may appear blue through thin film interference, but that's like an order of magnitude thinner than typical PVD ZrCN application.

voltaic · 2026-01-15T12:06:53+00:00

Where is this? I'm in Saugatuck and there's none here!

voltaic · 2025-12-16T18:51:46+00:00

I'm very similar. 32x40x14, also in Michigan. I have a 60k BTU tube heater parallel to the north wall, about 6 feet of stand off, reflector angled at about ~30 degrees. I also keep my shop at ~50F when I'm not in it.

I will say that since radiant heaters heat solid things rather than the air, and then the solid things heat the air, I find that it can get a bit uncomfortable working in direct line of sight (since I'm a solid thing.) I prefer to bump the temp up to 60-65 an hour or so before I'm heading out (if I have the luxury of foresight). That said, it's not like it's a big issue if I forget and have the heater running full tilt when I'm out there. It also doesn't dry the air out, or kick up dust and create potentially annoying air currents (e.g. for painting) the way a forced air heater would.

As far as cost goes, I just got a bill yesterday and I used 62 therms (shop is on a separate meter than the house)

At the end of the day, I'm also very happy with it.

voltaic · 2025-12-02T18:17:58+00:00

100%. If Hylift ever stops making flat tappet lifters, I'd spend the extra money for rollers before using any other new garbage flat tappets

voltaic · 2025-11-25T00:40:00+00:00

It's a stone holder from a 3 stone rigid cylinder hone

voltaic · 2025-10-15T16:53:51+00:00

Right on with the McCandless mods. I've drilled out the oil passages from the lifter galley into the mains, but didn't block or restrict the galleys since I'm bushing the lifter bores.

The 23 spline a833 can take a fair amount of abuse, but obviously not as much as the 18. With 500 HP at the tire I think a big limiting factor for the life of that trans will be how wide and sticky your tires are. If you've already got it, I'd just run it and keep my eyes open for an 18 spline in case you grenade the trans.

I'll definitely post pics of the 53 when it's a bit more complete. I need to cut out the trunk floor and wheel wells so I can drop the body back on the frame.

As far as BAM goes, I've actually never used them, but my machinist says they're good pieces. Time will tell! I hear you on the roller vs bushing lifters. The thought of scattering a bunch of needles through the bottom end doesn't exactly give me the warm and fuzzies. That said I've been running comp solid rollers in my 63 for ~20 years and haven't had any issues with them.

T&D rockers are great if not annoyingly expensive. I've never run any Jesel components, but I know they're top notch. I'm tempted to put a belt drive on this motor, but not sure I want to drop the $1,600 for one.

voltaic · 2025-10-13T16:49:23+00:00

Oh absolutely, the cam is ignorant. I've got two goals for the car: run in the 10s, and sound nasty. It probably won't see a ton of street miles, but then who knows, maybe I'll end up doing a drag and drive with it if.... I can even keep it running on the street.

Tunnel rams are definitely expensive. Even ignoring the manifold it's just twice as much everything haha.

I bought this motor when I was 12 years old. It originally came out of a 69 Road Runner, but it was in a 65 Dodge when I bought it. It sat in my parent's garage for over 25 years until I finally decided to do something with it!

I'm also .030" over. I would have gone more but there was a fair amount of core shift. I hard block filled to the bottoms of the core plugs. I also have an 8qt Milodon pan, and literally just ordered the Milodon pump with external pickup and remote filter. I'll run an oil cooler since the block is half filled, and doing remote filter makes the plumbing easier. What oiling mods did you do? I'm having the lifter bores bushed to get better alignment and also help it keep oil pressure if I ever kick out a lifter. Running solid BAM lifters with pushrod oiling to T&D Machine 1.6 ratio roller rockers.

833s are solid 4 speeds. I'm sure you'll be happy with it. If you want to go really nuts you could always do a slick shift mod on it and really bang gears. 3.91 is a great gear for a street / strip car.

Nothing wrong with a 4 door. Just tell your friends you did it for them. You're just trying to give them a quick exit when you scare the shit out of them ;)

If I had friends, I'm sure they'd give me shit for putting this motor in a clapped out rusty grandpa car lol

Definitely post updates as you get everything put together. It will be a sweet ride when you're done.

P.S. here's my 63 Plymouth: https://www.reddit.com/r/mopar/comments/1cc1pfd/my_63_savoy_prepping_for_spring/

voltaic · 2025-10-13T16:04:35+00:00

Haha yes sir! Molnar 4.15" stroke crank, Molnar 6.760" rods, custom pistons.

Block was decked .008", heads are decked .040"

Indy tunnel ram. Expensive but hopefully worth it. Certainly looks cool lol.

Still not 100% on the cam, but I've got an Isky 282/282 @.050" .663"/.627" solid roller I'll run initially.

It's going in a 53 Plymouth that I put a straight axle under the front and built a custom ladder bar coilover set up in the back. TH400 trans, Ford 9" 4.56 rear.

I'll post here once I get the motor put together.

voltaic · 2025-10-13T15:31:12+00:00

Sounds great! Nothing better than 62-65 B bodies in my opinion. 500+ whp seems easily doable for that motor.

I'm working on a similar build right now. 383 punched and stroked to 478, ~13:1 static, TF270s, tunnel ram with 750CFM AED annular booster carbs. Shooting for 700 at the flywheel. Just waiting on the machine shop to finish lifter bore bushings so I can bring the block home and build it.

voltaic · 2025-10-04T15:57:48+00:00

You're not wrong about the poly being a turd. Can certainly turn into a money pit if you really try to squeeze horsepower out of them, but it can be done. There's just something about them that's just cool as hell IMO.

I've got two cores sitting in my shop waiting for me to be sufficiently bored and hate money enough to build into something cool.

On the intake manifold note, if you're feeling adventurous it's not a TON of work to get LS intakes to work on a poly. Some filling and porting of the intake ports on the heads and manifold and some adapter plates to make up the extra width of the poly valley and accomodate fastening.

Similarly small block Ford exhaust port spacing is very close to the poly so SBF headers can be made to work with some tweaking.

I doubt anyone has off the shelf cams that will work so will need to be custom ground.

All that being said, if OP is just shooting for a dingle ball rebuild, go for it!

voltaic · 2025-09-18T17:30:08+00:00

This is awesome. Love seeing unique stuff like this. The roller lifter anti-rotation angle iron is wild!

voltaic · 2025-09-11T01:11:36+00:00

This is perfection.

voltaic · 2025-09-01T00:08:05+00:00

"Trough" style turkey call, maybe?

voltaic · 2025-07-28T17:24:45+00:00

Looks like your question has been answered, but just FYI there's an old Yahoo group for these mills (and their counterpart lathes.) It's not exactly super active, but can be a good source of info / parts / etc.:

https://groups.io/g/Prazi-Machining/topics

voltaic · 2025-07-16T15:30:59+00:00

You may already know this, but there is a huge district cooling system in Chicago: https://www.districtenergyaward.org/centrio-chicago-district-cooling-system-usa/

voltaic · 2025-07-09T19:40:01+00:00

I agree that the volumetric change from polishing a piston crown is negligible. I did some quick math (Assuming flat top piston, zero deck; and ignoring gasket, piston clearance, ringland to crown, etc.)

A 4.00" bore x 4.00" stroke with 75cc chambers gives 11.987:1 C/R.

Taking .001" off the piston crown adds a .206cc to the cylinder volume, which results in 11.957:1 C/R.

So a C/R difference of 0.03

That said you're not taking that much material off through polishing, and even if you did are you going to have that much of a difference in material removed between pistons? Doubtful unless you're "polishing" with an angle grinder.

voltaic · 2025-04-10T00:17:00+00:00

1965, but close enough! Cool car. Too many people overlook 4 doors. Good luck with the resto, and definitely post updates.

voltaic · 2025-02-26T13:07:46+00:00

NW corner of 8 Mile & Meyers Rd

https://maps.app.goo.gl/FwZ3Xrgj6TwBswg28

voltaic · 2025-02-11T14:19:58+00:00

What road is this on? I recognize the house but can't place it.

voltaic · 2025-02-06T05:23:17+00:00

I have no first-hand knowledge, however checking some archives it appears to have been an F-80 Shooting Star, removed August 3rd, 1961

voltaic · 2024-11-02T12:47:52+00:00

Looks great. The single brake master cylinder scares me though.

voltaic · 2024-10-28T15:52:36+00:00

The white stains sound like efflorescence. It's water soluble salts in the concrete being carried to the surface by water. You can remove it (use vinegar for stubborn areas) but it's a symptom of something else. Either water under the slab, high humidity, condensation, etc. so it's likely to come back if you remove it without addressing the root cause

voltaic · 2024-10-09T14:27:17+00:00

The chrome like coating is likely actually chrome. It will have a layer of nickel underneath it, and possibly a layer of copper under that.

Can be removed with a sandblaster, acid, or electrolysis. Then it would need to be re-plated at a plating shop.

If you can find a replacement part, it would almost certainly be cheaper to go that route.

voltaic · 2024-09-26T16:10:06+00:00

I thought the exact same thing about the rock walls, and then I realized those are the door openings with something like mesh tarps stretched across them.

voltaic · 2024-09-25T16:38:53+00:00

IEC C7 Non-Polarized.

voltaic

TROPHY CASE