Hot Rod Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Summit 383 Blocks

9K views 30 replies 8 participants last post by  T-bucket23 
#1 ·
These blocks are a good one to stay away from cheap Chinese caps !!! NO plate hone and the decks are not square .006 from low to high The blocks are old 2 bolt mains with 4 bolt stepped caps added . It did sonic test very good. Look this thread over
SBC 383 Oil Pump Broke Off and Broken Main Cap- WTH? - Chevelle Tech

I have one in the shop. The customer is building a blower street engine and after seeing this thread I am putting on billet splayed caps.

In the long run it would have been cheaper and better to buy a Dart SHP block all machined.











 
See less See more
6
#4 ·
No But its not that good LOL But you get what you pay for!!

I checked the front and rear main for size and both were under the tight side.

Most guys don't have a clue about torque plate honing, deck heights and have no measuring tools to check clearances ETC.


ALL THEY ARE LOOKING AT IS THE PRICE.
 
#3 ·
The reviews on Summit's site shows that you've got a 4 in 10 chance of getting skunked. I'm surprised that Summit puts up with that from their supplier. That's pretty bad quality control.

If memory serves GM had a rear cap issue some time ago that was a result of excessive corrective machining on rear main cap castings that should have been scrapped but some genius finance person probably out voted the engineers and had them reworked for use.

Bogie
 
This post has been deleted
#5 ·
My guess it's a few different shops supplying these blocks and Summit has a fixed price point they will pay.
The shops need to make money too on this kind of busy work so in order to get the price point down far enough I bet there is some real winners in that pile.
 
This post has been deleted
#17 · (Edited)
If you read the thread the guy is a novice engine builder and with two cracked caps it makes one wonder if it was build error, something isn't right thats for sure...pretty mild build.

Wonder if the caps were not square on the mating face, not to many other things would cause the cap to crack except poor metallurgy...even the blown up balancer should not have destroyed the caps you would think unless you were racing it at the time.

I would be interested to see the crank magnafluxed to see if it was cracked as well, overstress from racing would show up there. Seems like a number of influences at work here.

BTW Carl, is this post a straight cut and paste of your post on another website?
 
#19 ·
I see that so you have the rights to it, in general though its considered poor etiquette to "spam" multiple sites with identical info...a link to the original thread would suffice.

Copying this thread to general hotrodding for more exposure to the membership.
 
#21 ·
If I see some thing that is a waste of money I like to post about as alot of guys think its a great deal till they find out its a POS.

It's like when the Chinese look a like block came out I spent alot of my own money with testing and time checking out that block and in the end it was shame on PBM for misleading everyone about where it came from, I took them about 8 months of lying before the truth came out.

Chinese look a like Little-M block • Speed Talk

Material make up of the Chinese Dart look alike block • Speed Talk

FINAL PROBING OF THE CHINESE LOOK A LIKE DART BLOCK • Speed Talk
 
This post has been deleted
#26 ·
Well the block on the CT site is the same one I have at my shop and the decks are not square and the caps are junk and the cylinders are not plate honed LOL

So what are you really paying for. A block that is not squared and decked properly, The mains are .0002 under the low side, Junk Chinese caps. Not plate honed so ring seal is compromised to say the least.

OTHER THEN THAT ITS GOOD MONEY SPENT ON BAD

If you think thats a screaming deal it shows your not concerned about ring seal, deck height, main line size. but its a great piece LMAO.

I am an little more particular when it comes to machining and your not LOL.

YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT QUALITY WITH A POST LIKE THAT LOL.
 
#24 ·
A 0.006" taper from front to rear measured from the crank journal is far from factory spec, that's a bad day at the office for any machinist. Flat is one thing but that amount of taper for a simple procedure like milling the block deck usually signals other things.

Cracking caps is way out in left field, how many stock engines have you seen with a cracked cap...or two? That's two failures caught already from a major parts supplier, how many guys have the capabilities to check metallurgy and deck squareness?

That's enough to make anyone wary.
 
#25 ·
Im with Carl on this one.
Even though his basis isn't every block out there, I don't want to be the one that gets the block that isn't ok to use.
Summit would probably exchange it but your out the shipping back and another 3 or 4 days waiting.

Everybody makes mistakes and has a tolerance built in to the production.
The problem is the percentage of failed parts. Can you afford the collateral damage from a failed part?

Engine building is expensive enough already.
I for one appreciate hearing about the bad experiences. It helps me make better decisions.
 
#29 ·
I know how to read, but, unlike you, I actually can comprehend what I read.Wow !!! On 20 different forums & running a full time machine shop, plus all your other social media activity & on top of that, never made a mistake or had 1 complaint on your work !!!! You sir are amazing.My apologies for ever questioning your predominate ( & typical machinest ego).
You have declared that all these blocks are crap.You have determined that they all have Chinese caps installed.
I very aware of what plate honing is & the benefits of it.You made all these determinations based on the only block you've ever seen or laid hands on.Typical of alot of machinest who's ego doesn't allow for their crap to stink, but, everybody else's does, so, come pay me more to do it better for you.
You came here & told your experience with this 1 block.I responded (nicely tho with questions) & you immediately took offense & snapped back, while evading the questions, or, what I actually said.With the attitude that how dare someone question his highness & then try to imply that i have no knowledge of quality or simple block work.But who am I to question someone as great as his highness?
To be honest, it sounds more like your on these forums (20 of them.Again.WOW)to toot your own horn & drum up business
 
#30 ·
For the record, all of these blocks do not have chineese caps.They are not all 2 bolt converted to 4 bolt blocks.If I had to guess & at least i'm admitting that it's a guess, rather than assuming as you that the 1 block is exactly the same as every block sold.More than likely, summit has different shops across the nation, obtaining the blocks, machining them , shipping from the nearest locality to the buyer.Evidently they may be able to find good 4 bolt blocks, therefore the conversion with chineese caps.Also, for the record, I doubt I would want of these myself.But, from my own experience, the blocks were all OEM 4 bolt blocks.Machine work was as good as you would get in any typical local shop.We did wait on one block as they didn't have anything except a .040.The guy buying it finally decided to use it.So, based on that, they may be having trouble getting blocks.IDK. I really don't think the block you have is very representative of the majority of blocks sold.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top