[Verdoro 68]

Figured I'd kick off a thread for my build now that I've got most of the parts in my posession. Maybe it will help some folks in the future.

The backstory is in this thread. I pulled my engine in January looking to do a top end swap to some Ram Air II heads, RA IV repro intake and a roller cam. I found that all my bearings and crank were trashed from an incident early in the engine's life where the valve spring retainers ate the valve stem seals.

So, I decided to build my dream engine - something that looks stockish but catches the eye of a Pontiac die hard when I open the hood of my plain jane '68. The rest of the car has a bunch of other stock looking tweaks for handling and drivability to go with the theme.

I've done plenty of cam and head swaps over the years, but this will be the first time I've assembled an entire engine from ground up. I spent the last 9 months doing homework and rounding up the tools and parts required for this build.

Here's what's the bottom end looks like:

• '68 400 block, bored to 4.17
• Butler 4.25" balanced stroker kit
• Eagle cast crank
• Eagle forged rods
• Custom Ross/Butler forged pistons (-29.32cc dish, 9.5:1 compression)
• Total Seal Classic Race file fit rings
• Butler ported oil pump and hardened driveshaft
• King main bearings, Clevite rod bearings, Durabond cam bearings
• BOP one piece rear main seal (what started this all!) and one piece oil pan gasket
• 230/236 .510/.520 114 hydraulic roller cam
• Composite distributor gear
• Sims-modified Rollmaster timing set

Top end:

• '68 RAII R96A heads I picked up from grandam1979. These were gasket matched in the past, but I'm trying to keep a light touch.
• New valve guides
• Ferrea one piece stainless valves
• Hardened exhaust seats
• Comp springs and retainers.
• Johnson roller lifters
• PRW 1.52 roller rockers
• Repro 2.5" round port exhaust manifolds.
• Port matched reproduction Ram Air IV manifold
• '68 Quadrajet rebuilt by Ray Klemm

It's going in my '68 GTO, which I've owned since '91. The rest of the drivetrain is a rebuilt '68 TH400, 13" Continental stall, 2.5" Pypes stainless exhaust, 3.55 posi.