Well, after two weeks of working a little at a time, the car is up and running again. I believe this may be the first set of Dart's that were modified to accept the Crane rockers, but not sure. Haven't gotten it on the road yet, but the Morel lifters quieted down nicely after about 5 minutes and so far so good. I am going to let it cool down and then run it again with the coolant system capped so it will pressurize and make sure there are not issues. Once I get that done, then the wheels can go back on and I can take it off the blocks. It takes some time to get it down off of the blocks so I am going to make sure there are no issues that require going under the car prior to do so. Hopefully it will be on the road soon

 

looks sweet! what swayed you to get the dart heads instead of something else?

 

Ain't this fun! Hurry up and post some dyno numbers.

 

Several things:

1. Reputation
2. Price
3. Quality parts installed

Not dinging anyone elses heads mind you, it just seemed like a good fit with small ports for what I was seeking.

 

Congrats! Can't wait to see what you think after all this work.

 

What cam are you running?

 

What kind of modifications do you need to make to the head to allow the use of the crane rockers. I thought they were considered bolt on ???

 

I am running the VHP 056 cam, 216/224 0.551/0.551 115 LSA.

If you want to cut the guide plates they would be bolt on. I didn't want to cut the plates because there is a strengthening ridge on the guide plate that would cut. Also, I wanted to be able to use my Crane valve spring tool. So I massaged the valve cover bosses so both would fit.

I also stepped down from the Crane 1.8 rockers to Crane 1.7's.

 

Just put 100 miles on it, it runs sweet

 

We have made a change in this jsut recently, so item machined after 4-10-06 will have date codes stamped on them, and we moved the machining .100 towards the centerline of the valve cover boss, this should help out with Crane fitment. It will also allow Jesel, T&D, and Comp shaft systems to fit.

Thanks

John
Dart

P.S. Vette Nuts glad to here you ride is up and running.. Guess you beat malihoochie to the punch!! Not surprising really!!!

 

Does it feel much stronger???

 

Yes, but I am getting misfire codes and not sure why. I also have a slight rattle in the drive train, which I didn't even touch

 

Do you think the issues are related to the rockers in some way?
I did basically the same swap you did, with simular sized cams and I didn't throw any codes, and actually had a little LESS valve train noise (last heads were milled .030)

 

Valve train is quiet, don't think it is that.