Before we got started, we mocked up the crank and a rod and found the block would require a little more machining for clearance plus we needed to bore it .030, so we took the wholedeal over to Bill's buddy and machinist extraordinaire Don Kulash at Precision Engine Service. We promised him the usual fame and fortune if he would do the finishing work we needed. (If I were doing this project over I would probably just order a cast iron block from Dart. They will custom machine one of their blocks and deliver it ready to go for less money than I spent to make the stock block work.)

Don clearanced the block so the rotating assembly would spin without hitting anything and bored the block. He also "squared" the decks and cylinders and adjusted deck height without our even asking that it be done. Kulash is one of those picky kinds of machinists that has to make sure everything is perfect whether you ask for it or not. Shop owners/machinists like Kulash are the do-it-yourself racer's best friend.

So, after about three months of gathering parts -- and with the wrath of DRO bracket editor Jok Nicholson descending on us to get the engine built because he had finished the Vega -- we were finally ready to assemble the engine.

Bill Weckman and Don Kulash

It took Weckman (whose budget blower motors are legendary around the St. Louis street racing scene) and myself about two days to put the engine together, starting with just a bare block. Actually, I'd like you to believe that assembling this engine required a lot of expertise, but, to be honest, anyone reading this story could do it with just a little help. The big secret was simply to get components from well-known manufacturers with good reputations, then trust and follow their directions.

The first thing Weckman made me do was to thoroughly clean the block using soap, water, cleaning solvent and some compressed air. I spent about an hour cleaning and scrubbing the block and all of the oiling passages.