Re: 401 heads on a 343 block?

[raysinvegas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Thanks to all who gave me their 2 cents! I've decided to wait and rebuild the heads that came with the car. It sounds like too much work for me. I was hoping the 401 heads would be bolt-ons. I'm trying to bring back a car that sat in outdoor storage for 12 years. The engine was partially torn down with one head still on the block, the rest in the trunk. The block (w/1 head) was covered with plastic and fared pretty well. The parts in the trunk received an unhealthy coat of surface rust. I have a lead on a good machine shop, but I'm not sure if the surface rust has ruined the valves or not. I need to pull the other head and just bite the bullet when time and money allow. The 401 heads are said to be in good usable shape, and are local(no shipping!) for just $50! If any of you have ever tried to do 2 cars at the same time, you know that neither goes quickly!(I have a 64 440H driver I'm trying to prepare for AMCRC nats in Sacramento) Especially with family, mortgage, blah..blah!
 ... Luckily, I have some good support down here in Las Vegas from my fellow clubbers in the Southern Nevada AMC Club. You might recognise the names of these listers: Mark Ogulnick, Richard Payne, Larry Daum. Just a few of the guys who have helped me in the hobby! Anywhoo, Have any of you had experience removing surface rust from a complete head? Maybe using walnut shell blasting or something like that? I would like to save the valves and just do guide seals if I can. I would think that regular sand blasting would be too harsh. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I would like to get this car running before the next millenium! Thanks in advance!

Andy Ray
Las Vegas
64 440H(2)
68 Jav SST 343  




On April 15, 2005 ROSS BLAIR wrote:

> Also, your 343 intake won't bolt up because they changed the centre mounting hole position. You would have to machine your existing intake or find a '70 & up 360/390/401 intake. Possibly the aftermarket intakes have the the centre holes already elongated so they will fit either setup, I'm not 100% sure on this.
> 
> You should also change your exhaust manifolds. The square port manifold on the 343 will leak when bolted to the dogleg port heads.
> 
> With all the negatives posted here, you might think this swap is a bad idea, but it is actually a fairly common one. You just have to know the differences between the two engine styles. I did this on my 69' 390. It has '72 360/401 heads, free flow exhaust manifolds and a '70 style R4B intake. I used the step dowels Todd mentions below with 7/16" head bolts. And yes, as Ken points out, I took a compression hit doing this, but 10:1 compression and today's pump gas don't mix well IMHO. So the performance drop due to loss of compression is less than you might expect because the engine wouldn't run to its full potential anyway (again IMHO).
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> Ross Blair
> '69 BBO Javelin
> Ottawa Ont.
> 
> >As below, it can be done, but why unless you don't actually have any 343/390
> >heads? The increase in exhaust flow would be offset by the lower compression.
> >But perhaps that's what you're after... :)
> 
> >Ken
> 
> >Quoting Todd Jesme <jesme@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
> 
> > Andy,
> > you can bolt them on but you will need to buy a set of step dowels from your
> > favorite AMC parts vendor, if you want to use the smaller 7/16" head bolts.
> > If you want to use the more desirable 1/2" head bolts used on 70 and up
> > V-8's you will need to have the head bolt holes in the block drilled and
> > tapped.
> >
> > Todd
> > MN
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: raysinvegas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:raysinvegas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> > Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 7:56 PM
> > To: mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: 401 heads on a 343 block?
> >
> > Hi, can I put '75 401 heads on my '68 343 short block?  Thanks in advance!
> >
> > Andy Ray
> > 64 440H (2)
> > 68 Jav SST 343
> >
> > =============================================================
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> >
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