How much & where you have to clearance the block will depend on your crank & rods. Generally the rods will foul on the bottom of your cylinder bores, and you will have to grind some away. You will have to dummy up your crank, rod, pistons and see how much clearance you will need, take it all out then grind some away, and repeat the process until its ok. Most engine machine shops will be able to do this for you. If your doing it yourself like me then you just gotta be careful you don't take too much off and hit a water jacket, it will need to be welded up if you make a boo boo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pastical
how much are we talking about here that needs to be taken off? like only 2mm or what?
think its a little bit more...
get a shop to do it, will only cost about $200, and if they go too far and hit water they will seal it up for you.. thats for a 383 tho, otherwise a 355 is much easier
Considering crankshaft rebuilders make a 383 crank for the same price as a 355 i dont know why you'd go a 355 these days
Quote:
Originally Posted by Epitaph
isnt it supposed to be less stress on the block?
yep, most ppl assume its the opposite... but u just gotta think about it.. take 2 identical top ends and put them on a 355 and a 383 bottom end, the 383 will run circles around a 355 and make it look stupid.
383 will be up around 30/40lb-ft torque on the 355 everywhere down low which is a massive feelable difference, and the biggest factor is to make max power the 383 will be down like 500rpm or so on the 355, so the 355 has to rev more than the 383 to make the same power.. revs are the cause of big stress, so a 383 with its little revs should be heaps reliable and a lot fun to drive, imagine the throttle response to begin with
like i said above theres not much reason now to build a 355 instead of a 383, a little while ago the cranks used to cost heaps but now they're same price, maybe 200-300 more... rods and pistons are as widely available as a 355 combo, and same prices anyway from there, so u cant go wrong
Some original photos have not been recovered yet.
Sir5.7 and Sinister are spot on again as usual. Go the 383. I have had mine going strong now for 6 years with no problems at all. The only reason a 383 would put more stress on the block is if it is not balanced properly, as with all things, you get what you pay for. They will cost a little more because of the extra clearance work required but most engine parts are around the same cost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wagonshaw
ok cool
hey wagonshaw i got a set of vn heads for sale but im in melb
Some original photos have not been recovered yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 72 of 150
VL383 are you still using the 2 bolt mains??
That would not be recommended surely??
ohh?? says who ??
4 bolt mains are a nice insurance, but they arent always necessary... they come into play the more u rev, and as we said the 383 isnt a big revver nor does it need to be!
Running exactly what Branko suggested above. Only a 2 bolt bottom end with an ARP stud kit.
The car very rarely see's over 6000rpm, peak power is around 5500rpm. Having run it at a few race meeting I have tried many different rpm changes and it always runs quicker times when the gears are changed between 5000 and 5500 rpm using the low down torque.
Bumpy--
hey just wondering how far i can take my HDT 308 engine with just a crank?
by the looks of things it's 355?
instead of buying a new car i have a perfectly good VK here i can **** with.
just wondering how much a crank to take my car to 5.8(355ci)
is worth?
id prefer not to get machining done cos im a tight ass and cant afford to have this thing off the road for long. i just wanna whack a crank and new cam in here. its runnin perfect as is atm with a TH700 conversion
You will need to rebuild your bottom end, its not as simple as "whack a crank" in and be done. New bearings, rods resized, new pistons, new rings, get it all balanced etc. The block will then have to be machined to clearance for the crank & rods, and honed for the new pistons.
