Yes you should be able to run a roller oem style camshaft just fine and you should also have the bolt holes for the retaining plate in the front of the block drilled and tapped as well. Also on running a stroker motor a lot of the pistons in some kits the skirts are not as long as really old style pistons but it can vary but a lot of people use the 880 block and stroke them for a 3..75 crank with no issues. You will have to do some clearance in some areas and what areas I can't tell you all of them but there are several spots in the rear and certain cylinders on the bottom that have to be grinded down in order to clear the rod bolts of certain connecting rods and also the crank weights will be really close in the corners of the back of the block.

The thing is you might want a good machine shop that has a good reputation for good work to do that stuff for you as if your not careful you can end up making the block junk and grind to much away and end up in the cooling jackets of the block and ruin it. It does not take a bunch to get it stroker ready but it needs to be done by a good machine shop with precision machines to get the work done really well. I might not have some things correct on the terms on how its done but I am going by the top of my head knowledge. I ran a stroker once with a pre 880 block but it was a brand new block that was pretty much the same cylinder length and I had no problems with the pistons I had used an they were not short skirt style either. Also forgot to mention that is the same block that GM uses on the 383 high torque engine and it has a 3.8 inch crankshaft in it vs the 3.75 crank and they still use a 4.0 size bore and it has no issues and I have heard that many folks like using the 6.0 vs the 5.7 as it helps with the shorter cylinder area and also the 6.0 rod allows for internal balance vs external for the most part on the 5.7 rod version kits. But that can vary as well depending on what kit you buy.

 

Strokers in the shorter barrel length late blocks have been discussed before, either here or Speed-Talk forum.

Consensus is do it with 6" rods and not 5.7" rods, and try to get pistons with a smaller ring package so to avoid the oil ring crossing the wrist pi bore issue that requires rings with an oil support rail...some say that support rail deal contributes to oil usage....but I have not seen that to be true if quality parts and machine work is used.

Longer rod results in a shorter piston that doesn't stick so much skirt out the bottom of the bore at TDC.

 

The 880 block is a good builder for a stroker the things come ready for a factory roller cam, they are built for a crank assembly with lighter powder forged rods that don't drag around large blobs of metal on their ends for balance pads. Even modern aftermarket bar forgings are not like that; these modern rods are near net forgings that have metal where it's needed for strength rather than large heavy balance pads that add weight but provide no strength improvement. They are also designed for modern pistons where high silicon aluminums hyperutectic castings and 4032 forgings that are dimensionally stable with temperature changes and don't require so much surface area for thrust absorption (i.e. stronger) so in addition to the pistons not having or needing so much skirt length, the bore spigot into the crankcase can be shortened which accidentally makes more clearance available for a stroker crankshaft.

Starting in 86 but really coming together in 95/96 the SBC got a heavy dose of modernization, to prevaricate an old Oldsmobile line: it ain't your father's smallblock anymore.

Yes a stroker with 6 inch aftermarket 4340 rod forgings and modern hypereutectic or 4032 forged pistons on even a cast steel crank will balance up internally.

Even for the venerable SBC, the times had changed.

Bogie

 

Ok, thank you guys.
I just took the heads off of it and the oil pan. I was really hoping for a 4 bolt main but it's a 2 bolt. But 90 bucks for a roller block still seems pretty good to me.

 

Score! Especially if it's STD bore.

 

You'll want to see if it has the TBI-and-previous coolant bypass drillings from the right side water pump area up to the right cylinder head deck; and also if it has the drillings for a mechanical fuel pump.

Some 880 blocks do...some don't. My experience is that the 4-bolt main blocks are more likely to have the coolant bypass and the fuel-pump drillings.

Service-replacement blocks for TBI applications will have the coolant bypass drillings, but probably not the fuel pump.

 

https://www.hotrodders.com/forum/oem-roller-block-357697.html


here is a good discussion on the 880 block