383 stroker kit questions?
 

ok,so im rebuilding the tired old 350 in my 4x4.

i found the 383 stroker kit on ebay that comes with crank,rods,pistons,bearings,gaskets seals everythin like that.

to make a 350 into a 383 what type of machine work needs to be done?can i just put the crank,rods,pistons etc in and that be it?or what?

the kit says it comes with all popular bore sizes so i guess no worries on that.

just seems cheap to be able to do a 383 stroker for like 700-800$?

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

I would woryy about any part that I couldn't get the nameor part # from....your going to need to clearance the block for the crank...then what ever kit you order they will need to know your bore size and if you had the bock line bored and how much

personally Scat has always had a good kit...

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

It's not a bolt-in, it's an overhaul. The block will need to be completely torn down and cleaned, bored and honed, etc. Most shops these days will do the clearancing for a 383 for free or at a very low cost because they know right where they need to do it and it's quick. BUT - this is very dependent on the kit; if it has stroker-clearanced rods then it doesn't take much but if it's got factory-style rods then it takes a fair bit of griding.

A pointer to the kit would be good - there are good ones out there, and some real junk...

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

I am gearing up to build a Vortec 350, roller-cam, truck block into a 383. So I am interested in what has to be said on this topic.

I am wanting to go with all forged internals and I noticed the skip white Scat kits.....http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-C...Q5fAccessories

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

A Vortec 383 is perfection IMHO :)

I am not a Skip White fan, and I don't personally care for that kit. I see it as a real mismatch of parts. Cast crank (NOT FORGED, despite the headline), forged pistons and heavy stock-type rods that are clearance-ground.

They note themselves that the pistons are "700+ horsepower" (and another place, 800+ horsepower :)) which a cast crank certainly won't hold. Note also that the assembly is not balanced which makes it a low-RPM kit. Frankly, I believe it would be very difficult to balance given the bobweight of the rotating ass'y. They also flat-out lie in their ad with this contradiction:

"We do our own balancing with a Hines balancer. Our machinist has been with us for 18 years. When we balance this setup, it will be within race engine specs. We include a balance sheet with your setup. We have noticed several rotating assemblies on the market, at surprisingly low prices, only to find they are not balanced. These sellers fail to even mention if they are balanced or not, but upon inquiry we quickly finds them not to be balanced, hence the lower price. Beware of such. "

AND:

We only offer the external balanced crank, as this offers much more clearance for the block than the internal cranks do. Using internal bal. cranks, may cause problems in clearance within the block, and oil pan. You must still check oil pan clearance before completing your engine.

This is complete and utter BS. They rip non-balanced assemblies, sidestep the fact that theirs isn't internally balanced and then cover up the fact they're using stock-type rods that require significantly clearancing by blaming it on the balance!

Another one I like is:

"SBC CHEVY SCAT 383 FORGED ROTATING ASSEMBLY FT 2PC+30 "

AND:

"SCAT 383 CAST NODULAR STEEL CRANKSHAFT RATED AT 500+ HP 2 PIECE MAIN STYLE."

My biggest bone with Skip White is their ad is full of - excuse me - BS. They throw out a lot of terms and "buzzwords" that either are misused or meant to spread FUD. Liars seldom make good business partners...

I seldom come out quite this hard, and I'm sure folks have made these assemblies work - but IMHO, they're junk. I caught a lot of Hell for this perspective in another post...but I can only call it the way I see it :)

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

no offense taken at all, ticker. Thanks for the honest opinon.

I am not a skip white fan due to going through several of his distributors. That link might not have been to the correct kit i was looking at, but i did notice some of the discrepancies in the write-up. The only reason I was looking at his 383 kits was due to the fact that it was a Scat.

Which 383 Kits would you recommend?

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Tick' ol' buddy... I couldn't agree more. I'm not trying to be a cheerleader, or to pig pile on Skip White's stuff...

But eventually one of these kits is gonna bite someone... and I sure wouldn't want it to be me. :)

Gary

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

I just don't want to come off like a dick - I'm really not :) :sumo:

I really like the Scat internally-balanced rotating ass'ys. A forged one is going to set you back $2K+ by the time it's ready to drop in. IMHO, the block should always be align-honed and studs used with a forged ass'y as we're planning on making some serious power and turning > 6K RPM.

I no longer purchase anything from Eagle due to continual quality control issues. On that, Skip White and I would agree ;)

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

It's such an odd mix of parts; they say a camel is a horse designed by committee...and evidently Skip White has a committee doing their package design ;)

I'm not a super big fan of external balance - it works for sure and it's OK for a towing engine that's never going to see serious R's...but it is not a performance engine approach.

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

There's a guy on Ebay called Super Engine Builders. He has great deals on 383 kits etc with name brand parts. He's in Chicago. His name is Frank Eskra. Get ahold of him and tell him matchstick sent you. www.gofaststuff.com

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

so if i have a block thats .030 fresh bore/hone whatever the only machining thats left would be clearence for the crank?

id love to turn my tired as hell 350 into some monster ha

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Got a buddy of mine that has a '67 Chevelle with a P.A.W. 383 stroker long block in it... I had to tear it down for him right after he bought the car. Previous owner installed the External Balanced engine with the Internal balanced 350 flex plate and damper.

It ended up eating some of the main bearings and the vibes were horrible. He wanted to rebuild it with all brand internals. I tried to steer him toward an internally balanced kit from Skat. Pricey, but worth it...

He opted for some kit from Ebay to save money... Then come to find out, the new rods and crank he got were not clearance for the stroker kit, and the block from P.A.W. was clearanced poorly. So more machining, because he refused to use the rods that were already clearanced.

Needless to say... I put it together for him... the way he wanted... and told him, that when it comes apart, or you have problems later on. Don't come crying to me.

Now I'm not sayin' that I have deep pockets and expect everybody to pony up a lot of cash for BRAND NAME parts... but ya just gots to be careful of what you are gettin'.

I have learned tons from Ticker and cableguy here in the "Engines" forum in the last year, and it has been great! I've been building SNC's for a while, and it's nice to learn new tricks.

:)

Gary

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Easy Ticker easy....lol

I have noticed in the past that an internal engine will last ALOT longer...chances are your not going to beat it like a race truck..not only that but is you want to squirt it, the parts will be of better quality and will tned to stay together longer....

I think a vortec 383 would be the balls.....If I had to guess your looking at and easy to drive 350 to 400 ponies with decent mileage....well when your foot isn't stuck in the carb

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Not sure how a block can be bored/honed without pistons in hand...?

Assuming that the main bore is straight then yes, the only additional work is to clearance for the crank. This is a non-precision operation, i.e. the machinist typically just grabs a grinder and hits the right spots which are now pretty well-known.

My local shop *always* clearances the block for stroker-clearanced rods as part of their prep - they don't even charge for it any more.

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Ticker here's one for yea..

the inside of the block has been ground (smoothed abit) to take the casting (sand) bumps off...this allows the quick return of oil and transfers the heat quickly...check the inside of a cup car block.....there was a guy in woodstock Vt that built tons of motors for those guys he move south a year or so to be closer to them....he was the only guy that did my machine work....not only that but if I told him what I was doing he could buy the parts as cheap or cheaper than I could.....

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

I typically paint the inside of my performance engines with Glyptal which is all that's needed for a street engine.

The question stands of how a block can be machined without a piston/ring in-hand, as the whole point of boring/honing is to a) establish the proper bore/piston clearance and b) to build a finish appropriate for the ring.

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

i understand what your saying,i was basically saying other then boring/honing the only other machining is clearancing the block?i didnt say i was jumping ahead and getting a block randomly bored and what not without the pistons etc in hand.

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Sorry, badness on my part. No worries. :)

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

haha no worries man.

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Ticker... do you prefer the brush on Glyptol over the aerosol? I've been wanting to try that stuff... but wasn't sure on which to use.

Gary

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Yeah, I like the brush-on myself as I can let the paint flow a bit. Cast iron can be bumpy, and in the cam valley you really can't get at it from all directions with a spray can.

I do all the grinder detailing on the block before it goes to the shop. Then I wash the block when it comes home, paint the interior and then paint the exterior.

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

WOW props to matchstick and frank I sent him an email and BAM got a call as soon as I finished my question. $680 for a kit with balancer and flywheel balanced ready to go...HUMMM

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

I don't want to dis a guy you've had good luck with - but looks like his kits are all Eagle based.

After sending back a bunch of cranks that had unacceptable taper and were out of index, I gave up.

Just a note to check any Eagle cranks over *very carefully* before use.

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Yeah, I know I get kinda wound up :)

For a lot of guys, they only get one shot at engine building and there's not a lot of budget to fix stuff...so I get more than a little tweaked when a vendor takes someone off in a bad direction right out of the gate.

I do somewhere around 20 engines/year - just for fun; I don't charge for my time. I can't count the number of times I've quietly eaten $2-300 of machine work to fix junk a guy got from a vendor (or based on bad advice from someone that's never actually built an engine) that just wasn't right...and he didn't have the budget to fix.

Must....relax.....:sumo:

Re: 383 stroker kit questions?
 

Kewl... I think I'm gonna give it a shot on my next build that should be comin' up over the winter... Thanks mang!

:metal:

Gary