I finally found the block I was looking for, a four bolt main 1 piece rear seal roller cam block. AND it has dip stick fittings on both sides of the engine so there is a chance that my current road racing pan will fit with the right gasket. I found it by calling around to truck wreckers and if someone didn't have one I asked for references. Boy, I was getting tired of people telling me "I've seen 600 hp two bolts what do ya want a 4 bolt for" or "just use retrofit roller lifters, I'm pretty sure I can get you some". Well...all the machinists I spoke with recommend 4 bolt for anything more than 400 hp (they don't want people coming back with shattered blocks) and there don't seem to be ANY retrofit roller lifters available while the OEM roller lifters are going for $75 new on ebay (which beats the $500+ that I hear comp cams is going to charge when they finally come out with new retrofit lifters!)

Anyways, its a casting number 14101148 which was built between '87 and '90. It didn't have a roller cam in it (I bought the whole short block for $275) but it has the nubs (untapped) to support the 'spider' that holds the factory lifters and it has the machining for the cam thrust plate. I got a guarantee that its not cracked so I am dropping it off at the machine shop tomorrow morning for a cleaning and a magnaflux.

My plan is to buy a scat 9000 crank, manley sprotsmaster rods and KB hyperuetectic pistons with total seal rings. I can get the whole rotating assembly from flatlanderracing.com for $1000 including internal balancing. The rods and pistons are among the lightest available and so will spin up faster while reducing stress on the crank. I will have about a 9.8:1 (with 74cc AFR 190cc heads) compression ratio with .039 inches of quench with a zero decked block. The total seal rings should give me good vacuum no matter what cam I run, tho my plan is to go fairly mellow on the cam.

Chevy high performance recently did a buildup on a factory chevy crate motor with hyperuetectic piston and got over 500 hp so I am confident that they will hold up to my planned 450 - 500 hp. I won't be doing any drag racing, just the occasional autocross. The machinists I spoke with all seem to think this is a good plan too.

At this point I am wondering about the oil pan...do I need to get a 'stroker' pan or will a stock style pan fit? I currently have a very nice road racing pan with kickouts and oil control gates and the pan is only 6.5 inches deep (same as stock). The only thing I found that is close is a Canton road racing pan for over $325. I'd rather keep my money for other things thank you. Anybody???

Anyways, thats all for now...I'm gettin excited...

 

You should not need a special pan for a stroker engine. The first place you run into clearance problems on longer than stock stroke motors is between the rod and camshaft, and the bottom of the piston and the crankshaft counterweight. The next place is interference between the rod and the bottom of the cylinders. However, you should not have a problem with any of this if you're building a 383 and using parts make for that.

BTW, rings don't have much to do with the amount of manifold vacuum you will wind up with. It's the amount of overlap in the cam (the time when both the intake and exhaust valves are open at the same time) that causes low manifold vacuum at idle, and the choppy idle that goes with it.

And on the internally balanced cranks, it's not clear to me what you meant, but just in case you want to get your rotating assemble balanced at the machine shop. Just because the crank is set up for "internal balance" does not mean it is balanced for the specific piston and rod weights you are planning on using. If you're not planning on it, get it balanced. You'll be glad you did.

Dan