Time for a 383 or 396, do it myself or have it built?

[Torque]

Turns out, my blown head gasket resutled in a seized motor. Time to bore out my backup block and go for a new rotating assembly.

Any suggestions for a limited budget? If I get all the machine work done should I try to build myself or have it done? I have built a ton of 2 stroke, and 2 successful LT1 top ends but never got into 4 stroke bottom ends. I am sick of working on this car, want to get something that will last. Any suggestions on good builders?

Do superchargers hold up to the cruelty of road-racing? Figured if I was going to build a motor, might as well look into low compression pistons and high boost. I know the mustang guys have not had good luck with this kind of sustained RPMS.

Any advice would be appreciated, very bummed about this, just when I thought I had this car straight again!

[Performin Norman]

IMHO. If you are very experienced at building motors, do it yourself. If you are not, have a professional do it.

[Flash 97 WS/6]

I would not recommend a supercharger for a road race motor... If you're dead-set on forced induction, possibly turbo but not a standard centrifugal belt driven blower. A "roots" or "screw" type blower might be a little better for longevity, but again I would say overall a turbo setup would be better.

In general, for extended high RPM duty think about a good flowing, high compression N/A engine, this should do far better than anything with forced induction. If you do a lot of road racing, I would also consider keeping the stroke fairly short (IE no 396+!) and go sparingly with the juice if you decide you need it. I've been remotely involved in building of a few NASCAR and Busch race engines and the emphasis seems to be on strong (of course!) and lightweight internals...generally the lighter the rotating components, the higher (and longer) the engine will rev without damage. It's all about balance if you want to spin 5k+ for more than just a row through the gears.

I would use the supercharger money to get better quality, lighter pistons, rods, crank, lightweight flywheel and a good damper...and don't skimp on oiling either!

(TIME * RPM) ^ HP = $³

-- Flash

[Joe 1320]

If you plan on keeping it together for maximum longevity, build a good solid N/A motor. You can still ahve a shortblock built and assemble the rest yourself.

[Torque]

This is exactly what I am thinking. Have the short block built, do the rest myself.

I have definitely heard keeping a shorter stroke and having a larger power band is better. I will never spray it, no interest in that, definitely does not mix with road racing. Unfortunatly, there really is not a budget for a blower let alone the motor, this part was more for long term planning, I will scrape something together though to get the motor pulled together.

What kind of HP gains are there between a stout high flowing/revving/compression 350 (what I had before), and a well built stout 383? I think I need to do a justification to see if it is worth springing for the 383. I don't think that would lower the revs by that much, a 396, that would certainly change things, would not be comfortable revving that much.

Anybody make stout crate motor type bottom ends for these that are readily available? Really don't feel like dealing with machine shop and engine builder lead times and unpredictability...