383 Stroker Build

Father and Son project. Received our 327 block back from the Machinest yesterday. New cam bearings, cylinder hone, align hone, machined for splayed caps, magnafluxed, sonic tested, decked to 10 in the hole, and a few other things. Motor will only be used for drag racing going into a 72' Camaro. Hope to have everything ready to go by 2017 race season and be able to make a few passes. Since this is the first pic I've ever posted, now that I got the hang of it, I'm going to try and keep a log of the progress and frustrations encountered over the next year!

I don't like the Howards caps because the outter bolts are only 10degrees

Sounds like a blast! Love father son projects - do post lost of pictures and welcome to CHR

Glenn

Oh YES! We do love the pics...
Thanks for making time to share'em!

Got some work done on the 383 today: Rotating assembly and camshaft in. Our new tool, ARP 4.030 compressor worked like a charm as I was curious to see how it would do with the mahli pistons which have been a pain for me in the past!

Well, got some things accomplished but not as much as I'd liked. Today I put the timing set on, degreed the cam, and put timing tape on the balancer. Well I go to put the timing cover on and it was a 'no go.' So that's where the rest of time went. I noticed both the cam button and cam bolts were obstructing the clearance I needed. So we cut a hole in the cover, aligned with the button and did some 'fabricating/bending out' on the cover to come off those bolts a bit. Mocked it up and it did the trick. We also used some sheet metal and cut out a circle that we were going to solder over the hole. Then realized no flux left and propane about empty. Going to finish this timing cover on Monday and will post a pic of the fabrication/modification work.

Also, meant to add, if you take a look at the picture you'll notice one side has front mount motor mount and the other side does not. This is a 68' 327 block. Any ideas on why this is? My dad said he'd never seen that before and all sbc's he's worked on always had both front motor mounts..

I've never seen one that wasn't tapped an threaded and it should be on every GenI small block starting in 55. Be hard to change fuel pump without that top hole tapped and threaded.

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Originally Posted by NTFDAY

I've never seen one that wasn't tapped an threaded and it should be on every GenI small block starting in 55. Be hard to change fuel pump without that top hole tapped and threaded.

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Good news is we'll be running an electric fuel pump and have already plated off the manual. Was just curious why it was missing that side's mount.

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Originally Posted by Rdobbs1977

Well, got some things accomplished but not as much as I'd liked. Today I put the timing set on, degreed the cam, and put timing tape on the balancer. Well I go to put the timing cover on and it was a 'no go.' So that's where the rest of time went. I noticed both the cam button and cam bolts were obstructing the clearance I needed. So we cut a hole in the cover, aligned with the button and did some 'fabricating/bending out' on the cover to come off those bolts a bit. Mocked it up and it did the trick. We also used some sheet metal and cut out a circle that we were going to solder over the hole. Then realized no flux left and propane about empty. Going to finish this timing cover on Monday and will post a pic of the fabrication/modification work.

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Be careful about the clearance between the cover and the back of the water pump when you bolt it on. The pump could push the cover back into the bolt heads or cam button or both.

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This engine certainly seems like its not been without some modifications needed. Today we finished modifying the timing cover so that it would clear the cam button and bolts. Looks like we'll have the clearance we need when we get to water pump. Installed the oil pump, pick up screen, and pan. We had problems with pan's baffle clearing the 4 main journal studs so did some modifying to make all that work. Lastly, put the balancer on. Would have gotten more done but a caliper was sticking on my daily driver camaro so time was taken out to address that (sort of, found out the brake line bolt on the old caliper is a tad shorter on new one so I'll have to see if parts guy can get me a bolt for it). All in all a good day for Dad and I:)

Put head studs in the 383 this afternoon. For me they look pretty cool as this is the first time I've ever ran studs in a motor! Did measure for pushrod length as well and it looks like the length came out somewhat close to the factory rod size. My caliper's not long enough to get an exact measurement but figure I'll take to the machinest next week for him to give me an accurate measurement.

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Originally Posted by Rdobbs1977

My caliper's not long enough to get an exact measurement

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This should be the last time that happens. Get a 12" dial caliper as soon as you can. I bought a used Mitutoyo off ebay for 85 bucks.

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Did you put a sealer compound on the studs threads where they screw into deck?

We did Jerry and thank you for the post as I know sometimes things are forgotten and not caught before its too late,