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383 Stroker Kit? Need Opinion

9K views 28 replies 12 participants last post by  BogiesAnnex1 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey Guys! I am new to the site and just joined a few minutes ago. I got a question for you guys out there.

I have rebuilt a couple Chevy stock 350's before but never actually built a "performance" motor. I'm planning on building a 383 stroker motor here soon and I have been going nuts with all the parts and options out there for it. I'm starting with a 350 4 bolt main block that I will have decked and line honed and everything else done to it so it will be perfect. It will also be bored .030 out also. What I want to accomplish with the motor is to try to get it between 450 to 500 HP on pump gas. I'm not planning on put NOS or a blower on it or anything like that. I just want a to build a nice clean motor with good power.

Now this is my question for you guys. I was scanning through ebay and came across this 383 stroker kit and I would just like to get your guys opinion on it whether you think its a good kit or more of a waste of money or worth actually buying or not. Here is the address for it.

SBC Chevy Scat 383 Rotating Assembly Forged 030 Pistons H Beam Rods ft 2pc RMS | eBay ---This is the link. If you copy and paste it, it should take you to the kit.

Just let me know if you think it worth buying this or not. I have asked the guy a few questions about it but would rather hear from some actually guys not trying to sell it. Thanks guys and any info and opinions are greatly appreciated.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
I've read good reviews for SCAT products, and have also heard good and bad early on views for Eagle kits, I've heard they cleaned up their act, I have a forged Eagle setup in my blown Nova, it came in at spec. I assume this kit comes with forged SCAT rods? What brand pistons?

Seems everyone lately wants 500 hp on pump gas, most on a budget, like it's an everyday gimme...and want it streetable NA. It can be done, but it's a tall order.
 
#3 ·
Looks like a good kit for the money, the piston rings are on the thick side, the the balancer and flexplate may be questionable but for a hot street engine with a 6,000 rpm redline that kit should work well.

The parts aren't high end stuff but they are very good durable pieces.
 
#4 ·
decide whats most important.max power or max reliability?the budget will determine where the money gets spent.
My 434 is 10 years running,but it wasnt cheap and it makes decent power.... choose the heads first,,,,thats where the HP is released,,,
when you have chosen the heads,repost and see whats left in the budget.500 hp needs a head that flows 270 CFM intake side with 75% of that on the exhaust side.You can do it with lesser heads but will take better planning of parts and maybe more RPM
 
#5 · (Edited)
Well, to be honest, I'm not totally set on which heads I am planning on getting for sure yet. I don't want cheap parts but I am working on a budget in this engine build also.

The heads that I have been looking at are the Dart SHP Aluminum Heads and the Motown 220 Cast Iron heads.

The cam I plan on using is a Comp Cam Xtreme engery cam that is a Hydraulic Rolller tappet with hydraulic roller lifters. The cam is a .562 Exhaust and a .540 Intake.
 
#29 ·
Your compression ratio will be high with these pistons, therefore, an aluminum head will work better as they transfer heat faster than iron which lets them take about a ratio higher without detonation. The cam, specifically its intake valve closing point is a huge player as that develops the so called Dynamic Compression Ratio (DCR) which needs to be about 8 to 1 for street iron head ranging to 9 to one for street/strip aluminum head. Static Compresion Ratio (SCR) which is adding up all the volumes under the head with the piston a BDC and dividing that by all the volume numbers with the piston at TDC. This is adjusted for stroke used up at the point where the intake valve closes in crankshaft degrees After DBC.

Bogie
 
#8 ·
you can hit that range with a stock 350 short block and a good cam and top end. I wouldn't look at the Motown 220's. Id use the Assault chinese heads before those. the SHP's arent bad, nor are the Summit or Jegs "house label" heads. The Jeg's heads are actually really good.

Nothing wrong with a 383 but if your budget is limited make damn sure you get a good set of heads first, along with a good carb, intake, ignition, cam, and valvetrain. If you have enough for all of that then go with a 383. Don't cheap out on the top end! I'd also consider going EFI before going with a 383 for a street car- it makes a HUGE difference on a car that will see a lot of driving.
 
#10 ·
I wouldn't really say my budget is limited. I just don't want to dump 10 grand in a motor. I'm not gonna buy low end parts for this motor.

To be honest, I'm not even sure if that kit I have listed is what I will be using. I was just seeing what the opinions were on that kit. I have also been looking at a Scat forged crank with Mahle forged aluminum pistons. The motor will be a 383 stroker for sure. That's about the only thing I am 100% certain on at this very minute.

The cam and intake I am pretty certain on also which is the Comp Cam Xtreme Energy and the intake will be Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intake.
 
#17 ·
If you don't want to spend ten grand buy crate motor if you want a very good engine with 500hHP you'll need some big tools/machines on a low buget so your labor and parts will add up fast especially the little things you've probably not even thought about yet just saying cause I've just finished mine and am in over 8k and didn't buy all big name parts turn key crate motor just sayin
 
#11 ·
ok,decide what heads you will buy. Then decide what parts match.the horse power is in the heads with correct cam and DCR.for a DD 195 CC heads might be better,you decide what fits your situation.10k for a good engine is a fair price.not many 5k engines make that kind of power.
2k for a kit and balancing,2k for heads,close to a k for machine work,,,,,
 
#13 ·
This strikes me as a very nice kit, really good parts. The only nit I could generate is the use of 2618 alloy pistons rather than 4032. The 2618 is killer race stuff that requires a pretty loose skirt clearance, great for racing after you warm the engine but noisy and oil consumptive if you don't warm the engine up first which is a PIA on the street vehicle. The strength of the 2618 material is well above that of the crank and rods which are plenty sufficient. The 4032 high silicon gives up a little ultimate strength to the 2618 but is at overkill for a street motor just like the 2618 just not as much overkill. The advantage of 4032 is a much tighter skirt clearance which keeps the rings squared up with the bore even when cold which improves compresson sealing, reduces oil consumption and skirt click noise. But if you know about 2618's need to come up to temp going in and plan to operate the motor with a decent warm up they'll work just fine. A hint I'll drop for street use would be an engine oil to engine coolant heat exchanger (all modern OEMs use this in some form) this really reduces warm up time, getting dimensions stabilized quite quickly.

Bogie
 
#20 ·
Most kits have a inherent low dollar parts element incorporated into them in order to achieve the selling price.It was the single most reason why I mixed parts to make up my 383.I spent the money on parts that I thought where over built and important to me like a Howards crank and the other parts that I thought where a good buy for the money like the Scat clearance ARP rods and I-Con pistons with forged tops and off-set pins to limit cold piston slap.Then bought Kings bearings which are a class act in every way.No performance advantage to full floater piston pins which has the potential of more things going wrong and over time wearing out the bushings so I went with press fit pins.

I agree with everyone else that all too often we see guys build 383's and when they get to the heads try to cheap out leaving way too much on the table.Guys get tangled up in what street cars should use vs what the correct combo for a drag race engine should use.In a race application you do want to tailor raise the power curve in the rpm range,but in a street engine it is a simple honest question of how many times are you going to be able to use that raised RPM in the course of a yr and get to use the money spent?? Torque is king on the street and not necessary HP.The 195cc intake runner is just about right for a street 383 or just about a 200 cc runner.You start getting around the 220 runner size and lose some of the bottom or need a looser T/C to take a advantage of it.

Do limit the SCR with steel heads to 9.5 or with aluminum heads 10.5 and a DCR of 8.5.In ther long run your be glad you did.
 
#21 ·
I have the same kit, but purchased from summit racing for the same price. The pieces were actually shipped from scat after they do a static balance on the assembly. It came with KB pistons,( hyperutetic) and moly rings. Had the machine work done locally to the block, when it was all assembled I had no clearance issues. I would purchase it from summit you get to pick the CC of the piston you want. I got +13 CC pistons to go with my 62 CC heads I have 10:1 CR. Don't forget this piston will travel an additional 1/8 inch in the cylinder both directions leaving you with a deck clearance of .016 compared to a normal 350 of. 125. This will have a big impact when calculating you compression ratio. Make sure the piston has a compression height of 1.43, this raises your wrist pin on in the piston to reduce the cylinder sidewall pressure and keeps your piston below your deck.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Don't forget this piston will travel an additional 1/8 inch in the cylinder both directions leaving you with a deck clearance of .016 compared to a normal 350 of. 125. This will have a big impact when calculating you compression ratio. Make sure the piston has a compression height of 1.43, this raises your wrist pin on in the piston to reduce the cylinder sidewall pressure and keeps your piston below your deck.
I don't think you understand "stack". That is the sum of all the parts used in the build. The small block Chevy is ~9.025" block deck height. You have to use a "stack" of parts that will fit into that space......like this.....
350 uses 1.560" piston, 5.7" rod and 1.740" crank radius for a stack of 9.000".
383 uses 1.425" piston, 5.7" rod and 1.875" crank radius for a stack of 9.000".

What you are doing is using a shorter piston to make up for the increased stroke radius, so that you keep the "stack" within the confines of the block deck height.

Same with any small block....
327 uses 1.675" piston, 5.7" rod and 1.625" crank radius for a stack of 9.000"
283 uses 1.800" piston, 5.7" rod and 1.500" crank radius for a stack of 9.000"

Putting a "stack" together has little to do with reducing cylinder sidewall pressure. It simply entails fitting the proper "stack" of parts into the available space.

Here's an example of a D-Cup hypereutectic piston from Keith Black. See the large, flat pad on the piston crown in the left of the photo? That's what Big Ed is talking about when he says that you need a flat area to mate with the underside of the head to form the squish.
http://www.kb-silvolite.com/kb_car/performance.php?action=details&P_id=93
 
#22 ·
SGreve32x, are you planning on this 383 being a pump gas engine? The Skip White kit you've listed with flat top pistons will give a too high static compression ratio to run on pump gas unless you go with 72 or 76cc chambered heads, which will limit your choices in heads. Built with a deck height/head gasket combo that gives a .040" quench your static CR will be 11.25:1, too high for pump gas. With a 72 cc chamber head the static CR will be 10.28:1 (still pretty high but could be ok with a tight quench), with a 76 cc chamber head the static CR will be 9.86:1. Using 64cc heads gives you a much greater choice in heads, but you'll need a dished piston to keep the CR in line if you want to run pump gas. The problem is the Probe dished pistons have a round dish which doesn't give a good quench. It would be MUCH better to have a D dish/reverse dome/step dish type of piston that aren't available in the Probe FPS series included in the Skip White kits.
 
#24 ·
Well, Just spent a small bundle on parts tonight. Bought a Scat Forged 4340 crank, Mahle flattop alum forged pistons, clevite bearings, and scat forged 6" rods. The heads I am looking at are Brodix heads with 180cc intake ports with 64 cc combustion chambers.
 
#28 ·
SGreve32x,
I have a 383 in the works with similar parts(Scat stroker crank,Mahle flat tops, Scat 6" rods).
I have Alum heads that have about 72cc chambers, and with the flat tops 5cc, and with a .039 squish I get about 10.3:1 static CR. Looking to get a roller cam with about 270-276 adv. duration to get less than 8.5:1 dynamic CR for pump gas on the street. IMO if you get 64cc heads your CR is going to be too high for pump gas, and you'll regret it.
If your pistons have the same 5cc reliefs mine do, I'd get some heads with at least 72cc chambers if you plan to use a stock convertor auto trans on the street.
Also I heard some bad things about the Professional Products dampners (after I bought mine of course). The timing numbers are painted on and I wouldn't expect them to be very visible for more than a few years before they seccumb to the elements. IMO, and many others, Powerbond makes a better dampner, but you can't get it from Summit if I'm not mistaken. I got mine from O'Reilly Auto Parts. The numbers are engraved, and painted. If they get indescernible you can fill them back up with paint with a little effort. Also supposed to have a better elastomer bond.
I also have the Air Gap manifold, but welded up the plenum divider notch in hope of smoother idle and better off idle instantaneous throttle response. Keeping fingers crossed. I would probally have bought the regular RPM instead of Air Gap had I known that it had a notch beforehand.
Using a Felpro 1010 Head gasket w/copper combustion ring for Alum. heads. Ported intakes to match a Felpro 1205, exhaust to mate with a Felpro 1406, and Tri-Y headers.
Using a 750 Holley with a 1/4" 4-hole insulator/gasket/adapter. The adapter is mainly because I couldn't get a manifold vacuum fitting to fit under the Holley without one.
I'm hoping for about 425-450hp and 475ftlbs of torque. It looks as if your going for more horsepower than torque like me, but keep us posted as to how things turn out. I for one am very interested.
ssmonty
 

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