Looking for some opinions on a used engine...

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/da...774496376.html

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/da...795344467.html

I e-mailed the guy, and got this back...

its is a 383 strorker motor n i made some mistakes when posted it! i got motor 3 yrs ago from a buddy who had it in his modified race car and all i really knew about it was that it is bad *** motor that i did get to drive in race car b4 i bought it and i gave 2250 for it!but two days ago i got ahold of buddy finally that i got it from and reason why he sold it to me was cus he was getting divorced and rite after i got it from him he moved to bruno mn which is 3hrs away and hes a truck driver so i basically had to go thro alot just to get ahold of him!but did finally tract him down and found out everything that i didnt no! it is a 350 4 bolt main block punched 40 thousand with aires domed piston and has stock 400 crank with with 6 inch 400 push rods and cam is comp cam and what grind not 4sure? it has hi volume oil pump with 8 quart oil pan and ignition is a hi out put msd distributer that cost just bout 500 alone!it has torqer starter and weland hi rise aluminum manifold and i purchased a 750 eldebroke carb from another buddy of mine that only used it about a week and had to go with a smaller carb for his build and carb is just sitting on manifold and hasent ben bolted down yet! heads are dart2 sportman cast iron heads and they are12 to 1 compression and as far as i know heads were put together by mike sorrison who works for house of power out of rochestor and has ben building some of best race motors around and im sure he could be contacted and if you do get ahold of him tell him that this is motor that was built for bob clark from blooming prarie and it was bout 5 yrs ago when he built it!now motor was ran 15 races b4 i got it and i originally got it to put in my 79chevy shortbox but b4 i had the chance to put it in i was rearended so motor has ben in my heated garage for 3yrs now but i faithfully turned motor over every 3months since ive had it and always squirted oil on pistons and rockers on heads to make sure that motor wouldnt seize and all motor port hole have always ben plugged with rags to make sure nothing ever got in it and motor has always ben covered and as far as ever ben run on gas ? no it hasnt ben run yet by me and of coarse it will have to be run on hi octane fuel and from what previous told me would have to be atleast 91 or 92 octane and if your looking for any hi horse power motor thats pretty much a given on running higher octane gas!and as far as any documentation i unfortunatily never got none and never cared at the time i bought cus i had plans to keep it and beings i knew where motor came from and got to drive it a few times b4 i purchased it i had all the proff i needed just letting it blow my mind on the power i felt that i cant even explain to what it was like when i was satisfied with my 300 hp motor i had till i drove this one! ya alls i can say was holy **** !now your more than welcome to come take a look at it if really interested and i have no problem pulling oil pan off and valve covers so can inspect it if you like?as far as what it needs to be runner? carb gasket and fuel line, pulleys for new water pump and belts! had thought i had rite pulleys and may have not sure but will also need plug wires and do have headers for it but they are rusty and would need to be sandblasted!but if your looking for a motor with zing that doesnt need much than u cant go wrong this way! couldnt no way put this togther for what im asking for it and if doesnt sale then im either gonna keep it or tear apart and part it out and make more ?call me if you would like to set up a time to see? jerry


So obviously not the easiest to see what is in this thing, but it does sound like it could have some potential for $1500. Any thoughts?

What about 12:1 compression with iron heads... am I going to be able to run regular pump gas? I'm not going to buy an engine that I can't use regular gas in... and I don't want to have to add stuff to the gas either.

If I do go to look at this what all am I looking for (I've never purchased a used engine before - links to pictures of good and bad would be great.) Is there anyone around the twin cities that would want to go take a look with me?

Thanks,
Luke

 

That guys dreaming ..proceed with caution for anything over $300

 

Holy crap! Is that guy suffering from ADD or what?

 

I'm sorry....my head hurts trying to read that shorthand mess.

JIM

 

Yeah I quit at about the 1/4 paragraph mark, try to write in a manner that the reader doesn't have to guess what you mean.

 

That's what text messaging has done for us. I quit reading after he said the guy was a truck driver. Whew.

 

I don't even type like that when texting. I know how to make a space and a capital letter.

JIM

 

Yeah, obviously not the easiest to read.

But, any thoughts on the engine?

 

My head still hurts...but no...you're not likely to run 12.0 compression and iron heads on pump gas without a heck of a cam. Might be able to retard timing for light cruising, but when you put your foot in it it will need race gas.

The Edelbrock carb doesn not seem to match rest of combo.

But it might have a lot of good parts in it for the price. Aries pistons are not cheap...so maybe it has a solid roller cam and other goodies. You can always swap heads or open them up to reduce compression.

JIM

 

Run fast and far!


I am 1/5th owner-driver to a road racing team as well as track day HPDE feind let me share this: never a good idea to buy somebody elses race motor.

I'd pass and buy a decent Gmpp crate engine with warranty.

 

The combination of parts makes no sense.

• Aries pistons with a stock 400 crankshaft??? Was this guy on crack?
• 12:1 is useless on the street. The heads he started with are good, but did he have them milled to get this compression ratio? Good grief.
• 350 block- still nothing special, and it's already .040" overbored- there may be nothing left in this block, or there may be- rolling the dice there.
• If it's a roller cam, it's probably a solid roller. If that's what you want, there is a little money there. but it may be a flat tappet cam.
• 400's didn't have 6.000" pushrods stock. I think they were 7.8". Stock 400 pushrods would never work in a roller SBC
• Does anyone here have any idea what distributor MSD would sell for $500?

It's an odd combination of parts that don't make sense in a street engine at all. Maybe on some kind of dirt track it would, but I just don't see it. I'd walk away, but that's just me.

 

12.5 to 1 is not pump gas compression. You might get by with an octante booster and 93. there are better deals out there

 

Thanks for the replys guys!

I was worried both by the compression ratio and the fact that its someone else's race engine...

On another note, what is a safe compression ratio to run with iron heads and 91-92 octane? What about aluminum?

 

 

Words to live by!!

Anytime someone mentions "race" or "nitrous", run fast and far.

B.

 

its is a 383 strorker motor n i made some mistakes when posted it! i got motor 3 yrs ago from a buddy who had it in his modified race car and all i really knew about it was that it is bad *** motor that i did get to drive in race car b4 i bought it and i gave 2250 for it!

He bought a race motor for $2250

but two days ago i got ahold of buddy finally that i got it from and reason why he sold it to me was cus he was getting divorced and rite after i got it from him he moved to bruno mn which is 3hrs away and hes a truck driver so i basically had to go thro alot just to get ahold of him!but did finally tract him down and found out everything that i didnt no! it is a 350 4 bolt main block punched 40 thousand with aires domed piston and has stock 400 crank with with 6 inch 400 push rods and cam is comp cam and what grind not 4sure? it has hi volume oil pump with 8 quart oil pan and ignition is a hi out put msd distributer that cost just bout 500 alone!it has torqer starter and weland hi rise aluminum manifold and i purchased a 750 eldebroke carb from another buddy of mine that only used it about a week and had to go with a smaller carb for his build and carb is just sitting on manifold and hasent ben bolted down yet! heads are dart2 sportman cast iron heads and they are12 to 1 compression and as far as i know heads were put together by mike sorrison who works for house of power out of rochestor and has ben building some of best race motors around and im sure he could be contacted and if you do get ahold of him tell him that this is motor that was built for bob clark from blooming prarie and it was bout 5 yrs ago when he built it!now motor was ran 15 races b4 i got it and i originally got it to put in my 79chevy shortbox but b4 i had the chance to put it in i was rearended

It has a lot of nice hi po parts but he never put it in his car.

so motor has ben in my heated garage for 3yrs now but i faithfully turned motor over every 3months since ive had it and always squirted oil on pistons and rockers on heads to make sure that motor wouldnt seize and all motor port hole have always ben plugged with rags to make sure nothing ever got in it and motor has always ben covered and as far as ever ben run on gas ? no it hasnt ben run yet by me and of coarse it will have to be run on hi octane fuel and from what previous told me would have to be atleast 91 or 92 octane and if your looking for any hi horse power motor thats pretty much a given on running higher octane gas!and as far as any documentation i unfortunatily never got none and never cared at the time i bought cus i had plans to keep it and beings i knew where motor came from and got to drive it a few times b4 i purchased it i had all the proff i needed just letting it blow my mind on the power i felt that i cant even explain to what it was like when i was satisfied with my 300 hp motor i had till i drove this one! ya alls i can say was holy **** !

He's been maintaining it in storage for the last 3 years

now your more than welcome to come take a look at it if really interested and i have no problem pulling oil pan off and valve covers so can inspect it if you like?as far as what it needs to be runner? carb gasket and fuel line, pulleys for new water pump and belts! had thought i had rite pulleys and may have not sure but will also need plug wires and do have headers for it but they are rusty and would need to be sandblasted!but if your looking for a motor with zing that doesnt need much than u cant go wrong this way! couldnt no way put this togther for what im asking for it and if doesnt sale then im either gonna keep it or tear apart and part it out and make more ?call me if you would like to set up a time to see? jerry


So obviously not the easiest to see what is in this thing, but it does sound like it could have some potential for $1500. Any thoughts?

He wants to sell it for $1500. Maybe this needs to be in the parts section?

What about 12:1 compression with iron heads... am I going to be able to run regular pump gas? I'm not going to buy an engine that I can't use regular gas in... and I don't want to have to add stuff to the gas either.

He wants to know if he can run pump gas with this engine. I thought he was selling it.

Ok after reading it for the 4th time, he's posting from the seller's point of view. It's an engine he's interested in. Ok i get it now.

 

10.5 to 1 is about it. You could run higher it just depends. There are many factors that can change compression ratio. Smaller combustion chambers, piston domed, flat, or dished. You can also increase head gasket thickness to change it a lil.