Chrysler Royal, M6 transmission, fluid drive

So, I discovered by looking at my shop manual, which I finally bought (and should have bought long ago), the bracket for the steering arm is removable from the car. I removed it, cleaned it up and put everything back together. For the felt gasket material, I got a couple of those battery anti-corrosion deals and cut them to the right size, soaked them in oil, and then installed them. *shrug*

On to the engine... took the flexplate, or whatever you want to call it, off the rebuilt engine and held the fluid drive unit up to the flange to find that, yes, the bolt pattern is the same, but the flange itself is not the same. I plastigaged the old crank bearings in the old engine and found between .002 and .0025. I haven't seen any damage on the journals of the old crankshaft, so I am going to try to drop it into the new engine. I will plastigage again once I have the old crank in the new motor.. It's a shame too, because this engine definitely was rebuilt.. I hate to tear down a built engine.. It's spotless inside and the bearings are brand new, the crank looks like it was polished as well. I noticed the old engine had a more heavy- duty timing chain than the new one, with different cam and crank gears.. I hope this will not be a problem as well..

Your going to take a used crank from one engine and put it into a newer used engine? If so, I'd be looking to align bore it, but that's me.

The newer used engine has been rebuilt. Swapping the cranks is really my only option right now. The bearing shells in the new engine are brand new and say "STD" on them, so I figure I should be okay.

The only bad thing about the old crank is that some eeediot changed the timing chain at some point on the old engine and really dinged up the snout of the crank..

Yesterday, I was trying to blow all the residue out from the valve areas using the spark plug hole... oops.. #3 valves were closed and the piston immediately traveled to the bottom of the bore.. I had to turn and wiggle it to get it to go back up into the engine. At that point, I decided I should probably go ahead and remove the cylinder head and the piston to check the ring orientation..

Once I got the head off, I discovered that the rebuilder decided to re- use the old head gasket by using that spray copper stuff. Also, all the pistons were stamped relative to their position in the engine ... #6 somehow made it into the hole for #1 and vice versa.. The rings have just a tiny bit of break-in wear on them, so I assume this engine was run after rebuilding.

Ok, so I started analyzing the cylinder head from the rebuilt engine.. Turns out there is a tiny hole about 3/4" deep in the top of #1 combustion chamber. I said to myself "oh great, gotta use the other head..". I retrieved the head from the original engine and scraped the carbon out of #1 to discover the same sort of hole!! Anyone know what's up with that? One head with the hole, I would have figured, was a defect. However, the same hole in the same place on two engines that were built around 5 years apart originally is no co-incidence.

Another thing, I think I would like to use the original head anyway... I measured the thickness of the heads and the head from the original engine is about .030 shorter than the 'new' head..

I just looked on Ebay and there are two heads on there... I emailed both the sellers and one got back to me already and said the hole is there as well on his cylinder head.

The other person has not responded yet, but I believe that head has the hole as well.

Update--

I feel really stupid now! I noticed there is a plug on the top of the cylinder head... just so happens to correspond to the hole in the combustion chamber.. after removing the plug, i was able to punch through the carbon with a pick.

What I believe the hole is for is finding top dead center..

sorry for spamming the group with this obviously uninteresting topic. don't worry, it won't happen any more.

Not uninteresting at all, an interesting thread. Don't know who kicked you, but please do keep up the updates.

Just got back home. Keep posting on this project. Ineresting stuff.

thanks for the kind words, i will indeed.

have to save a little money for a new headgasket and a couple other bits and pieces..

I am wondering if I should just go ahead and spring for a new set of rod and main bearings, since this engine has been run already with these bearings... seems logical to me, but will set me back a few more weeks.

The ring gaps are all over the place.. the spec in the book says .007

- .014 for the gap... i also read in a forum that the gap as-listed can cause the rings to bind and break.. so guess i'll just go with the gaps... i measured the gap on one of the old engine's rings and it was like .050, no kidding.. i only rode in the car one time (it has run twice in my lifetime).. i was three, so i don't recall if it was putting out smoke like a mosquito fogger... but something tells me it wasn't, which is amazing to me..

have to save a little money for a new headgasket and a couple other bits and pieces..

I am wondering if I should just go ahead and spring for a new set of rod and main bearings, since this engine has been run already with these bearings... seems logical to me, but will set me back a few more weeks.

The ring gaps are all over the place.. the spec in the book says .007

- .014 for the gap... i also read in a forum that the gap as-listed can cause the rings to bind and break.. so guess i'll just go with the gaps... i measured the gap on one of the old engine's rings and it was like .050, no kidding.. i only rode in the car one time (it has run twice in my lifetime).. i was three, so i don't recall if it was putting out smoke like a mosquito fogger... but something tells me it wasn't, which is amazing to me..

You already have it opened up. I'd replace all wear items as it is doubtful you'll be this far into it again. You'll face more cash outlay and it will be a slower process but you will have it done right. It would be a shame to re assemble it and have to get back into it this deep for a $10.00 item

you're right... i suppose i just needed to hear it from someone else. LOL.. you get what you pay for... and I usually pay out the rear when i don't dot all the "I"s and cross all the "T"s.. Now that I have your opinion, I may even try to get new rings ... these look like NOS..... no chrome face or anything like that..

I forgot to mention that the bores of the engine look brand new... no ridge at the top and they all have prominent cross-hatching.. it's a shame that the rebuilder didn't scrape out the cooling passages in the block... hopefully, it won't be an issue..

Are you sure blocked passages were the issue?

Lack of cylinder wear is a very good sign... But, how bad are the cooling passages?

I gotta be honest the one thing that troubles me is a crank from one engine being placed into another. I'm a big believer of only having to do things once. I'd align bore it and have the crank fitted. I'd also tank and boil the block to clean all the residue that may be left in it.

But that's me, I can get real anal about engines. Especially when it isn't my money.

There is a bit of sediment in the block, etc... however, I did fill it with water one time to the tune of at least 2 gallons in the block/ head alone, so i guess on a "scale" of 1 to 10 it's probably a 3.5..

I understand your worries..

Believe me, if money was no object, i would do all the proper things that need to be done.

When you say I should have the crank fitted, what do you mean? Have the main bearings align honed to fit the "replacement" crank and have the crank installed profesionally?