Leaks...and options..

[Chryco Psycho]

Exactly just start building another engine at a pace you can handle .

[Brads70]

Exactly just start building another engine at a pace you can handle .

maybe a nice stroker  big block!   

[kawahonda]

I understand that option, I just would like to keep the original soul in the original body....

What do you guys think about champion  404 rn12yc vs RN9YC?

I'm running the RN12yc and I'm thinking I might be a tad bit too hot.

[1 Wild R/T]

Keep the soul safe while having fun with the body...  (In the past I always tried to explain that to women, for you I guess I'll make an exception  )

Seriously though why chance hurting the original engine when you can store it in a corner & honestly the roller 360's a cheap & make a better starting point for stroker..

[kawahonda]

I'm not sold on a stroker yet, just an idea...

Remember my goals is only 13s. If I don't need a stroker to get there, then I won't. I imagine I would need some pretty stout heads though.

Something about driving a 340 is cool, and I don't want to lose that. No offense to a 360, there's just less cool factor.

[1 Wild R/T]

Get it out to the track & see what you've got...    Just about any Stroker with good heads is gonna jump right past the 13's & be solidly in the 12's or better..   But a stroker with the 308 heads off the 360 which are a better head than the X or J heads should be well & solidly in the low 13's..

340's are cool, but very few people can tell a 340 from a 360 or a 318 for that matter...

[kawahonda]

Most importantly is that the driver can.....    

I'm thinking about taking it out mid july. Our track here is pretty slow.  .5 - .8 second slower than at sea level. Just the way it is. I'll still take it out.

I still havn't practiced enough on my launches yet. Shift into first, hold brake, bring to what, 2200 RPM (if I can), then just let er rip and slap that son-of-a-b*$@$ up the track? Shift at 5200 RPM?

[RUNCHARGER]

Neither leak sounds good. I don't work on small blocks but if it is possible to change all the frost plugs in the car I would do that and then chase down the oil leak. That frost plug deal could leave you stranded anytime. If they can't be done in the car I would take a weekend to pull the engine address the leaks and drop it back in. Again, I don't work on smallblocks but if I can swap a Hemi in and out in a day with the limited room available a small block should be no problem at all.

[gzig5]

That's a lot of fluid loss in my opinion.  If it were mine, the motor would be coming out as soon as possible.  Definitely over the winter.   You only need to fix what is broken. 

If you aren't able to control the "while I'm in there" syndrome, all we can do is help you spend your money   
I suggest a 4" crank and a set of the new Trick Flow heads.  With a mild cam you'll be well into the 500 HP/Tq arena.

[kawahonda]

I saw that my oil drain plug was a little lose, so I tightened it up. Maybe the oil leak was that easy...it was definitely dripping there.

I timed the water leakage at 2 minutes and 30 seconds per drip.

Let me see if I can get a good pic.

[kawahonda]

Extremely good news! Wow....happy fourth of July!

The leaking freeze plug is coming from the one right behind the starter on driver's side.

The picture makes it obvious. It's trickling down on the crossbar that goes from the engine to the bell-housing, and dripping from that.

I was under there for 10 minutes and couldn't see any other drip location...it's dripping exactly from that. I will clean the pan, and put a container under there to catch that exact spot to confirm. If no other leaks, than the choice with this one is simple---replace this freeze plug and keep her on the road.

Should I do this myself, or just pay a local (very awesome shop btw) to do this. I bet for the shop this would be a 30 minute repair...

[73_Cuda_4_Me]

Once you confirm that that is the location of the leak, then that would be something that you could tackle...

You will have to remove starter, though...

Drain radiator/block...

Use a punch to 'spin' the freeze plug in the bore, then large screwdriver to pry out...

Clean bore well... you will probably find a LOT of rusty gunk/chunks behind that plug, as it is the lowest flow area inside the block, so all the years of sediment end up back there.. clean out as much as possible...

I used black permatex on bore, and also a smear around outside of plug, then used a socket that just fit inside the lip, and tapped it in with mallet until you just see edge of block bore around the outside of the plug...

[RUNCHARGER]

That sounds good.

[kawahonda]

Here's the activity after 18 hours.

There's obviously other leaks, but they seem minor in comparison to the starter area freeze plug leak.

[kawahonda]

Is this the size I need?

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b/dorman-autograde-3358/hardware---fasteners-16585/expansion-freeze-plug-25102/expansion-freeze-plug---universal-17585/6c9fad9f97a1/dorman-autograde-expansion-plug/555031/4180743/1970/dodge/challenger?q=freeze+plug&pos=35

Looks like a "universal" freeze plug to me. May be best to look for an exact fit:

1.625 inches
41.257 mm