383 or 350?

[BLACKTALON]

33333333888888883333333 what wrong wit you man?

 

[hAZcAT]

would it be possible to create a 383 just crank and pistons and build up the top later? or would I have created a mess???

 

[SPANISHVETTS]

would it be possible to create a 383 just crank and pistons and build up the top later? or would I have created a mess???

Sure – you can build it piece at a time but you should do the bottom end right the first time. i.e., Buy the crank, rods, and pistons that you want to spend the rest of your life with the first time around. Have the block machined by a shop that knows 383’s and have a pro do the balancing. This will give you a bullet proof short block that you can add better heads and intake to as the time/money comes around.

With the TPI and stock heads you will never see hi horsepower #s but she will put down over 400# of torque across a wide rpm range.

The other choice is the easy 383. Grab a stock 400 crank and rods. Have the crank turned to fit the 350 mains. Bore it out .030 and use stock 30 over pistons. Rework you heads, add roller rockers, port the TPI, runners and baseplate, hawg out the TB to 52mm and use a 74216 cam. Stick on a set of headers and you are looking at a cheap/reliable 350++HP 400++Torque Small Block that idles sweet and melts tires. I have built several of these over the years and on the Bang for Buck scale it is one of the best SBC’s going.

 

[Edmond]

I have built several of these over the years and on the Bang for Buck scale it is one of the best SBC’s going.

And you have a spare one sitting in the shop that you're going to send over to me, right?

I don't know about the stock D port heads. I never realized how poor the casting on those things are. By the time the money is spent on porting them, I say spend the extra money for aftermarket heads. You can get some Edelbrock heads for about $1,200 and they don't require any work to them.

 

[Achilles]

I was going to get the Edelbrock heads for mine, but the tech at Summit racing said that sometimes there are clearance problems between the spark plug and headers. Because Edelbrock uses their own castings and the plug boring is in a slightly different location on their heads, I guess only some headers will clear the plug. Thats why I went with the Trick Flows. I didn't want any header fit problems later.

 

[SPANISHVETTS]

Here is the last one. It is somewhere in Pennsylvania now. It was built completely from junk and secondhand parts excluding the headers which were new, Hooker and CRAP. The BeCool radiator cost more than any other single part. The S10 body/frame was a gift so I ended up with less than $3500 invested in a low 12 second pickup. And that is Bang for Buck my friends.

I can’t remember why now but it was not quite 383. I think it came out to about 377 or so. The Edelbrock intake came with a Holly 850 which was really too much carb but for a C note how could I say no. The block and heads came from a burnt out TransAm. Franky reworked the heads for $500 which was a smoking deal but there are always deals to be had. All of this junk coupled up with a 350 auto out of an 80’s Buick and 3.55 posi-track dynoed at 280 odd RWHP.

And you have a spare one sitting in the shop that you're going to send over to me, right?

I do have a spare small block but it is going back into Thunder if I ever sell it. Besides you could build a nice motor for the cost of shipping from here to there.

 

[Achilles]

Maybe its only bored .020 over for 377 cid.