[BlenderFreak777]

Hi guys, Ok so i bought this truck...86 chev w/355, 2 bolt main, flat pistons, um new cam that was ruined by the old owner (bought it that way, lucky me! he never broke it in...) edelbrock performer intake and edelbrock carb, everything else pert much stock.

So my question is What do i do with it!!!
I bought it with these big meats on it, forgot the size o the tire but there huge...so do i put the engine back together with the worn out brand new cam? lol or do i stroke it and put it in something nice? like a nova er chevelle?

My uncle says i should put it back, but i think he secretly hates me, he says something new about it every day "well those heads on there are nothing special" and "You cant build that its only a 2 bolt main"...he either, in his 25 years of working on cars never learned what a girdle is, or he just wants me to give up...

I would really love to build a 383 stroker, with some decent rods, nice size cam, Dart iron eagle platinum heads, roller rockers, you know the works...make a nice street/drag type car...

SO? what do you think?

[ericnova72]

I'd put a new cam and lifters in it after cleaning the block out good and verifying that there is no other damage, put it back in the truck, then use said truck to hunt the area for a 4-bolt block. I've done the 2-bolt 383 and unless it is a low rpm(5500 or less) application or you are going to put splayed caps on it, it will be a problem in a high rpm build sooner rather than later, as the caps don't have enough contact surface with the block to stay stable and flex around too much.

By the way, the girdle doesn't help much, the problem is at the block surface-to-cap mating area, it just isn't large enough to keep things stable.

[cobalt327]

IMO, you can use studs, balance the assembly and use a 3-3/4" crank and run it to 6.5K w/o problem.

Use sound building practices, paying close attention to bearing clearances. Match compression to the cam and match the cam to the intended use, keeping the 6500 rpm limit in mind, and I think you'll be fine.

[BlenderFreak777]

I want a 4 bolt block...and i have a car lol, i can use that to hunt...not much room for an engine in the trunk but whatever.

i guess a cam wouldn't be too expensive just to get it running again... its got everything new and it was just bored out...seems kind of a waste to just leave it in the truck but i guess i can get something else for a car.

...Oh and is it wierd that the piston skirts are rubbing on the inside of the cylinders? down near the bottom...well thats what it looks like anyway, the part near the bottom is shinny and there are vertical scratches all the way up and down the cylinder, not from the rings, they don't go down that far. The thing was running so its probly not a big deal but over the long run could this be a problem?

[ericnova72]

Cobalt, we were using studs(ARP) and a girdle, and you may be right with a 6500 rpm redline as we were running to 7200 rpm(or so, you know how that goes ) but after about 60 or so drag passes plus street driving tore it down to look at the bearings because we had noticed a 15 psi drop in oil pressure over the course of time. Rod bearings looked great, re-usable even, mains trashed down to the copper. Examination of the cap-to-block mating surface showed metal transfer from the block to the cap, and vice versa. The caps were moving so much that friction microwelding was occuring at the mating surface. The only way we could fix it was to install splayed caps. We wouldn't have had this problem with a straight 4-bolt block, but not because of the 4 bolts, we could leave the outer bolts right out, but because the 4-bolt cap has a lot more surface in contact with the block. Looks like the only thing the girdle did was save us from catastrophic failure.

[ericnova72]

The piston skirts and cylinder walls are all tore up from the metal trash that came from the disintegrating cam. Sounds like it might not be an easy fix, there is no way to get the imbedded steel particles out of the piston skirts. The bearings will probably be trashed also.

[BlenderFreak777]

Originally Posted by ericnova72

Looks like the only thing the girdle did was save us from catastrophic failure.

well it did something


Now what about a cam? What does CompCams haves that makes good low end torque? If im gonna keep the engine in I wanna use it for somethin...ha mud boggin lol