[Ol_bry]

I am shooting for around 500 hp with most of my power in the lower to middle part of the powerband. I am considering the Trick Flow 500HP super 23 top end kit linked below. I have seen good things on this site regarding Trick products for the 383 stroker and am wondering if anyone has any experience with this kit or knows if it is any good.
CHEVROLET Trick Flow Specialties TFS-K314-500-450 Trick Flow® 500 HP Super 23® Top-End Engine Kits for Small Block Chevrolet | Summit Racing
For the rotating kit I am considering Eagle in either the pro street or competition level with forged parts. My main question is what type of piston head would be best paired with the Trick top end kit (Dome, Flat Top, or Inverted Dome).
The motor will go in a 1985 C10 with a 700R4 transmission. The main purpose would be a street truck with good power from stoplight to stoplight and the ability to drive on the highway (hence the 700R4). I may put a 75 or 100 shot of nitrous in it eventually but it would not be for a couple years at least.
Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Moosecountry]

miles ahead with a BBC in a heavy truck
496 making 460-500 hp

 

[1979Malibu]

The first line of your post "around 500 hp with most of my power in the lower to middle part of the powerband" equals what Moose said. As the post goes on, it says more of the same.

That kit in a 383 isn't going to keep most of the power where you want it. Considering the budget for that kit and a fully forged 383 rotating assembly.....the 496 you can build will CRUSH that 383 and be friendlier to drive on the street.

 

[ericnova72]

As far as quality of parts, there is nothing wrong with the Trick Flow kit.
I've got a friend who has been using a set of those heads for a few years now on a bracket car, i remember looking at the Valves and related parts and it was all good stuff.

As far as the kit you posted and your build....it's got a lot of cam.....that 500 hp rating on the comes from revving it up pretty good, 6500-6800 rpm. Going to need 3000+ stall converter, it'll have a pretty rowdy idle. Not going to like turning below 2400 rpm at cruise.

Might be a bit more race than you intend to be??

Asking for 500 hp and asking for low and midrange torque is a tall order for just 383 cubic inches.

This kit sounds like it would be a better fit, same heads but less cam duration.
CHEVROLET Trick Flow Specialties TFS-K315-465-450 Trick Flow® 465 HP Super 23® Top-End Engine Kits for Small Block Chevrolet | Summit Racing

With a 72cc head, the typical 2 valve relief flat top puts you right at 10:1 compression on a zero decked block with the common .041" thick composition head gasket.

Eagle parts are fine, SCAT would be a little better(they have better rods at the pro-street level).

 

[Ol_bry]

Thank you all for the replies. For those saying I need to get a 496 instead do you have any recommendations in terms of a build? I tried to do a little research before I responded and I see a lot of people using Stock cylinder heads under 650HP. Would you recommend using stock heads to be cost effective or biting the bullet and spending the money for an aftermarket head? Thank you for your time I really appreciate it.

 

[BogiesAnnex1]

The problem you get into with 383’s is it takes a lot of cam which pushes the torque and horsepower peaks further up the RPM band. This does not fatten the lower power bands to a great extent and often lowers the torque and power in the RPM bands that street driven vehicles operate in. So chasing where the power went requires stiffer gearing to run the engine in the RPM bands where the power is. This is a function of the amount by weight of the reactants you can stuff into a cylinder in a given amount of time. Hot rod techniques of bigger and bigger cams does this with more duration and lift on the cam but this out of concert with how an engine breathes at lower RPM which is why you see the power band move up the rev range where the added duration and lift is working with piston in bore position and flow velocity in the ports to force feed the cylinder; so the weight of reactants in each charge goes up and the number of charges in any amount of time also increases. The addition of supercharge or the addition NOx allows, if not demands, the addition of more fuel so the weight of reactants goes up, therefore, more force is applied to the piston which is measured as more torque and horsepower on the crankshaft. Obviously for technical reasons supercharge can be a full time event because of the mechanism used to increase cylinder pressure which in the case of compressible gases like air the weight of the oxidizer goes up which permits more fuel. NOx is time limited by the amount of compressed NOx that can be stored on the vehicle, however, it works the same way as the NOx decomposes in the cylinder releasing the Oxygen which is now available to react with more fuel so once again the weight of reactants goes up for the volume of the engine’s cylinders. On nice thing is methods of supercharge do not necessarily require more camshaft timing so you can boost an engine’s power without the detrimental effects on driveability of big cams.

Now all of this stuff is expensive, the less costly way to more torque and power while retaining drivability is to make the engine bigger, hence 454’s. The weight of reactants does up simply as a function of larger volumes in the cylinders. Here getting 500 horsepower in a simple normally aspirated engine is really just scaling up the carb, port and valve sizes along with a percent increase in cam timing for what you would do for a 400 horse 350, which these days is a no brainer that makes a very streetable 350.

A 700R4 even a well built 700R4 is at the upper end of what you can reliably get out that transmission on the street assuming that your not into frequent transmission maintenance and short component life. It’s one thing to nurse a racer from week to week it’s something else where your daily driver is on blocks several times a year.

Bogie

 

[SirFaz]

I am shooting for around 500 hp with most of my power in the lower to middle part of the powerband. I am considering the Trick Flow 500HP super 23 top end kit linked below. I have seen good things on this site regarding Trick products for the 383 stroker and am wondering if anyone has any experience with this kit or knows if it is any good.
CHEVROLET Trick Flow Specialties TFS-K314-500-450 Trick Flow® 500 HP Super 23® Top-End Engine Kits for Small Block Chevrolet | Summit Racing
For the rotating kit I am considering Eagle in either the pro street or competition level with forged parts. My main question is what type of piston head would be best paired with the Trick top end kit (Dome, Flat Top, or Inverted Dome).
The motor will go in a 1985 C10 with a 700R4 transmission. The main purpose would be a street truck with good power from stoplight to stoplight and the ability to drive on the highway (hence the 700R4). I may put a 75 or 100 shot of nitrous in it eventually but it would not be for a couple years at least.
Thank you in advance for your help.

I have a small block chevy 383 w most of the bugs worked out...500 hp a little high, I have 490hp and love it. I have good extra parts and things if interested and a lot of good advice....Ed

 

[Moosecountry]

simple (conservative) math:
head flow; every cfm intake flow can support up to and a little beyond 2 hp on a V-8 engine
Cubic inches: every cube can easily support 1 pound plus of torque.

A hot engine with big cam and expensive heads can support up to 1.5 hp per cubic inch but must follow head flow rates
to get your goal
Hot engine will also support up to 1.3 pounds torque per cubic inch

You need a goal, then choose the route to get you there?
Bigger engine does not have to be as hot

 

[ExcellenceAuto]

I am shooting for around 500 hp with most of my power in the lower to middle part of the powerband. I am considering the Trick Flow 500HP super 23 top end kit linked below. I have seen good things on this site regarding Trick products for the 383 stroker and am wondering if anyone has any experience with this kit or knows if it is any good.
CHEVROLET Trick Flow Specialties TFS-K314-500-450 Trick Flow® 500 HP Super 23® Top-End Engine Kits for Small Block Chevrolet | Summit Racing
For the rotating kit I am considering Eagle in either the pro street or competition level with forged parts. My main question is what type of piston head would be best paired with the Trick top end kit (Dome, Flat Top, or Inverted Dome).
The motor will go in a 1985 C10 with a 700R4 transmission. The main purpose would be a street truck with good power from stoplight to stoplight and the ability to drive on the highway (hence the 700R4). I may put a 75 or 100 shot of nitrous in it eventually but it would not be for a couple years at least.
Thank you in advance for your help.

Your plan sounds decent for a lighter car, but remember how much your truck weighs.
I too have a C10. After lots of work in weight reduction it is barely below 4000 pounds.
With Caltracs, 3.90s and a 406 with a milder cam than what you are planning it runs mid 12s.
I can only imagine what my combo would be like an a lighter car, but it works very well for me in the truck. I drive it all the time whenever its sunny and the roads are dry.
Could it be faster? Yes, but it does pretty good for a big ass brick. I built the truck because it was my dads, and i have been driving it since the 80s.
I do want to go faster now, but I have another car for that...
Morale of the story is...
Your truck is heavy. You will probably want more later.
Are 12s good enough when you will still get your ass dragged by showroom stock cars?

Is a small block going to cut it? (I love mine!) Or should you plan bigger now?
Only you can answer these questions. But you can have a nice C10 with a small block, just know there is a ceiling...

 

[1979Malibu]

ExcellenceAuto brings up a great point. You gave a brief mention of what you're looking for out of this build, but instead of considering horsepower numbers....think about what you are really after from a performance standpoint.

Consider what Bogie touched on concerning the possibility of frequent maintenance. How much time do you want to spend wrenching versus driving?

 

[Ol_bry]

Thank you all for your help!