Posted by Brian in Oregon on Tuesday, May 29, 2001 at 3:51PM :
Some of you have emailed me or asked in a post string how my Helitool kit is working out for my 318 M37 conversion.
The engine is almost together. The short block is mostly assembled, the heads have been sent out for freshening. Mostly stock. 68 block, 72 heads, 67 forged steel crank, 72 rods (pressed pin), .060 stock (flattop) pistons (making it a 327 cu in), RV cam, Cloyes true roller timing chain, Sealed Power cast rings, Felpro gaskets, Clevite 77 bearings, brass softplugs. Pretty basic, really, though the steel crank is a plus. Fortunately, the cylinders had minimal taper, so a re-ring worked fine. A rebore is out of the question as the block is already .060 over. Crank was particularly nice at .010/.010, with no measurable wear or taper. Merely polished it. Have not decided on an intake manifold, might run the stock iron 2-bbl and decide after I drive it.
I converted the bellhousing yesterday. Took 5 hours to get Ray's kit to work. This is because of any problem with Ray's kit, which is first class, but rather it's due to the inescapable fact that the bellhousings are cast from a sand mold and have only the front, bottom and rear machined as a surface. You are trying to fit Helitool's precision CNC parts to a rough casting. I had to true some surfaces by hand on the bellhousing to make them flat enough for the plate to fit. Also, the used clutch fork was bent. It was worth the $25 to get an NOS fork from Vintage Power Wagons. Specs on the fork are a 3/4" (.750") shaft. However, the small end on my shaft was .755", so I had to turn it down. The other end was .748", so it fit fine. Much fiddling to get the pieces lined up so the clutch fork swung freely. I suppose some bellhousings will be a breeze and others a bear, merely because of the casting tolerances. There were other small annoyances as well, all stemming from how Dodge did their drilling and tapping of the bolt holes. There's one sleeved insert that goes in from the inside, and Dodge tapped the bolt hole from the outside, but did not run the tap all the way through. So the threads are thicker on the inside of the bolt hole and the insert did not want to start. I recommend getting a tap and cleaning up all the bolts holes and chamfering them. You might as well anyway, because even holes for the starter bolts had a lot of surface rust.
There were other details, and I have photographed most of the assembly, particularly my solutions in getting around the casting tolerance issues with the bellhousing.
After all the testing and fitting, I repainted the parts and will do the final assembly of the bellhousing tonight, time allowing.
I'm hoping to have the engine assembled perhaps in two weekends, mate it up to the tranny, and be ready for install. Won't be streetable because the brakes are shot. Will be doing a Helitool disc brake conversion on the front axle (already have all the major parts).
Have not pulled out the original flathead yet. It still runs (barely), and I've been running the M37 in and out of the garage to pressurewash the underside of mud and grime (gee, I can actually see the transfer case now). I will put the 230 into storage in case I ever want to restore the truck, since the Helitool kit only requires a couple of very minor and reversable modifications.
BTW, I had planned on using a nice spare early M37 transmission, but a friend blew up his synchros, was in a hurry, and laid down a tall stack of green to convince me to sell it to him. I ordered and received a late model government rebuilt (M37B1) NP420 from Dave Cirillo.
Helitool - http://www.helitool.com
Small block Chrysler conversion kits and disc brake conversion kits for the M37.
Dave Cirillo - http://www.jobrated.com
Power Wagon & M37 parts.
Vintage Power Wagons - http://www.vintagepowerwagons.com/
Power Wagon & M37 parts (NOS M37 clutch forks - $25)
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