AllC34Me

I was fortunate to locate a block that had been cleaned up, bored .030 over and machined .010 then MAGNIFLUXED and seals and bearing installed. The crank I have is cast crank and it will be balanced as part of the process. Gordon working on this now, should be fun outcome. Will keep you aware of decisions and costs.

David

Lupigiato

Subscribed.

Gordonm

To build a 383 you will need to get the grinder out. It took me about a good hour to properly clearance the crank and rods. I had a bunch of metals shavings when done but plenty of clearance for the crank and rods. Spend a little time here doing this correctly and you won't have problems. I would take my 383 to 7000 rpm and never worried about anything. Take your time and do it right.

David I need to stop by and get the rest of the parts as I have to get the timing chain gear on the crank before I lay the crank in.

AllC34Me

I will be out today and tomorrow, back on Friday through the weekend. Lets connect and make that happen for you Gordon.
David

jnealg

I plan to drop it off at the machine shop once its nekkid and have them clearance it and do their thing.

I am wondering if any of the parts I take off are worth anything to anyone. intake, heads, crank, cam etc...?

Keep us posted with lots of pics. looking forward to watching this thread.

AllC34Me

I am certain that someone could find a use for the stock parts you have. I would not expect to make much on them but as donor parts they could help out a fellow corvette enthusiast.
Good thought.
David

Gordonm

I dropped off the crank, rods and Pistons today. They will press the Pistons on the rods and then balance the assembly. Should be done early next week. I have to wash the block but it has not been above freezing for weeks here. Maybe this weekend it will touch 40. For anyone who has done this you know you will get wet!

AllC34Me

It has been brutally cold here Gordon and getting wet with the cold and wind would not be a good idea at all. Sorry I don't have an enclosed heated space where this can be done, I will continue to pray for spring to arrive early.
Look forward to connecting next week.
David

Gordonm

Today was the day I finally was going to get rolling assembling. First off the wrong gasket set was ordered. It was for a 1 piece rear main seal motor. Looked like a TPI motor because it had all the gaskets for that. So I only needed the rear main seal so I picked that up locally this morning. So I got everything laid out and started. Laid the crank in no problem. Got 3 of the rod Pistons in and thought something is just not right here. Got the 4th in the hole and knew something was wrong. Started measuring up the rod journals. Ahh! The crank was supposed to be a new crank but it has been turned .010. Pulled everything back out and measured up all main and crank journals. Yup all .010. I should know better and measure everything. Never assume anything! Oh well back to Summit for some .010 bearings. I need a bunch of other parts also.

One other thing about cleaning the block and bores. An old trick an engine builder taught me was to wipe down the cylinder bores with a paper towel and transmission fluid. Keep using new white paper towels until you no longer see any darkness. The towel should be red and stay red with fluid. Transmission fluid is designed to suspend dirt. So it is an excellent cleaner to remove grit from the honing process. It takes many passes with a clean towel to get itmtocome out clean. Just when you think it is done go one more pass just to verify. The rings will seat immediately and last a long time if this is done right. I take my time doing this and it probably takes me a good hour or so to get the bores spotless.

Block cleaned and bearings lubed with assembly lube, wrong bearings now I discover


Here is a little something I do. Put a dab of sealant on the rear main seal to hopefully prevent some leaks. Along with the assembly lube.


Here is the piston/rod assembly rings and now wrong bearings ready to go.

AllC34Me

Summit Racing loves you Gordon. Sorry for any errors in communication, I am learning ever so slowly. Looking good though.

Gordonm

Here is the partial short block. Crank in and 4 Pistons. ARP main bolts.

Gordonm

Short block pretty much assembled. We had the wrong 1 piece oil pan gasket so it is just hanging on by a few bolts right now. New gasket on its way. Little paint makes it look good. Cylinder heads arrived today so when I get back home I can continue



Oil pump on lower end buttoned up



Motor is actually at a 90 degree so it looks a little funny


Here it is pretty much ready for upper end

Mick71

If I ever need an engine rebuilt, I'm driving to Jersey...

What type of harmonic balancer is that? It looks really smooth and shiny compared to mine.

Gordonm

The balancer is from Summit. A lower cost stock type balancer that is degreed out to 60 degrees. I like this vs the timing tab on the timing cover. Trying to keep cost down. This is not going to be a high rpm motor so an expensive balancer was not used.

Mick71

Ok, thanks.

68/BB

I built two small blocks from scratch, both 406's and one big block, a 468 that is currently in my vette. The specs on my 468 are laid out along with photos in my profile under the album called My Project. I like starting with a bare block, determine the power band I want, selecting the components that are complimentary to that power band objective and doing the assembly myself. You know what you've got when you're done. You seem to be getting off to a good start for a strong and reliable street engine. My caution to you would be that as you get near the end take a lot of pains in the details and double check everything so that you can get a quick start and break in on that engine. Those cams can be wiped out amazingly quickly if you don't get that run in started and continued properly. Good luck on your build and I will be following it.

AllC34Me

And sitting in the wings awaiting the shakedown of this new engine is this newly purchased, newly assembled, engine run stand that I put together last week. Can't wait to test the tester with the new engine. Radiator, SPAL fans, battery and a few more controls will be installed soon. Then we will be rocking and rolling.
Going to be fun.

Gordonm

Yes I agree but this is not my first engine build. Probably I'm on number 20 something so yes the details and checking things 20 times is the way to go. Breaking in the cams and using the proper oils is key to keeping aflat tappet cam alive. This is a low budget engine with mild HP in the 350 HP range. Most of my newer builds I would use a roller cam but that is going to add cost. Proper selecting components is key.

Gordonm

Getting back to this after some vacation and some work travel now. I finally got the correct pushrods and had to spring for new rocker arms due to the larger valve springs. Everything is now coming along smoothly and I have it pretty much all assembled ready to go. I left off things like carb and dist and fuel and water pump due to this motor has to travel. I will load it in my truck and deliver it to David. We can then assembly the remaining parts and put it on his test stand to fire it up.






Here it is ready to load up and go

AllC34Me

Looking really good Gordon, thank you. Look forward to getting is assembled and then getting it on the stand to fire. I am getting excited.
David