Camaro or corvette or what does it go to?

[Jamesnelizabeth08]

also your long replies are fine as they are very informational!!! lol i am very excited about getting ready to build this engine. i am slowly getting everything in order. and so far things are finally looking positive. i got the roller block that has a good crank rods and pistons. motor has orginal 89,000 miles on it. and is a virgin block completely untouched deck and bores.
here is build A & B
A: 355ci
AFR 180 street heads (I know i said no AFR's but damn they are nice may substitute for darts) afr 1600.00 and dart 900.00
9.5 compression
holley 750 possibly edelbrock (its a preference thing) holley i can get used for 100.00 and edelbrock 200.00
msd pro billet ignition system 272.50 ebay
compcams 12-432-8 roller 250 ebay
1 5/8 headers have them
edelbrock performer rpm intake 156.99 ebay

B: 383ci
same set up only more cubic inches. so add on another 769.00 + 65.00 shipping for rotating assembly

and so the question arises on option ''A'' should i upgrade rods? i will need new pistons as i am going to bore 30 over to get 355ci. so should i go forged? i am going to put a high pressure oil pump from summit they are not too much. also i know lt1 motors are reverse coolant flowing engines so my question on that is the tbi reverse flow as well? seeing as though they were built on a similar/same block.

 

[ChevyHiPro]

Great!
This is the exciting time in a build!
Searching and specifying the parts to work together to make a bunch of power!!

I'm going to address these items one a time, bear with me;
Build A -
- Heads - 355, you gonna bore the engine? 89K miles, it may need it, but that'd be my criteria for boring, it needs it. 5 cubic inches will add a little power, but at the expense of the machine work, over sized pistons, pressing the pins out of the old pistons and in the new ones . . . . If the cylinders can be cleaned up by reaming a ridge at the top, then honing them, you can do that on your new engine stand! If the wear in the cylinders is about 0.010", I'd clean'em up as above, get oversize rings (+ 0.010") and go with it. Bore it when it needs it.
- AFR's vs Darts - After displacement, heads and cams are where the power is! Both of these heads make a lot of power. Both will last a long time, good stuff. The price is nearly double for the AFR's, But, I think they flow better and will make more power than the Darts, IF the build budget can stand the expense. It would be a shame to blow 1/2 the budget on heads and have to scrimp elsewhere and be able to get full benefit to the rear wheels of the power potential. That said, if the finances permit, I'd go with the AFR's, If I needed the extra $800 elsewhere, I get the Darts. Tough call. But, you'll have to make it!!
:?
The Darts will work fine, the AFR's will work better, IMHO.
Compression ratio is good, plan on at least mid-grade fuel most of the time, watch for detonation, and/or ping. Usually timing adjustment or vacuum advance adjustment will cure it, if it's minor, try premium fuel first.
- Holley vs Edelbrock - Definitely a 750 cfm. Holley parts, rebuild kits, jets, needles and such are readily available and very affordable, their everywhere, everybody has'em. Holley's have one bad habit that I really don't like (well, two), if your engine backfires through the carb, there's about a 90% chance it'll blow the Power Valve in the Holley. Research it, you'll see. If you go with the Holley, get a couple or three Power Valves, keep them in the truck, with enough tools to change it out, so you'll be back on the road quick. Second, until you really learn them, Holley's can be difficult to tune, there's the flow and idle mixture adjustments, the jetting and mixture rods and several variations of of vacuum pressure on the Power Valve, different ones with different vacuum values. Fortunately, there is a huge amount of information on the web about tuning Holleys, so it's easy to bone up on it. Then, just practice. Usually, unless something is broken on the inside, the only adjustment needed on most Edelbrock Performers is the idle adjustment. Of course, they have jets and needle valves, mixture adjustments, floats and all. Seems the majority of rodders run Holley's or the Holley clone, Demon. Choice is yours. $100 for a Holley 750, bargain. Even if it needs work, parts are affordable. Any carb you use, if it's not new, check around the throttle (butterfly) shaft for wear. This is a common area where all carbs wear and leak extra air into the intake, messing with the carb adjustments. For most carbs, there is a bushing kit to repair the wear in the carb body where the throttle (butterfly) shaft goes through.
Ignition - msd pro billet ignition system - LIKE!! This is an area a lot of street rodders overlook. This MSD set looks great!
- Cam - compcams 12-432-8 roller 250 ebay - Great choice, good price, $50 cheaper than Summit! The out of the box duration and lift, I=282°/E=288°, I+0.510"/E=0.520", are specified with the stock ration rockers (1.52:1), with 1.6 rockers, it becomes, I=301°/E=303°, I=0.536"/E=0.544". This cam will ROCK!! Lower the idle some, retard the spark a little and it'll lump-lump-lump at idle!
COOL!

- Headers - Run what you got!! If you decide to replace them, consider these Flowtech Afterburners, they really help make torque!
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/big-49150flt
-Intake - edelbrock performer rpm intake - Be sure and get the Performer Air Gap intake. There's a distinct advantage to the air gap intake. Here's one listed on ebay;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Edelbrock-Perfo ... f0&vxp=mtr
Here's the same manifold for Vortec heads;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Edelbrock-Perfo ... 67&vxp=mtr
These are great intakes!

Build B - It's like the Hooters waitress told me the other night; "If you got the cash, go all the way!"

If it's in the budget, go for the stroker! Or, build the 350, save the $935 the rotating assembly will cost (+ the machine work that'll be required) and use the money to beef up the trans to put the power on the road! At the least you'll have to upgrade the torque converter to a 2800 - 3000 lock up, about $250 - $300 for a B&M Hole Shot or similar (assuming it's an R700 trans). With the engine out, it'd be simple to pull the trans. It would be good to get the insides gone through, with some high performance mods. If you can get it done as a bench job (carry in), it will be like, $600 -$800 depending on what it needs and how radical you want it. That brings up the rear end! Is the rear end in your truck now positrac? If not, you can search wrecking yards, craigslist, etc for one that is a direct swap in. Of course, staying with the lower gear ratio, best as I remember, you have a 3.83:1 now. With a lot of torque, you may want to add ladder bars (traction bars) to the rear end so it'll hook up hard, no wheel hop. A lot of street rodders also forget the driveline, getting all tied up n the engine build. It's a complete vehicle make over. The engine is just the FUN part!!
:lol:
- Rods - and so the question arises on option ''A'' should i upgrade rods? i will need new pistons as i am going to bore 30 over to get 355ci. so should i go forged? - If you don't stroke it, I'd suggest using the stock rods, they'll handle the horsepower and torque you'll be making.
If you stroke it, by all means, new rods, forged, Scat or Eagle Specialties, or other good brand, if you change your pistons, be sure to match the rods to the pistons, 5.7" or 6.0" long rods as required by the new pistons. The 383 stroker stroke length is 3.750". If the rods you get don't come with ARP bolts, buy a set!
- Oil pump - i am going to put a high pressure oil pump - Yep! go for it!!, Make sure the pump had a 'bypass' valve, if the pressure gets too high, it opens momentarily and dumps some pressure back in the sump. Generally, I go for a high flow pump, rather than a high pressure. Especially with a hydraulic roller cam, steady pressure is important and a good flow is as well. Consider an oil cooler for your engine, hydraulic roller cams build up heat and the oil takes it away, so taking the heat away from the oil helps the cam and lifters live longer. On my hydraulic cam engines (non-roller cam), I remove the oil filter mount, put on a remote filter adapter, then run hoses to a remote oil filter I mount on the fender well. Actually, I mount two oil filters in parallel, tee the hoses and after the filters run the return line through an oil cooler, then back to the remote oil filter adapter. The extra volume of oil, remote oil filters and the oil cooler all serve to cool the oil. Here's an oil filter adapter adapter;
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ctr-22-592
Here's a link to a dual remote oil filter kit;
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/trd-1222/media/images
Here's two oil cooler kits;
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/flx-3951
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hda-459
This stuff looks cool and does a lot of good for the engine!
- LT1 - As far as I know and could find out, the only thing reverse flow on these engines is the coolant. It flows first through the heads then the block, keeps the heads cooler, allowing the engine to make more power. The thermostat is 'dual' flow. The coolant flows through it in both directions. Other than that, everything else is pretty much normal.

I hope some of this helps.
Any thoughts you want an opinion on, or problems you run into, just post!
I try to check the forum very day, but sometimes I miss a day.

Good luck with the build and keep us posted.

 

[Jamesnelizabeth08]

Just made it back from the pick and pull salvage yard. 30.00 got me 16 lifters all good 16 push rods 8 dog bones, cam retainer,and spider from a vortec block!! The block I just got was a tbi and had flat tappets in it but does have three bosses above oil galley that are not drilled or tapped. So I am ready to get started!!

 

[ChevyHiPro]

Sounds like you got something else to work on over the Holidays!! Scavenging parts like you did at the pick and pull salvage is part of the fun of doing your own build, I think! After I find what I want, I tend to 'scout' around for other stuff I can use while I'm there. If you put the 400 crank in the 350 block to go out to 400 cid, be sure to assembly the rotating assembly in the block and slowly turn it by hand and mark the block where the crank contacts it, so you can hand grind clearance. You'll have to pull the crank and push the pistons to the top, then pack the bores full of clean rags to prevent grindings from getting in the bores. Cleaning out the block after the grinding will have to be meticulous. The clearance should be 0.040 - 0.050".

If you haven't gotten torque wrenches yet, here's the ones I've got;

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea ... que+wrench

Here's a link to their homepage, there's a coupon for the 1/2" torque close to the bottom, for $10!

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea ... que+wrench

Check out the engine hoist (shop crane) for $125!!
That's the one I got.

Anyway, post from time to time on your progress so's I can keep up with how it's going for you guys!

 

[hurst01]

Jamesnelizabeth08,

A bit of information for you. Once upon a time in the 50s, the 283 Chevrolet was the hottest thing available for Chevrolet. A racer thought he would try something different to make a better race engine. By taking a 283 block, boring it out to 4.000 and using the stock 283 forged crank, the 301 was born. It was the hottest engine that could be found. With the short stroke it was not unheard of to turn 10,000 RPM. It got to the point that a lot of big name racers was using the combination. The older model 283 block was the only ones that had enough meat in the cylinder wall so that the engine could be bored that much.

The engine was so popular that Chevrolet adopted the setup in 1968 and called it the 302. They put it in the Z28 Camaro. Even though it was small cubes, it would rev extremely quick and was greatly under-rated on HP. They classified it as 290 HP but would actually put out somewhere in the area of 400 HP. It came with a solid lift cam, otherwaise known as the 30/30 cam because of the .030 intake/.030 exhaust adjustment for the rocker arms. The 302 was made for production purposes for 2 years (68-69). In 1970 it was replaced with the 350 Cu In, retained the same 4.000" bore and had a hydraulic lift cam. The engine was called the LT1. The cam was not as wild as the original 302 cam but was more maintenance-free and a lot quieter.

If you have one of the older 283s punched out to 301 I suggest you hold on to it, or find someone that would like to have it. I would not mind having it myself, although I don't know what I would do with it.

You can purchase a 383 rotating assembly (Internally Balanced) on ebay complete with crank, SIR Forged rods, rod and main bearings, Speed-Pro Teflon coated hypereutectic pistons and moly rings for a 93-96 LT1 for about $750 delivered if you shop around. The crank is a one piece cast crank that will be good for up to 450+HP as long s you keep the RPM blow 6300. You will have to remove the counter-balance from the flywheel if it has one and can use the stock harmonic balancer. DO NOT TRY TO USE A STOCK SBC 400 CRANK, IT WON' FIT because of the larger main journals. If you have a roller engine, look on ebay and purchase a reground LT1 Hotcam for about $129.

Two different ways you can go on this. 377 cubic inch (stock 4.000" bore) or 383 cubic inch (4.030 bore). A good word: Because of the better alloys that GM used in the later model blocks along with the hypereutectic pistons and low friction rings, I have had blocks that I could still see the hone marks in that had as much as 150,000 miles on them. If you bore the block to 4.030 for a 383 you can expect to pay around $450-$500 for machine work. If the walls are good enough that you can see the hone marks in, leave it alone and save the money for something else and assemble it as is. I would hot tank it and change cam bearings, and expansion plugs.

The new Vortec cast heads came on the later model Chevrolet engines (before 1999) with the roller cams. They are center bolt valve cover heads and you can probably find a set at the same yard you pulled the lifters from. They will not have the 2.02/1.94 valves but they won't cost you $1600 either. They will give better low engine RPM torque.
Stock Chevrolet roller lifters have been known to last up to 200,000 miles but you can buy a new set of Delphi roller lifters on ebay for $95. With the LT1 Hotcam you will have to change the valve springs.

You can find good aluminum intakes on ebay that have the dual bolt pattern holes and have tapered adapters for use on the cast Vortec heads. The flexplate has a smaller bolt circle for mounting to the crankshaft, unless you already have one on the engine your friend gave you. If you can get by without having to bore the block, you can build a low budget engine for around $1200-$1500 that will put out close to 400 HP and have about 430 Lbs of torque.

You will still have to buy a high performance oil pump, gaskets and a double roller timing chain (has to be for a roller engine because of different bolt pattern).

This engine combination is low budget and will scream. Plan on buying tires often. Sorry about hyjacking the thread but I build these engines all the time and people are very happy with them.