My project this winter is to rebuild my engine and pretty much fix up the entire car; but my focus will be on the engine itself. Since I'm going to be removing the engine, I figured I might as well add in some mods as well. I'm just building up my list of things I'll be needed to get and work out any discrepencies beforehand.

Here's my goal: I plan on getting a SC (not sure what stage or how many HP just yet) but with 115k on my engine right now, its not doable unless I rebuild. So here's what I plan on getting so far.

Forged piston heads
Forged piston rods
Roller rockers
Forged crankshaft
Bigger injectors
New valve covers w/ gaskets
Bigger throttle body
Oil pump
Oil pan

What do you guys think or would add/remove? This is just a generalized list that will have to have the specifics worked out later.


[Modified by Lord Odin, 5:42 PM 5/11/2003]

 

since you want to replace the rotateing assembly bump the engine size to 383, it will not cost much if any more money and will only take minor clearanceing on the block if the assembly you get is INTERNALLY BALLANCED
the cylinder heads and cam and intake are where much of the potential power is, port the intake plenum and runners, pocket port or better yet if the budget allows upgrade the heads and get a cam matching the combo you decide on building
keep in mind that in most cases a crate motor will be a very cost effective choice if you are not doing your own engine work.


[Modified by grumpyvette, 10:00 PM 5/11/2003]

 

A SC with bigger cubes and a cam? I was thinking of going 383 but wasn't sure if I would even need to. What exactly does a cam do? I'm still learning about engines and know that a cam will lead to more power but that's about it.

Anyone have any links on where I can learn about components like cams, roller rockers, crankshafts, etc? I want to educated about this stuff before I do any work.

 

read and understand this


DO YOURSELF A BIG FAVOR
buy these FIVE books, it will be the best money you ever spent, read them, and you will be miles ahead of the average guy.
HOW TO BUILD THE SMALL BLOCK CHEVEROLET by LARRY ATHERTON&LARRY SCHREIB
.
HOW TO BUILD MAX PERFORMANCE CHEVY SMALL BLOCKS ON A BUDGET by DAVID VIZARD
.
JOHN LINGENFELTER on modifying small-block chevy engines

how to build & modify CHEVROLET small-block V-8 CAMSHAFTS & VALVTRAINS BY DAVID VIZARD

SMOKEY YUNICK,S POWER SECRETS


if cams are a mystery please take the time to read these, it will get you a good start
http://www.newcovenant.com/speedcraf...camshaft/1.htm
(read LESSONs 1-8)
http://www.mercurycapri.com/technica...e/cam/lca.html
http://www.wighat.com/fcr3/confusion.htm
http://www.cranecams.com/instruction...in/camfail.htm
http://www.mercurycapri.com/technica...cam/index.html
http://www.idavette.net/hib/camcon.htm
http://www.cranecams.com/master/adjustvt.htm
http://www.centuryperformance.com/valveadjustment.htm
http://www.totalengineairflow.com/tech/valvelashing.htm
http://www.chevytalk.com/tech/engine/Cam_Selection.html
http://www.chevytalk.com/tech/101/Cam_Theory.html
http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ar/ar119736.htm
http://www.mercurycapri.com/technica...e/cam/vtg.html
http://www.n2performance.com/lecture1.shtml
http://www.symuli.com/vw/camp1.html
http://www.symuli.com/vw/camp2.html
http://home.wxs.nl/~meine119/tech/camqa.html
first lets get something strait, theres [color:"red"] two [/color] kinds of timing [color:"red"] cam timing, the relationship of when the valves open and close relative to the pistons location at TDC and BDC [/color] and [color:"blue"] ignition timing [/color] which is the point at which the spark plugs fire in relation to the pistons position at TDC on the compression stroke.
cam timeing in the standard chevy V8 is set/locked in when the cam is installed and the relative timing of that cams lobe duration ,lift and LSA are set when the cam is ground/manufactured
[color:"red"] ignition timing [/color]

http://www.centuryperformance.com/timing.htm

http://www.centuryperformance.com/vacuum.htm

http://www.boyleworks.com/ta400/psp/distcurve.html (pontiac but info the same for chevy)

http://www.73-87.com/garage/101s.htm

http://www.73-87.com/garage/hei.htm

[image]http://www.73-87.com/garage_photos/disremov/firingorder.jpg[/image] here read this also www.victorylibrary.com/mopar/cam-tech-c.htm"
www.victorylibrary.com/mopar/cam-tech-c.htm http://64.90.9.168/cranecams/pdf/276g.pdf" http://64.90.9.168/cranecams/pdf/276g.pdf http://www.msdignition.com/

how come its 180 degs out of phase? I get this question all the time, well heres something I see lots of guys don,t understand,ONCE YOUVE INSTALLED A CAM WITH THE TIMEING MARKS YOU MUST ROTATE THE CRANK 360 DEGRESS BEFORE DROPPING IN THE DISTRIBUTOR
... while its true that if the
timeing marks are possitioned so the crank is at 12 o,clock and the cam gear
is at 6 o,clock that the cam lobes will be in the possition that fires #6
cylinder that HAS NO EFFECT AT ALL (on finding TDC,) for aligning the degree wheel with TDC,or THE timeing tab pointer, for degreeing in the cam, the piston passes thru
TDC TWICE in every fireing cycle once on the fireing/power stroke and once
on the exhaust stroke, the cam rotates at exactly 1/2 the speed of the crank
so to make it easy to line up the marks they install it with the marks at
the closest point 6/12 for easy indexing, rotate the engine 360 degrees to
the #1 TDC power stroke and the crank gear will still be at 12 oclock 12/12
but the cam will be at 12 o,clock also, rotate another 360 degrees and your
back where you started. its simply easier to index the cam at the point
where the index marks align closely. look at how the cam lobes themselfs
open the valves when the cam is just installed the #1 cylinder valves are
slightly open and the #6 are closed
per "Lunati"
""YES YOU ARE RIGHT - WHEN CRANK IS AT TWELVE AND CAM IS AT SIX THEN #6 CYL IS FIRING
AFTER YOU LINE UP YOUR MARKS AND INSTALL GEAR THEN ROTATE YOUR CRANK ONE REVOLUTION AND THEN DROP THE DIST. IN - AT THAT POINT #1 IS FIRING""

[color:"red"]cam timing [/color]
BR>Explanation of Crankshaft timing marks: <P>0 - Indicates standard cam timing A - Advances the cam timing 4° R - Retards the cam timing 4° [image]http://www.cranecams.com/master/images/keyway.gif[/image]

this is some of the best basic cam info youll find so read this first,
<A HREF="http://www.newcovenant.com/speedcrafter/tech/camshaft/1.htm" http://www.newcovenant.com/speedcraf...camshaft/1.htm (lessons 1-8 http://www.mercurycapri.com/technica.../cam/lca.html" http://www.mercurycapri.com/technica...e/cam/lca.html HREF="http://ctfba.tripod.com/main/technical/cams/cambasics/cambasics.htm" http://ctfba.tripod.com/main/technic.../cambasics.htm http://ctfba.tripod.com/main/technic...aphAttack.htm" http://ctfba.tripod.com/main/technic...raphAttack.htm http://moparjimsgarage.virtualave.net/camvalve.html" http://moparjimsgarage.virtualave.net/camvalve.html A http://www.federal-mogul.com/speedpr...peed_pro.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.federal-mogul.com/speedpro/camshafts_speed_pro.html
some good general info here [image]http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ar/elements/30228b.gif[/image] look closely at the duration used for each MATCHING rpm range. ALSO KEEP IN MIND THE DCR AND OVERLAP MUST MATCH look here these are the valve timeing overlap ranges that are most likely to work correctly
trucks/good mileage towing 10-35 degs overlap daily driven low rpm performance 30-55degs overlap
hot street performance 50-75 degs overlap oval track racing 70-95degs overlap
dragster/comp eliminator engines 90-115 degs overlap but all engines will need the correct matching dcr for those overlap figures to correctly scavage the cylinders in the rpm ranges that apply to each engines use range http://cochise.uia.net/pkelley2/Overlap.html" http://cochise.uia.net/pkelley2/Overlap.html http://cochise.uia.net/pkelley2/DynamicCR.html" http://cochise.uia.net/pkelley2/DynamicCR.html
[color:"green"]plug info [/color]

here you want plug info? we got plug info!

http://www.acdelco.com/html/pi_plugs_ident.htm

http://www.atlanticjetsports.com/_techtalk/00000005.htm

http://www.ngkspark.com.au/spark_plu...art_index3.htm


http://www.strappe.com/plugs.html

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/cm/cm59910.htm
http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinf...tnumberkey.pdf

http://www.eric-gorr.com/techarticles/sparkplugs.html

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/engine/plugs.html


http://www.tsrsoftware.com/sparkplug.htm

http://www.racinghelp.com/read_spark_plugs.html

http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinf...overviewp2.asp


http://www.projectbasketcase.com/menus/ignition.html




you want EFI info? we got info! http://www.diy-efi.org/diy_efi/oem/gm/tunetip.html http://www.customefis.com/
http://www.diy-efi.org/subscribe.html
http://www.diy-efi.org/
http://www.fuelairspark.com/common/i...01/Default_fil es/frame.htm
http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~fridman/diy_efi/
http://www.rceng.com/technical.htm#WORKSHEET
http://www.speartech.com/
http://kevthompson.homestead.com/intakesEFI.html
http://www.force-efi.com/fabmach.htm
http://www.tunercat.com/tnr_desc/do_tc.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~micfly/accel.htm
http://www.sdsefi.com/
http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/AF_meter.html
http://www.techedge.com.au/vehicle/wbo2/default.htm
http://www.centuryperformance.com/fuel.asp http://www.race-technology.com/WebPa...U/ECUMain.html

http://members.aol.com/bigturbo1/buick1.html
http://www.turbofast.com.au/tfcalc.html
http://store.yahoo.com/dpstore/elpar.html
http://www.geocities.com/softtailduece01/
http://www.bgsoflex.com/megasquirt.html
http://www.aempower.com/ems.htm#

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/95518/
http://www.babcox.com/editorial/us/us110128.htm
http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ar/eb120121.htm
http://www.sa-motorsports.com/diyport.htm
http://www.ws6transam.org/ported.html
http://www.gtiworld.fsnet.co.uk/porting.htm
http://boosted.envy.nu/articles/porting1.htm

 

OMG! Thank you for so much info, Grumpy. :eek: I've got a lot of reading to do then. :crazy: :cheers:

 

buy the listed books
it really will save you years and thousands of dollars in wasted effort

then look this site over
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm


[Modified by grumpyvette, 2:39 AM 5/12/2003]

 

You need to do all the reading you can, if you want to rebuild an engine by yourself. Make sure you have the GM Shop Manual, and any books on rebuilding Small Block Chevys that you can get your hands on. The LT1 is a Gen II SBC, which is not exactly like the older ones, but they are almost identical in some respects.

If you want a specific HP/Tq number, you should decide on that, pick a camshaft designed for a Supercharged engine. The stock cam isnt enough, IMO. You would also GREATLY benefit from ported heads, but a 383 is not really necessary. (if you have the money, by all means).

If i was doing this id get
Clevite 77 bearings, cam for a SC, ported heads, 1.6rr, new valvetrain parts EVERYWHERE (titanium retainers, tougher valve springs which go with the cam, etc.), Forged pistons/crank/rods, melling oil pump, maybe a bigger oil pan, new vented optispark, new hi-flo Water pump (maybe a meziere), bigger injectors (depends on what HP # youre looking for). I know i'm forgetting something else....