[topdogger]

I've got a 1974 Nova SS. I got lied to when I bought the car and the motor wasn't rebuilt. Its dying on me now and is about to go for sure. I will be taking the car to my highschool's first annual carshow. It's the show and shine type so its getting there, the hoods getting popped and I could care less if the motor dies in the parking lot. Right after the carshow I plan to pull it out and tear it down.

I was pricing out a rebuild kit and it looks like it won't be too much more for a 383 stroker. From what I can see most costs will come from machining. I've got a 350 SBC now which I've been told is a 4bolt main but the guy I bought it from was a *****(needle point). He probably lied about that aswell and I haven't had the pan off yet to check.

Where can I find a budget orientated 383 kit?

I had my eye on this one:
http://shop.enginekits.com/osb/itemdetails.cfm?ID=81

Am I missing a lot here? I was thinking around $500-$750 ontop of that for cleaning the block, clearancing and balancing. From there I plan to keep my stock heads which I believe are 882's.

What will I have to do to keep this car streetable? I wouldn't be against running it on premium gas. The car currently has a th350 with a stage 3 shift kit and highway differential gears. I'm planning on 3.55 or 3.73 gears this winter.

I'm looking at doing the engine assembly myself. What costs should I be looking at? In either USD or CAD funds whatever your familiar with. I need to set out a budget so I know how many websites, basements, and decks I have to build this summer.

BTW, I convinced my friend to get a muscle car for his first vehicle. He bought a granny's 74 duster. Then the father son team found a 360 and is having it professionally redone top to bottom. They are going extreme HP but I don't plan on being left in the dust. So I'm looking to hang around the 300-350 HP mark.

Thanks,
Luke

[babygene41042]

The stroker kit looks o.k.But you are going to kill most of your gains buy using the 882 heads.They start running out of steam at 5000 rpm.Especially on a 383.Save you some more cash and look for some vortec heads.If you can build the engine as you stated and get some decent heads 325 to 375 horse is fairly easy.

[topdogger]

I forgot to add. I've also looked into just rebuilding my 350 but hopping it up quite a bit. What are your thoughts on this? I mainly want something thats streetable and reliable. 350 HP is lots for a 16 year old with a lead foot. Any more and I would be wasting gas.

I was thinking of a total overhaul on the engine with gaskets, bearings, etc. Then add a nice cam, new cast iron heads and call it done. I've heard tons about vortec heads but I can never find a price on them. How much are they? A friend of mine who I'm going to try and get to help me build this engine when I don't know what to do has recommended me to not go with comp cams or anything. He said something local will be all I need and I won't need an exotic cam or pistons. This sounds reasonable to me but I might aswell get a second opinion. I don't exactly have the cash to do this twice.

BTW, the current heads on my motor do need valveguide seals. This is something I noticed when I redid my exhaust starting from the headers. I looked down the exhaust ports and I could see where the oil was running past the valve guides along the top of the runner from the valve. So those will need new valve guides. Not sure how much that will be. If I got 383 those will get fixed while they're off.

[babygene41042]

You really should spend the money that you want to use for the stroker kit and invest them in some good heads.You would get more gains from good flowing heads than the added 33 cubic inches.Summit sells brand new vortec heads for 600 dollars.Or you could go look for some at a junk yard.You need to look for 062 casting's.They are the best vortec head.Remember that you will also need a vortec intake.Rebuild the bottom end with parts for summit.Use there in house products and save yourself the extra cash for the machine work.Summit also sells flat top pistons for 100 dollars.That with a set of vortec heads would give you approx. 9.5 to 1 compression.A good place to be for a street 350.Get a decent cam 440 to 460 lift range and some decent headers and it will put a smile on your face.Oh and save yourself some more money and run a Quadrajet!

[topdogger]

I guess I should also add in what I already have.

650 thunder series AVS carb.
performer intake
brand new flowtech elcheapo headers($150)
new 2 1/2 exhaust system which dumps before the back tires.
8 1/2 rearend, 10 bolt 28 splines, highway gears, open ended.
th350, manual valve body, stage 3 shift kit, B&M tranny cooler, B&M ratchet shifter
Brand new fuel tank and 3/8 lines front to back(doesn't matter much in this case but it's there)

I would like to keep my current carb. I bought it brand new and its working very well.

[Hippie]

I like 383's, in fact I have one in the works right now but I'm with 'babygene41042', in your situation I would recommend rebuilding the 350 shortblock and spending the money from the stroker kit on decent D-cup pistons and good heads. A set of 12cc D-cup pistons with 64 cc heads and a quench distance of .046 will put you right at 9.44 to 1. Or you can go flat tops with a larger combustion chamber but try to keep your compression in the 9.4/9.5 range. Running a Summit 1103 cam will put your Dynamic Compression ratio at about 7.48 to 1 which means you can probably get by with 87 Octane if need be for normal driving. It's a decent cam at a great price, has just a very slight lope to the idle but works great all the way to 5500 and you can usually get by with a stock converter. If you don't want to have to buy a new intake to go with Vortec heads get some World Products SR Torquer heads or something similar and you can keep your Performer intake. The Vortecs would be perfect for your application though. According to Desktop Dyno this combo should put you in the 360 HP range at 5500 RPM give or take a few HP. You'll give up some low end torque to the 383 but in a nice light Nova you'll have traction issues as it is. I'd recommend a 3.42 gear since you don't have OD unless you don't plan on much highway driving then go for the 3.73, you can always swap in OD later if you decide you want to drive it on the highway.

[topdogger]

What about a set of edelbrock heads? How are these?

Here's a set only they have 70CC chambers. I'm guessing that would lower my compression and I may sound like a retard here but put me around 10.1?

[Hippie]

The Edelbrocks are aluminum which well let you squeeze a little more compression into it and still run the same Octane. I've heard some people swear by them and some swear at them. I have no first hand experience with them.

You want to keep your runner volume on the smallish side for a street engine to help low speed mixture velocity which equates to good torque and throttle response. I believe the Edelbrocks are also available in a 67cc chamber, those with a flat top piston with 4cc valve reliefs will put you right at 10 to 1 which would be possible on pump gas with the aluminum heads. The 70cc with the same pistons would put you at 9.6 to 1. Either should still be 87 Octane friendly as long as you're using aluminum heads.

My friends think I'm crazy for building my 383 to run on 87 Octane but I still say that pretty soon it's going to be the "good" stuff. I sure hope I'm wrong but if I'm not at least I'll be able to drive it.

[techinspector1]

Posted by hippie:
"My friends think I'm crazy for building my 383 to run on 87 Octane but I still say that pretty soon it's going to be the "good" stuff. I sure hope I'm wrong but if I'm not at least I'll be able to drive it."

Wisdom comes with age.

[Hippie]

Originally Posted by techinspector1

Wisdom comes with age.

Unfortunately so do a lot of other things!

[383silverado]

one thing to remember when using vortec heads max lift is .470 with stock springs

[Chopt 48]

Vortec heads can be bought new from several GM performance dealers for about 500 US for a pair.

One source is Gilbert Chevrolet in Milton Freewater, Oregon
http://www.gilbertchevy.com/frame.ht...ads/index.html
http://www.gilbertchevy.com
They are the former Sallee Chevrolet, famous for factory Chevrolet performance parts. They are way out in the big middle of nowhere and ship most of what they sell in the way of performance parts.
You can use their prices to keep other sources honest also.

[topdogger]

Thanks for all the info. I won't be getting a 383 anymore and I've been given another option of a starting point. So I created a new thread.

Need a new 350 SBC