Yes, the block is a 78. It's the original motor and had never been rebuilt before. I found it interesting looking at the different casting numbers used throughout. Rods were D0xx castings, pistons D9xx, block D8VE, and the crank I don't remember. The D9 pistons surprised me since the car is a 78, but it was built late in 78 (June) so I guess that's how it ended up with 79 pistons.
The new pistons are Keith Black KB115 hypereutectics. They're an OE replacement, so weight and compression volume are about the same as original. But they need a bigger top ring end gap so I had to spend some time filing the rings.
Why the E7 heads? I wanted to port my own heads, and I was able to pick up the E7s cheap while still keeping the car running. I probably spent two weeks porting them, then I dropped them off at the machinist who milled them .020 and put in 1.94/1.60 valves and good springs, locks & keepers. If I were to do it again I would probably save up a little more and go to aluminum heads. But porting the heads was good experience, and these should flow pretty good.
The only smog equipment I had on the car before tearing the engine apart was a seized air pump. Nope, it's not going back on. The car will need to pass an emissions check, but only an exhaust test, no visual. So as long as it's tuned properly it should pass. If worse comes to worse I'll put cats on there.
Glenn, don't congratulate me until it's running!
