Thought I'd start a thread on a Motor project I have been working on this winter.

The old Block is going from .030 to .060.
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So a Craigslist add for an 89 Vette missing Engine Trans for $700 got me started as I figured I had enough parts laying around and I could just " use them up" . Also an add for an Offenhauser Cross Ram brought back memories of when I was 15 and looked under the Hood of a 69 Z-28 for the first time. I had a " perfectly good " SBC laying around that I built in 1986 or so. 010 Block, Std GM forged Crank, Pink Rods that I Polished, Shot Peened and Arp. I ground all the flashing off the inside of the block and had it Shot Peened as well. Hypereutectic pistons ( the rage in 1986) . Used the 441 Head castings and got the home head porting kit and spent 3 weeks grinding and polishing. Crower Hyd Billet Roller Cam set up for Turbocharging. This was the first SBC I ever built and it served me well I went 168mph threw radar at the Nevada 100 on this motor. How ever 10-12 years ago I realized that a newer Motor was needed to replace this one and built my all Aluminum SBC.
This motor had been carefully put in storage and I thought I would just freshen it up with some newer heads to up the compression. All went well until I removed the last Head only to find a Rust spot in the #7 cylinder. At that point I knew I was at the top of the rabbit hole looking down and that soon I would be at the bottom looking up. Dropping the block off at my local machine shop that had a help wanted and blocks waiting to be machined stacked 3 high proved that a month of sitting there didn't get much done so I picked it back up and took it to Jays Machine in Everett Wa a real old school machine shop one man band just take it in and he starts on it as you watch !

 

The Bearings that came out of this Motor are the best I have ever seen in any engine I have ever taken apart. They looked like the Engine had never been started.

 

Things are really escalating now. Since I had to buy new Pistons I figured I might as well go with the 6 inch Rod tech. Scat H Beam Rods. Piston Rod weight was less than before, so Crank got Welded to bring back in balance.

 

ICON Forged Pistons. These things look like a work of art right out of the CNC shop. Hate to bury them inside a motor and get them dirty. I cut 3cc off the Dome to get a True 11 to 1 Compression.

 

e-bay produced a set of AFR Street 195s that somebody had machined the AFR off of so nobody but me wanted them. All the Crower Valve train is left over from before.

 

Coming together nicely now. Got my 45 year old itch for a Cross Ram cured. Note how somebody has machined the AFR off one head. Hooker 3/4"x 26" Imported all the way from China.

 

This is about as far as I'm going to get on this round. My day job working in Alaska is going to put me on hold. I found it odd the Accel Header Plugs were hardly any shorter than a standard NGK. I thought I remembered them being lawn mower size.

 

So the one real odd part of this build is that I don't know the Cam timing. I just re used what I had. Its made 375 HP with 16 inch's vacuum with 8.0 to 1 Compression and no Boost on an engine dyno. The cam is to old for Crowers web site to work. A call to them and a dig threw there Paper Files produced a hand written Note from Crower himself . I guess he wasn't known for his handwriting . .487 lift and a 114 Lobe center is about all that could be made out. It also had a date of 1989 and I know I had it prior to 1987 and it was not in my name so who knows what it is. I was planning on installing a new cam and I filled out just about everybody's Cam Shaft builders web page and didn't get a single reply. Not one. Guess nobody wants to sell a new cam anymore. So it was time to put things back together and that's what I did. I am building this motor as a dedicated Autocross car and I think it will make some decent mid range torque.

 

If You have a good eye You will see a Holley Duel Sync Distributor installed and yes that is intended for a Duel Sniper FI set up. Old School meets New School after all.

 

It's kinda late now, but I would have installed billet main caps. You had to add weight to the crank with welding. My original 383 with 3970010 block got the blue printing machine job and I think milodon billet 4 bolt main caps. I cheaped out instead of doing the spayed cap idea. I used the H bearings, hivol oil pump and installed enlarged oil restrictors in the back of the block. I tapped and put vent tubes in the cam valley for windage. That poor motor got to do 7500 rpm nearly every day of it's life with 11.2 C/R and the help of a solid roller and Dart 227cc heads.

Anyway I'm a firm believer in billet main caps. It's the way we built all the stock block 360 class sprint car motors. So mine was built the same

 

A buddy has a 509 400 Block he was willing to give me for this build. I was planning on doing the splayed Caps and build a 377. But I just wanted to keep it simple and reuse everything I could. I did use ARP studs for the Caps this go around.

 

Studs really keep the block from warping or distorting. To use billet main caps you have to machine the block to fit them. What years did you do the Nevada 100 open road race? What Aerodynamic changes did you make to go over 160 mph? This is my 42 pound 3.750 black nitride 4340 and oil restrictors before you drill them out.



42 pound 3.875

 

Bruce Crower never had good. Penmanship I once got a letter from him in a cam box and I had a pharmacist read some of it. The man is a genius.
I'm anxious to see what kind of power you make with that intake paired with modern heads
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1993 is when I ran the Nevada 100. 1980 Body with Fiberglass ground effects package which were probably designed to look more Aero than reality. C4 17 Wheels and Tires The Highway was in bad shape at that time with Truck groves. Wide Tires were not the best set up. Off the line I didn't roll the window up in time and the vacuum pulled it out. After running 10 minutes with out any engine vacuum one headlight popped up. Car felt really light as expected I passed the first Radar at 168 and realized I was way over my 140 speed class. It was all for not on the 13 mile straight a 6 dollar fan belt side lined me.

 

The crossram intake is such a cool looking piece, can't wait to see the dyno on it. T

 

What size carbs go on your cross ram? We used to have one of the originals 310 ci Trans-Am Camaros Penske with the cross ram setup. The car ran so good that we hardly ever worked on it

 

That would look sweet under the hood of my '69 Z