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383 build

1K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  reflog 
#1 ·
I am going to take my 350 to 383. Have been looking for kits thru Jegs and Summit. I figure it is cheaper to do it this way. I have a couple of questions though. Both companies have two or more versions of their kits. Each offers an externally balanced setup and an internally balanced setup. I would think that the internal balance would be preferable as I wouldn't have to get a new flex plate or balancer. Any thougths on this or has anyone gone this route? Both offer I beam rods and H beam rods. I believe that H beam would be stronger or am I incorrect here? Both offer cast steel crank and forged steel. From everything that I know a forged unit would be best for racing. Would I be foolish to go the cheaper route by going to the cast steel in a street only motor? Price difference is minimal as far as I can tell. Lastly, they both offer the Hypereutectic alum. or the forged alum. pistons. I don't know the difference in these as to which one would be better or why they would be better. Some places also offer a coated skirt. Which piston would be better for a street application and would anyone go with the coated skirts to help against wear on the skirts? My car currently has a 327 with a 400 trans in it. I put in a 2500 stall converter some time ago so I won't need that . Heads are street replacement heads from World Products. Went with the 1.94's there as I didn't think I needed the 2.02's. Intake and carb are adequate so no changing there. Any opinions on what I want to do would be appreciated.

Steve
 
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#2 ·
383 Build

Steve, excellent questions you have, surprised no one has jumped in and offered advice, but here is what I suggest.

The engines we build always get internally balanced. If you buy a kit/rotating assy, check to see if it has been balanced or not. A cast steel crank with I-beam rods, hyper pistons will be plenty good for your application. Especially if balanced. Some things to consider though. We have found some of the lower end parts to not be on size. Have a machine shop check your stuff before you use it. If you are building yourself, mock up the rotating assy to see what you might need to do to clear everything. This is a must before balancing.
As far as piston skirts, we have good luck with the skirt-coated ones and would recommend those.

Chris Laarman
Ottawa Engine and Performance
 
#3 ·
reflog said:
I am going to take my 350 to 383. Have been looking for kits thru Jegs and Summit. I figure it is cheaper to do it this way. I have a couple of questions though. Both companies have two or more versions of their kits. Each offers an externally balanced setup and an internally balanced setup. I would think that the internal balance would be preferable as I wouldn't have to get a new flex plate or balancer. Any thougths on this or has anyone gone this route? Both offer I beam rods and H beam rods. I believe that H beam would be stronger or am I incorrect here? Both offer cast steel crank and forged steel. From everything that I know a forged unit would be best for racing. Would I be foolish to go the cheaper route by going to the cast steel in a street only motor? Price difference is minimal as far as I can tell. Lastly, they both offer the Hypereutectic alum. or the forged alum. pistons. I don't know the difference in these as to which one would be better or why they would be better. Some places also offer a coated skirt. Which piston would be better for a street application and would anyone go with the coated skirts to help against wear on the skirts? My car currently has a 327 with a 400 trans in it. I put in a 2500 stall converter some time ago so I won't need that . Heads are street replacement heads from World Products. Went with the 1.94's there as I didn't think I needed the 2.02's. Intake and carb are adequate so no changing there. Any opinions on what I want to do would be appreciated.

Steve
Steve

We build a lot of peformance engines and supply a lot of shops with blue print machined blocks and when we have some spare time in the shop we build some street and strip performance engines and we have always used quality parts like all forged rotators fully race preped block all balanced clearanced and dynoed and so far no problems with our product. As we have had alot of emails and calls on substandard parts failing in performance engines.

Here is a link to a 383 we built for a customer last year and we use a lot of the old 906 Vortec heads that have had the proper bowl work, deshrouding and a good performance valve job and we see the same results on the dyno as this engine in the link with AFR's and the customer is very happy as well
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106715&highlight=DYNO
 
#4 ·
cj11l said:
Steve, excellent questions you have, surprised no one has jumped in and offered advice, but here is what I suggest.

If you buy a kit/rotating assy, check to see if it has been balanced or not. A cast steel crank with I-beam rods, hyper pistons will be plenty good for your application. Especially if balanced. Some things to consider though. We have found some of the lower end parts to not be on size.


Chris Laarman
Ottawa Engine and Performance
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Chris,

Thanks for the help. When you talk about whether or not the kit is balanced are you meaning anything other than say a factory balance on the internals? When I went to both sites, Jegs and Summit, they both indicate that the crank is balanced. I assume that the rods would be also to match that particular crank in the kit. I can check on that. These are supposed to be new casting from either Eagle or GM performance, etc. (as it understand it) but would still have a machine shop go over the specs to make sure. Will have my block align honed to make sure the mains are true. Will have the rods checked to make sure they are true. Ran into a problem with that when I had my 427 redone so I have experience with that. I did have one other question that I forgot to ask. What is a Bush pin on the piston? Does that mean the pistons have a bushing instead of being press fitted? If so, is this a better way to have the piston/pin working or is the pressed unit better? I will be putting the engine together myself. I did that with the 427 so I am really not afraid of doing this. The 427 still runs and I haven't any trouble yet!!!!!! Again thanks for the help.

Steve
 
#5 ·
CNC BLOCKS N/E said:
Steve

We build a lot of peformance engines and supply a lot of shops with blue print machined blocks and when we have some spare time in the shop we build some street and strip performance engines and we have always used quality parts like all forged rotators fully race preped block all balanced clearanced and dynoed and so far no problems with our product. As we have had alot of emails and calls on substandard parts failing in performance engines.

Here is a link to a 383 we built for a customer last year and we use a lot of the old 906 Vortec heads that have had the proper bowl work, deshrouding and a good performance valve job and we see the same results on the dyno as this engine in the link with AFR's and the customer is very happy as well
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106715&highlight=DYNO
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Went to the link. Impressive. However, I think that what he put into his engine would tear the hell out of my little 32 if it wasn't all beefed up. The 383 will just be a cruiser motor, not intending to race with it. Would be satisfied if it only had 350 hp. My 327 is getting a little old and I thought that as long as I had the spare 350 4 bolt I'd use it as the replacement for the 327. Wouldn't want to go to Vortec heads as I believe that I would have to change intake. Since I have all the stuff for my engine now would like to keep cost somewhat in line and use some of what I already have. Thanks for your response though.

Steve
 
#6 ·
383 Build

reflog said:
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Chris,

Thanks for the help. When you talk about whether or not the kit is balanced are you meaning anything other than say a factory balance on the internals? When I went to both sites, Jegs and Summit, they both indicate that the crank is balanced. I assume that the rods would be also to match that particular crank in the kit. I can check on that. These are supposed to be new casting from either Eagle or GM performance, etc. (as it understand it) but would still have a machine shop go over the specs to make sure. Will have my block align honed to make sure the mains are true. Will have the rods checked to make sure they are true. Ran into a problem with that when I had my 427 redone so I have experience with that. I did have one other question that I forgot to ask. What is a Bush pin on the piston? Does that mean the pistons have a bushing instead of being press fitted? If so, is this a better way to have the piston/pin working or is the pressed unit better? I will be putting the engine together myself. I did that with the 427 so I am really not afraid of doing this. The 427 still runs and I haven't any trouble yet!!!!!! Again thanks for the help.

Steve

Steve, you are correct on the piston pin bushing. Some are press fit, some pins are held in with locks. These are also called " floating " type. This clearance is in the rod, not the piston. Your application press fit is just fine. On the balance situation, I know they advertise that they are balanced, but in my experience I have had better luck having the rotating assy balanced by a reputable shop. Just double check all the parts fit right before you do this. I have had Eagle cranks/counterweights hit the block on two occasions!!!!! They are also notorious for not being on size.

Chris Laarman
Ottawa Engine and Performance
 
#7 ·
Thanks Chris,

I will keep it in mind on the rotating assembly to make sure that everything is balanced. By the way, I didn't think that anyone used the old wrist pin keepers in pistions anymore. Not sure there is much advantage to those, only a drawback if one comes out and takes the cylinder wall with it. I am assuming that the Eagle cranks that you had strike the block were either oversize on the throws or the balance was so bad that they wobbled inside the main webs (ughh). Will make sure that this does not happen and as you indicated I will mock up everything before having it balanced correctly and putting it together to run. Thanks again.

Steve
 
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