[hcompton]

Originally Posted by vinniekq2

hcompton
Old & Furious

A few of the older guys might remember that the first 383 was made in the 60s

Uhhh?? 400 was not born until 1970 and then it was rare truck engine nobody wanted. Not sure of any other sbc that had longer stroke than the 350.

[vinniekq2]

1963 corvette,5 were made with a 377
"Duntov's objective with the Grand Sport was to make it ultra lightweight. In the end, they weighed in at about 1,900 lbs. or about 1,350 lbs. lighter than a stock Corvette coupe. They had a 377 cubic inch aluminum V-8 engine putting out 550 horsepower. They ran with a 4-speed transmission and 4-wheel independent suspension. "

[hcompton]

Originally Posted by vinniekq2

1963 corvette,5 were made with a 377
"Duntov's objective with the Grand Sport was to make it ultra lightweight. In the end, they weighed in at about 1,900 lbs. or about 1,350 lbs. lighter than a stock Corvette coupe. They had a 377 cubic inch aluminum V-8 engine putting out 550 horsepower. They ran with a 4-speed transmission and 4-wheel independent suspension. "

Yeah they are really cool cars but not even the same block as a 350. Its a custom engine before the 350 even came out.

Any idea what came they used looks like normal alum heads.

[thinwhiteduke]

Originally Posted by vinniekq2

hcompton
Old & Furious

A few of the older guys might remember that the first 383 was made in the 60s

I built one in '78 using an LT1 block, 350 pink rods , 400 crank, 350 pistons. Had to clearance the block from the crank, the rod bolts from the cam and take .125" off the top of the pistons to get em down to deck height.
We used to call it a three and three quarter motor. I pulled mine to 7000rpm in top gear one night down the highway, hitting 140mph (yeh, young - no fear!!)..
Pulled into the driveway at home and dropped a valve, AT IDLE! (1500rpm), luckily, -goddamn two piece valves- 'twas a blast while it lasted..


Duke

[vinniekq2]

Originally Posted by hcompton

Yeah they are really cool cars but not even the same block as a 350. Its a custom engine before the 350 even came out.

Any idea what came they used looks like normal alum heads.

ya,it was a 327 block

[hcompton]

Originally Posted by vinniekq2

ya,it was a 327 block

Did they make aluminum block v8 in 64. i think this can only be called a one off. Yeah it may be grandpappy to the 383 but not really the same thing.

With the resources of gm an engineer can build just about anything.

Also note that gm canceled all racing efforts after this build im sure one off blocks and heads were not cheap to build.

[vinniekq2]

there were aluminum blocks and heads. These items were available,sort of,through GM and the prices would have to be cut in 1/2 just to be rediculous. The 377 continued after the 63 vettes were retired.There was a lot of politics and rule bending back then.Lots of things were never said or shown.
When I was 20 I was almost brought to tears when my Gf of the time was telling me about the discontinued parts GM was destroying in the warehouse. 4 LS-7s were run through a shredder. I got her to rescue a lot of things that fit in her purse.I managed a few SS emblems from first gen camaros ,2.02 valves,z-28 off road valve springs,etc

[hcompton]

ok cool i did know about a lot of the gm none production line parts. GM still has crazy wharehouses full of the best toys you could think of. But they are for testing only. never to see the light of day. Too bad really.

I didnt know the aluminum block v8s were avilabe to the public for many years later.

But in reality the modern 350 or a 6 litre ls is the only engine i would use these days. Maybe the 5.3 if its cheap. But with a gen one 350 you can make enough hp to negate a bigblock and a few other low prodution number engines.

I would go out of my way for a grand prix with a 428 but not to far.

I am in love with the 350 blocks they make all the land rumble and cost next to nothing to go ape**** with.

[painted jester]

The first 377s had aluminum heads and cast block single carb , later version went to aluminum block and cross ram with side draft webbers!

We tried to duplicate the build when we were young but they never came out to 377 they were always off by a bit 4 or 5 cu inch + or - LOL sleeve and bore thin walls, welded & turned cranks and custom pistons by Jahns We didn't have specs GM kept those hid LOL but we still gave it a try with many failures a few men around the country made them work! Money can work wonders! No photos, no movie on u tube no google page, no names in the history books, just little guys in a garage somewhere that have been long forgotten!!! Trying to copy a build they heard of! Everything is not on the internet like the stroked 327 60s 377 build that worked out to 383 when deck, gaskets, CC etc were configured!! I built probably 15(?) 350 stroked 383s over the years no kit builds, and not one came out to 383 they were 385, 381, my last was 387!!!

Quote!
"Numerous types of cylinder heads were on the drawing board for the Grand Sport (cast iron heads, aluminum heads, hemi/dual plug heads, etc). It is believed that three types of heads were actually used on the cars - cast iron heads & 2 versions of aluminum heads (standard exhaust bolt pattern & angled pattern)."


Jester

[1Gary]

One no on ever saw and I barely got a glimpse of was a all aluminum 454. It came in late in my shift with prints off a truck to have me run it in the dyno rm and I was supposed to set it up the next day. They took it crate and all and put it in the dyno rm and locked it up stationing a guard at the door. We came in the next day with the door still locked and it was gone!!. The guards swore no one ever got in or out of the dyno rm.Just vanished.Never did find the damm thing...........Then the parade of executives came through.Man they where red faced ticked.

[vinniekq2]

both you guys obviously know a lot more than me. I saw a few oddities but nothing that rare. The only rare things(to me) that were way out there were a few mopar items I got a glimpse of.mostly slant six hi out put items,a head a 4 bbl intake with factory numbers.I was young and had no clue what it was. nothing special... couple L-88s and one L-89,cant prove it but I believe the owner.

[painted jester]

I worked on Mercury FLM 383 Marauders in the 60s its no big deal but I'm always told Ford never produced a #*#&%#& 383 LOL Its funny though what some have never heard of LOL

Jester

[vinniekq2]

383/410 ya around 1960?
I had a 340 buick,not as rare,bought and flipped it

[1Gary]

Tell ya what Vinnie.You would have been in 7th heaven to work at LPE when John was alive.He did alot of the R&D for GM building the Calaway Vett engines and alike.Real cutting edge stuff.We met up with him when he rented a super Wally world size supermarket size building next to his shop to auction off 30yrs of speed parts he acquired testing for GM.It was packed to the ceiling with one price bought a whole pallet. Man did we clean up on those deals.He was as sharp as a pin.He spent time with us because we where one of the top buyers.

I get the feeling it isn't the same as when he was around.Now seems to be just prepackaged stuff and not so much pushing the envelope.

But still to work at a place like that for a young guy like you would be pretty cool.

[hcompton]

I know you can bore and stroke in hundreds of diffrent combos but the crank was the one part that makes todays 383. No amount of offset pins can make up for that much more stroke. And in 1960 forging a crank was no small feat. Your talking about factories that are a block long and 6 stories tall.

Now i have seen some crazy in house machine work. But nothing that compares to todays 383. Most of the time they were good some were not so good. But if it makes it across the finish line you cant say it didnt work. But even with factory uncut crank blank it will let you machine the full 3.75 stroke on even a smaller than nromal rod big end.

Most of the real after market for gm opened up when gm themselve released there original molds and dies for many of the older products. That didnt happen until well after the gen 2 v8 was out. But it is also the reason we have so much good cheap parts and also the reason year one can sell you an entire 69 camaro.