LUVTruck.com

I feel sick... I just dropped 2800.00 on parts to build a 383 stroker motor.
The Eagle kit (B1305E) set me back 1200.00
Edelbrock aluminum heads (60739) were another 978.00
ARP head and main studs are another 218.00
Edelbrock fuel pump, regulator and fuel line- 228.28
And i still need a ton of other stuff... And it's all going in to a motor that i paid 250.00 for. I need to take some asprin and lie down...

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

LOL. well you know the saying. "power cost money. how fast do you wanna go?" LOL

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"but its that gut feeling of you're drawn to what feels right for yourself and what you're passionate about..."

cool blue! lets us now how it goes i wanna build one too.

That is just crazy, but worth it!!

im looking at about $2K for stuff to do to my Cad' so i kinda know how ya feel man...

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1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

little early for Santa isnt it?

you'll recover soon

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I like my steak like I like my women, young, tender and bloody.

All I need is my weed, women, and wine. -Edge City Outlaws

It's called "cubic dollars". You should see whats in my 355. Brodax 10 heads, scat crank, world block, carillo rods,etc. It adds up quick, but worth it in the end.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

I would just like to get 400-450 HP out of a 350. Is it going to cost me that much? Surely not! While I'm at it, can you give me some tips on building a 350 with that kind of HP--Heads, cam, etc?

LOL "cubic dollars" That is SOOOO true. the bill for my bare Pro Topline heads was not so bad.... having the best cylinder head porter in San D. port the sh!t outta them is another story. 350, 383, 406 small blocks... not so bad. 421,434,450,472" small blocks... dayum, i may as well step up to a BBC on the next motor. gotta pay to play though.

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

400-450 hp is fairly easy to do on a budget.
.030" over 350 block
11:1 TRW forged pistons on a factory 3.48" steel crank
GM pink rods or some $350/set steel I beam rods
.500"-.525" flat tappet cam
461x or equivalent factory 2.02" heads OR some iron Dart sportsmans
2975 Victor Jr. Intake
750-850cfm holley carb

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

I got a call from the machine shop. There's some problems with the assy. With the motor mocked up to check clearances, some of the rods have less than .050 clearance at the cam, That's odd for a kit that's supposed to be a drop in build. But that's not all, the # 5 and 6 pistons sit high at top dead center with .022 clearance at deck height. Other pistons vary to .029. Swapping pistons and rods didn't change the dimensions so that leaves the crankshaft as suspect. The deck hasn't been shaved yet but it's in good shape for mock up. The decks will get resurfaced so i wont have any problems with the aluminum heads.
Now i got to call the speed shop and see about getting the rods and crank replaced. If i ran with these parts, i would have to get the rods filed down to clear the cam sufficiently. I'm not buying balanced rods only to have them reworked to fit. But that crankshaft having variations of .007 really pisses me off.
From what i've heard and seen of the machinist, this guy is a serious engine man. He owns a 280Z with a hot 383 that's made to kill the 1/8th mile. He had it running one day and i placed my hand on the motor and it felt like an electric motor. The lope of the cam made you think that it would shake the crap out of the car.
In the meantime, i got to get better parts to have a correct build.....

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

I got a call from one of my bros in Ga. He said he talked to the speed shop man and he confirmed that the crank was bad. He feels bad for the error and he'll make certian that i get fixed up. There's nothing i can do about it untill i go back to work.
This project has gotten out of hand...

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Having put together a few motors, I feel your pain. Look on the bright side, at least you caught the error before it was running and your trying to figure out why it doesn't run right.

Then again, I've seen people toss together crap and it runs like a raped ape. Personally, if I let something go, that'll be the one thing that bites me in the ass later. I don't have the luck I guess.

You should also be thankful that the machine shop is going to fix the problem. Some shops just pass blame off and you end up having to shell out more $ for someone else to fix it right.

Yea... The way things are now, i kinda wished i'd of just gone with a 350 rebuild. The money im going to sink on this project will cost more than a GM crate 383. But this is always the case. Whenever i dive into a project like this, i always see a better, smoother way of getting things done after i've gone too deep. This thing better be a rocket when im done. Then the problems with building the motor will wash away with one good stomp of the pedal.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

nah, you won't regret going with the 383 over the 350... trust me

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

Well.. After getting back to Ga, i checked in with the speed shop on getting my replacement parts. The parts guy had the crank checked out by a machinist that has a solid connection with Eagle. That guy said he's never seen a bad crank from Eagle so he was curious to see if there was a problem. He confirmed the fact that the crank was bad. But when they tried to send the crank back, Eagle said they would send it right back to him because there was nothing wrong with it.
After some threats of pulling their account (which deals with at least 4 engine kits a week), Eagle will be sending a new crank. Well the crank arrived and it was an unbalanced unit so it had to go back. Now the next crank should be here later next week. With my luck, they'll send a one piece oil seal crank for a later engine.
I've come to the decision that once the machine shop work is complete, I will wrap up all the parts and block so i can put the project on hold. I'm going to step away from the build for awhile. The machine shop work will cost me more than normal with dealing with defective parts (machine work, mock up, troubleshooting parts, mock up again). Building a motor is supposed to be exciting, but not this one. Once i get the fever again, it should be cool to jump back in it.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

i have a 377 stroker in my sportsmen, i was planning to go .40 over later but after running it this week for the first time on a practice night, i dont think its going to need it

462 heads, ported and polished, 194/202 valves, crane roller rockers, the list goes on.. and thats just the heads the crank was the biggest dent, 4340 forged scat crank... and to think i moved to this class cause building the little 4 banger was so expensive

i also have a brand new set of 180° headers they wont let me run, but im sure ill find something to bolt them too later

what kind of clutch are you going to use? unless you are running an automatic, i have a 4 speed stick

it isnt cheap, but its worth it when you get to hear that heart beat

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79 Chevy LUV 4X4- soon to be modified

86 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE
98 Dodge Neon Sport
GM metric frame Modified Street Stock

Hey man do yourself a favor and next time you want to build a stroker.... get a kit from speedomotive. I got my 450 kit from them and all the machine work was perfect when i got to assembly time.... i mean dead nutz perfect. it don't get any better than that. call them up and talk to a guy named August and he will take care of you.

They've been doing stroker motors for a long time... way back before they were even popular. They just came out with a 481 sbc kit too and the price isnt too bad. check it out
http://www.speedomotive.com/SB%20CHEVY% ... %20KIT.htm


also... A friend for mine who is owner/Proprietor of Mike Pridgeon Racing Engines is a whiz with SBC and BBC strokers. he mostly does local stuff (a lot of MOPAR Wedge stuff) but will be expanding into mail order stroker crate motors soon. his number is 619-449-0107 I dont think his website is up yet but the URL is mpre1.com. he will do some really trick sh!t to your motor. i mean stuff that most regular machine shops won't do. like backcutting piston rings (fish scaling the piston ring drag), custom gas porting pistons, etc. etc. He knows how to find hp in a lot of not so obvious places.

Don't get dicouraged man. Stuff like this happens sometimes. a friend of mine saved up a bunch of $$$ and put an 8-71 blown 406 small block together, put it on the dyno and the motor locked up at 6500 RPM on the first pull. Turned out to be not 1 but several defective JE pistons in his set. after fighting with them a LOT, he was only able to get JE to pay for another set of pistons and thats it!!! he was out the block, heads, and all the labor to port and assemble a new motor. If I were u i would consider myself lucky and move on with the project.

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

481 sbc

Luvsadrag, your post is exactly what i was talking about when i posted on the 27th of Dec.
That 481 kit needs a Dart block for starters and the kit is over 2 grand! You got to have money burning a hole in your pocket for a build like that. I just happened to pick a wrong time to start a project. Sinking 2800.00 on parts last October with Christmas so close wasn't too smart. Also, i spent more at Christmas than i thought i would. The decision to put the 383 on hold was also because of money issues. The motor build wasn't making any progress... just headaches with goofy parts issues. I'm not sure if the machine shop will find any more problems.
I'm planning to move back to Texas soon and it will be a whole lot easier to haul a bunch of parts than a complete motor. My original plan was to have a completed engine before Christmas and haul it back home then. It would saved me from trying to haul that much weight later when i moved (so much for that idea). So now im going to pay off Christmas, pay off the 383 bill so far and get home to Texas. If the motor build was going smooth i would have thought " I still got room on the credit cards so i guess i can buy more stuff."
So in the meantime, i might as well look around for a vehicle to put the 383 in.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.