Engine help
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 7,666
Likes: 1
From: Where it's always hot as Hell-South Louisiana.
St. Jude Donor '07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
He may be like me and need to experience the task before he understands what you mean. Translation: buy the crate & do yourself ,your checkbook and your family a favor. You want the experience of "building"? Go to the local junk yard, buy a $50 klunker motor, take it home & tear it down. Then put it back together. Presto- $50 learning experience.
BUY A CRATE, save the headache and get a 2 year/50k mile warranty.
ask me how I know.....
Race Director
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 10,674
Likes: 122
From: Millington Illinois
St. Jude Donor '08-'09
No one is asking you the important questions. What rear end gear do you have? what trans? what is your intended use, race, street, highway cruiser, street/strip? How many max RPM will you run and how often. These are critical to building what matches your needs and component selection. I realize you want to build your own engine. There is a satisfaction that comes with that that a crate engine can't replace. Answer these questions and have a good machine shop lined up and get back to us. You will get many opinions and conflicting advice.
Racer
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 485
Likes: 1
From: Oakville ON
He may be like me and need to experience the task before he understands what you mean. Translation: buy the crate & do yourself ,your checkbook and your family a favor. You want the experience of "building"? Go to the local junk yard, buy a $50 klunker motor, take it home & tear it down. Then put it back together. Presto- $50 learning experience.
BUY A CRATE, save the headache and get a 2 year/50k mile warranty.
ask me how I know.....I also agree with Mako. I believe if you want more than 300 FW ponys and a nice daily driver that won't kill you on the gas $ you have to get aftermarket heads to get there. Most guys go with more cam but then you lose the low rpm throttle response and decent gas mileage. You gotta know your diff ratio and work it from there.
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 72
Likes: 0
From: hialeah FL
No one is asking you the important questions. What rear end gear do you have? what trans? what is your intended use, race, street, highway cruiser, street/strip? How many max RPM will you run and how often. These are critical to building what matches your needs and component selection. I realize you want to build your own engine. There is a satisfaction that comes with that that a crate engine can't replace. Answer these questions and have a good machine shop lined up and get back to us. You will get many opinions and conflicting advice.
However, I don't know what the rear end gear ratio is. How can i found out? Also I'm not sure about the max RPM i would like to run. What would you suggest for a street/strip build?
Thanks
Racer
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 474
Likes: 0
From: Bishop CA
I rebuilt my 75 L48, Brodix heads, 30 over Keith Black pistons, Erson Cam, Elel Intake, 650cfm edel carb, McJack headers, true dual exhaust, 400 tranny with shift kit. Car runs great, but........I would have been better of with a crate. My .02 worth. Good luck
Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 889
Likes: 0
Race Director
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 10,674
Likes: 122
From: Millington Illinois
St. Jude Donor '08-'09
Need differential ratio. Bottom of the carrier right in front of the cover has numbers stamped in it. The code will tell what gears came in the carrier. Or jack the rear up and rotate the tire 1 revolution counting how many times the driveshaft turns. 3 plus a little is a 3.08, 3 plus 1/3 is a 3.36, 3 and a half is a 3.55, 3 and almost 3/4 is a 3.70, 4 and a little is a 4.11. A 3.08 will not take a real high HP build due to the gearing. A 4.11 you can build over 500 hp and maintain streetability with a manual trans.
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Joined: Apr 2004
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From: Space Coast Gator Territory