I'm thinking of building a second motor for the 73. I like the idea of two engines, I live in Florida and can drive all year. My present engine is a 400hp 383. I would like to build a 500hp 383 , street motor, with no boost.
What heads, cam and intake to use is the big question.
Also I have a line on a used dart block. A new one is out of my price range. Heads, intake and cam are still the question with this block.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

I ran across this page searching for something-or-other one time.
They sell 400, 450, 500 and 550 hp 383s. Might be a good reference to look over the different parts used in each package.

http://www.golenengineservice.com/ht...carbureted.htm

 

Good site, I've been looking at a lot of sites like this one. I am some what sceptical of some of there numbers. I was hoping to find someone on the forum who has built their on motor and dynoed it. 500 hp at the flywheel or 430-440 rear wheel.

 

It's all in good flowing heads. My original 383 was a scary deal where i wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to go over board and have a motor that was non-streetable or have some wimpy motor.

I bought Brodix racing heads and then scaled it back to Dart Pro1 215 cc with the optional 2.08/1.625 valves setup for solid roller.

These heads proved to be a real street machine and i had no problem doing 3000 mile trips. another option would be the slightly smaller AFR 210's

 

Gkull I kind of got this idea from you, I like the idea of 2 motors. I've seen write ups on 383s with AFR 195 and cams in the .52 lift range, dynoing in the 500hp range, to me this does not seem posible.
I've learned a lot on my present 383, it runs good, dynoed 325 at the rear wheels, with Sportsman II, magnum 280 and 1.6 lifters. I would like more motor but do not want to mess with the one I have. So I've decided to just take my time and build another one.

 

I just recently got my 427 back and it's still in the box with casters on it. I'm waiting for the cold snowy day and have a motor swapping party with a friend or two.

I have never dynoed my 383. But it's really got some go power. My 215 cc head were not enough. So I upped the heads to Dart 227 cc and a bigger cam. That is when the motor became less user friendly. You don't want a motor built to make max HP near red line. Your better off with a lower peak hp of say 500@6000 or lower rpm and where it tapers off to still making 400 HP at 7000 -7500 rpm. Then you have some get up and go at lower rpm. I toned my present 383 cam back down to a low .600 lift 236/242 112. My lightened Vette is really a good time to drive witha 4.11 & 5 speed.

When my 383 comes out the 227cc heads go on my 427 and my spare AFR210's go on the 383.

Compression will dictate your cam choice. My 383 has 11.24 so it runs fine on 236 installed two degrees retarded. When i first installed it 232 SR cam from Crane was always on the verge of detonation. If you had 10.8 or so the 232/240 H or S roller would be a wonderful motor when combined with the highest RPM dual planes or the smaller single planes and use a 650-750 carb.

 

I guess, maybe I should just buy Desktop Dyno and do some research. Do you have any experiance with this software and if so which version.

 

Build for RPM,..500HP/NA is fairly easy but you'll need to wind it, which means beefed up everything. Also, I see a good-sized roller in your future,..and you might look at the larger AFR heads or Dart,..people showing good results with both. I'm sure others will work well to.

Sounds like fun,..keep us posted.

 

i got a 500hp sub 6000rpm 383..very streetable, and got it from Golen about a year ago. AFR 195 heads, 10.2:1 CR, 236/242 billet hydraulic roller cam, good tuning, and your there.

 

My 383 had 590 HP/ 480TQ on the dyno and it's perfectly streetable with my 4speed munchie 0-60 is done in under 4 seconds on streettires, and its easely driven around when cruising.
I am actually very surprised how cultivated this engine behaves i did not expect it to idle smootly or do anything significant under 3500RPM but it does.

all forged Eagle inside 6" rods.
static compression is 12:1 i run on pumpgas with no problems ( 97 octane in Europe/Shell V-Power)
Brodix Track1 CNC machined heads titanium retainers etc. 227 intake runner size
victor junior intake with a 850 race demon from Barry Grant
1.6 roller rockers/studgirdles etc
Erson grinded cam solid roller :
Valve Lift:
Intake = .562
Exhaust = .562
Duration @ .015"
Intake = 268
Exhaust = 268
LC = 110
i use a aluminum lighweight flywheel and a fluidamper
ignition is a MSD pro bilet setup
Hooker competition headers with 2/½ " almost free flowing exhaust (car chemestry tube muffler it sure makes some noise)

link to my first startup of the engine is here it idles too high there app 1000rpm but i had not dialed the carb in yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anyX4V7hVqI

Even my wife loves this engine and i have seen her start from a red light in 4th gear a couple times without the engine shutting off

Its not pulling hard under 2000rpm but but still way stronger than my last 400HP 383, on the freeway i can go 120mph and pull from motorcycles when i floor it.

only problem i have so far is that at very high rpm oil seeps from the breather/pcv system and sometimes it pops the oil dipstick out.
also i think the mechanical roller cam makes a little to much noice.

 

not many people are within range to get 97 octane off the pump..i know I'm not...so i don't know about that 12:1...wheres your total timing at?

 

European octane numbers is not equal to the us numbers 97 is around 92octane in the US.i have driven it on 95 octane= 90oct US but i had to retard the timing some 4deg to stop detonation so its defiantly on the edge

My total timing is 37deg.
love your car btw i want those cool sidepipes but darn they're expensive.

 

thanks..i didn't know that you were in Europe. Nice vette yourself.!

 

why limt to a 383,If going with a dart block,I would go 420,The price differnce isn't much more,and more cube's will make more hp,and be tamer.

 

If your going for the Dart block be aware of the different deck heights on them, if you get one with non standard deck height you will run into trouple with your engine hood.

 

I'm trying to track down the guy with the dart block. Heard it from a friend of a friend etc. It may or may not be legit. Yes a 427 sbc would make it easier but more expensive to build.

I'll need a forged bottom end, and will probably run a SR cam. Would like the motor to turn 6500-7000 rpm and have decent bottom end torqe. I run a tremec 5spd so a wide power band would help with not having to shift a lot in city driving.

 

I forgot about deck height,good point.

 

You would need a forged bottom end on a 383 also,there's only about 1000 differnce in the too.

500hp wont need a SR.a hyd will do.

 

http://www.tandlengine.com/
most bang for the buck, I bought my 383/495tq/489hp here AFR195 heads,solid roller,watched it dynoed myself

 

You could cheat and go with even more cubes. Of course you mentioned you're using a dart block so I don't know how far out you can bore those. If you were to use a motown block, though...