Rebuild the L83?
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
From: Palm Bay Fl
Rebuild the L83?
I know the heads are crap and am going to retire the crossfire but
what about the shortblock? or block? Hate to chunk it as its numbers
matching and rebuild with afr's and maybe rotating mass if its worth it.
Was thinking of 383.
Is it worth it?
Thanks, Chuck
what about the shortblock? or block? Hate to chunk it as its numbers
matching and rebuild with afr's and maybe rotating mass if its worth it.
Was thinking of 383.
Is it worth it?
Thanks, Chuck
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,175
Likes: 86
From: State of Confusion
I'll be turning my '82 into a bracket-racer when my house up-North is finally sold, with the original intention of buying a ZZ383 crate-motor for motivation:
since discussing my modest goals further w/ Tracy Lewis of RevXtreme in Tampa, I believe I'll be tossing the Cross-Fire set-up into the Gulf of Mexico, and using the 27,000-mile short-block as-is, adding aluminum heads, intake, carb, cam, headers, etc., with expectations of running high-to-mid 12s, while keeping the RPM below 6000.
since discussing my modest goals further w/ Tracy Lewis of RevXtreme in Tampa, I believe I'll be tossing the Cross-Fire set-up into the Gulf of Mexico, and using the 27,000-mile short-block as-is, adding aluminum heads, intake, carb, cam, headers, etc., with expectations of running high-to-mid 12s, while keeping the RPM below 6000.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 7,477
Likes: 1,495
From: Little Rock AR
The tipping point is the bores. If the bores are good I would save the bottom end. It makes a lot more sense to build the stroker if the bores need to be redone. Once you hit that point, the cost goes up a lot but the difference between building the bored 350 vs the 383 stroker is minimal. At that point the difference between stroker pistons and regular 350 oversized pistons is pretty small. The money spent on the stroker crank is money you probably would have spent to grind/polish the 350 crank. You get a lot more torque for about the same cost so why not?
Bottom line: once you poke it - it's time to stroke it.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,175
Likes: 86
From: State of Confusion
..... with the L-83 based-on a 2-bolt main-cap block, if you DO decide to put an arm in it, it'd be a good candidate for adding splayed outer-bolts, making the bottom-end damn-near bullet-proof.
