Do all Corvette 350's have 4 bolt mains? I'm going to need to re-build the one in my 78 and someone has been into it. It appears to be correct, but I cannot find ANY numbers on the block pad. My guess is they were removed during a rebuild. Since I'm not as concerned about a #'s matching car now, I would like to build a 383 stroker out of this 350. Which brings me to my qusetion at the start....
Also, what kinda HP can I expect out of a 383? With moderate $'s being spent. I want more of a sleeper' street car than an expensive racer.

Thanks!

 

If your '78 is an L82 it has 4 bolt mains. If not, it's 2. (assuming original engine)

 

You'll have to be more specific than moderate $'s... A 383 buildup is going to cost you a fair bit more on the lower end than a 350 right off. You can easily spend more than $1000 for heads, or you could just stick with what you've got. There are so many possibilities... There are also lots of "hidden" costs in building an engine as well... Things you wouldn't think of necessarily... Like the fact that you may go externally balanced (if you go to a 383 it's a likely choice given cost tradeoff), in which case you'll need a new flexplate. Also, you'll likely need to go to a larger carb or work yours over quite a bit. May need a larger fuel pump, hoses, and carb hookup if you switch carbs. I have what I would consider a fairly moderate 383 build that I got as a kind of crate engine from a builder with a few mods for nitrous and it cost me about 3500. Add to that all the extra tidbits and I'm pushing 4500+... I haven't even thought about upgrading my u-joints or differential yet. I consider this to be a very reasonable price on the setup as well. In fact, I didn't think I could do the engine build for the cost I bought it for myself...

 

383 can get expensive but please do it, i can't wait to try mine, mine was $4500 from speedomotive with a new block and scat crank. it came with heads and an intake. but no acc. like water pump.

demon carb another $400
hedman long tube headers from summit $119
custom exhaust with 2 chamber flows $475
2400 stall converter $150

engine is a gm 2010 block (the nickle and iron numbers i believe)
scat crank
badger pro drag pistons 10.3-10.5:1
sealed power rings
dart heads
stage 2 rods
performer rpm intake
everything port matched and polished
pete jackson gear drive (another 350 bucks cuz it came with a timing chain)
demon carb (another 400 bones)
tons of extra parts filling my garage.....priceless

backup fuel injection system used 7 times at drag strip (pro flow) $700
richmond 6 speed still on garage floor $2998
all aluminum flywheel at 14.5 lbs $450 for richmond six speed
centerforce clutch $260 :banghead: