5.22.07: Golen block return home from the machine shop.  The whole block was treated to an additional magnaflux test at an industrial machine shop near Washington D.C.  It also had a water jacket pressure test.

The block needs to be cleaned very thoroughly.  The Racemaster crankshaft is at the machine shop for balance.  I expect the Mahle pistons to arrive Wed. the 23rd.  As soon as the pistons arrive I can weigh them and call in the numbers to the machine shop so that they can begin the balance.

Lots of fun today.  Finally, after more than 6 months, Mahle has produced the -16cc Chevy piston with a quench pad. (inverted dome with a D-dish).  Feast your eyes on all the photos.

This piston is for a 383 stroker SBC with 6" rods.  No oil rings in the pin boss area.  That saves a ton of grams, (get it?).

I love this forging design.

The dish edges are very smooth.  It looks like a forged edge with just center area of the dish machined.

I weighed everything on my Polish 3-beam scale, (accurate to 0.1 gram).  The individual component weights added up to equal the weight of all the items grouped, (584.0g)

I don't weigh the rods.  The rod manufactures usually send weight matched sets and the info is on the box.  Oliver matches their rod weights within 1 gram or better.

Well, the crank was ready for me on Friday the 25th and so the work begins.

I tapped the front oil galley holes to accept pipe plugs.

And since I know the Oliver rod big-end shoulders hit in this area I took the Dremmel tool to it.

And the oil hole never lines up with aftermarket bearing shell holes.  The Dremmel tool was used to widen the oil passage just a little bit.

After the minor grinding the block was washed and washed and washed and washed.  I use Dawn and warm water and then WD-40 and then lots of wiping because rust forms very quickly.  Now the block is ready.  Here I'm installing the 1st of 5 performance coated cam bearings.

Now getting the Callies main caps and ARP studs ready.

I cleaned up the Callies Racemaster crankshaft. (there is always machining dirt and metal chips hiding in oil holes and lightening holes).

Here is a closer view.  Notice that the Racemaster has all of the mains drilled for lightening.

The crank main journals measured 2.4480" and the crank rod journals are 2.0990"  That is .001" smaller than standard which must be a performance industry "standard".  I expected this and plan to start out using a mix of standard and .001" under main bearing shells.

The standard shells are in the "top" location and here is my box of .001" under size Clevite H-series.

Install and torque all of the main caps.  Note that 1 of 3 Milodon windage tray main studs is missing.  I have more of those on order and for now will use the ARP shorter stud.  After measuring the main clearance with a bore gauge, (no photos), I set the crank in place and stopped for the day.  More tomorrow.

Here are the final measurements. The main journals mic'ed out to #1=2.4506 #2=2.4506 #3=2.4510 #4=2.4510 which is .0026, .0026, .0030, .0030" clearance.  #5 was some amount tighter, (I did not write that down).  So #5 has standard bearing shells in both top and bottom position.  #5 clearance is .0033"

June 1st:  Here is the re-stock of extra long Milodon main studs.  I only need one out of this package.

The camera flash killed this photo.  But the idea was to show the cylinder cleaning go-no-go.  Prior to file fitting the rings I've learned to make sure the bores are clean.  It's amazing how much cleaning is required to get all the dirt out of the cylinder bores.  I clean with brake clean and then oil with WD-40 and then wipe with a clean paper towel.  If the paper towel comes out clean then the bore is ready.  If any darkness is on the paper towel then you keep cleaning.

Top ring at .020"

All the rings are stored in their bores until just prior to installation onto the pistons.  The 2nd rings are gapped to .025"

I forgot to show you the thrust set up.  #1, 2, 3, 4 main caps are torqued and the thrust is .008"   Then I torque down #5 main cap and try to match .008" which would indicate that the top and bottom thrust bearing 1/2 shells are sharing the thrust load.  I was able to get a final thrust of .007" with the #5 main cap torqued.  

Now to the rod bearing clearance and assembly of piston to rod.  This is an Oliver Billet "stroker" clearanced rod.  Oliver has already ground on the shoulder.  The bearings are Clevite H-series and "N" for narrow.

See this close up of the shoulder clearance.  Even a corner of the rod bolt is shaved. That rod bolt should be torqued to spec and be in that exact same orientation.  

When using the standard and .001" under bearing mix I came up with .0019" clearance.  That's good for a street 383 but this is a road racing 383 which is using a high volume gerotor oil pump.  I want the rod bearing clearance a bit more loose.  Using the standard bearing on top and bottom gave .0027" clearance.  That's what I'm going with.  Also the ARP 7/16" WSB rod bolts required 85ft-lb for .053" stretch.

Now to the assembly of the Mahle #SBC125030I16 piston to the Oliver rod.

Here is another photo.

All piston/rod assemblies are stored in the Pepsi crate.

Here is the Ai cam that arrived today.  This is somewhat like the GM-846 cam but with a bit more power and torque.

When I tapped the front oil galleys for pipe plugs I used a 1/4" and 3/8" NPT tap.  But the plugs in the core plug package were difficult to thread all the way in.  I went to the hardware store and bought 3/8" NPT dowel plugs and they seemed to be a bit smaller and these thread in very nicely.  ????   I wonder what the difference is.

I decided to "pre-degree" the cam using my LT4 timing set.  So I go to press on the crank sprocket and notice that Callies forgot to thread the snout, (and it's at 1/2" big block Chevy bolt size).

I tapped the snout for 1/2" 20tpi (BBC) crank bolt.

Now I can press on the crank sprocket.

Here is my slightly used LT4 timing set.

The chain is very very loose.

One piston is installed and it's at 0.000" deck height.

I guess I forgot to take photos while degreeing the cam.  I only found this one photo on my memory stick.  So I came up with 108 ICL and it should be 106.  When I degree the cam "backward" counterclockwise I get 106.  That shows the effect of chain slack.  

Now all the pistons will be installed.  Here is the very thin (3mm) oil ring package.  It's thin but effective.

Bad focus but it's the only photo I took of all the rings.

That's #1 piston at TDC

All pistons in accept #8.  I took this photo to show that the empty bore should be oiled prior to installing the piton.

All the rods where torqued to 90ft-lb which gives .005" stretch.

Also see the feeler gauge.  That is inserted during the rod-bolt torque process to keep the rod steady and square on the crank.  Rod side clearance by the way it .017".

Dave's timing set arrived.  I removed mine and installed his.  The cam is still 1.5 degrees retarded.  That's pretty close.  But the LT4 timing chain will stretch and I think retard the cam even up to 1 more degree.

Let me removed this sprocket and try another one.

Again it's 1.5 deg retarded.  I also used a solid lifter this time in place of my cam lift tool.  Same result.  I will probably leave the cam installed right here but I'm going to consult wit Ai before I make the final decision.

6-5-07:
I now have the cam at 106.5 degrees for ICA.  I did not have to use a cam sprocket offset bushing.  I actually learned something.  I noticed that there was a tiny bit of slack in the cam sprocket bolt holes and that you could move the cam sprocket just a bit before tightening the cam bolts.  Well, I tightened the bolts while pushing the sprocket counter-clockwise and came up with 106.5 deg ICA.   Then I backed each cam bolt out one at a time and added Permatex Threadlocker Red.  And then finally checked the cam again with the degree wheel to verify it was still at 106.5

Here is the Titan sportsman gerotor oil pump.  It comes with a very nice mounting stud/nut and the tool steel drive shaft which must be trimmed to fit.

Here she is on the motor.

And another view.

Although the Stef's pan has a windage tray, I like to use the stock tray also.

Curl the edges in order to fit with the Stef's oil pan.

King ERE-383 motors receive new GM rear main seal housings.

Titan gerotor oil pump is shipped with a drive shaft that must be trimmed to fit.

This time is was 8.0" for a perfect fit.  It should be short enough so that there is room for flex and expansion so that the oil pump is not bound up.

Customer supplied timing cover with 3 new seals.  This is installed so that I can install the oil pan.

To make ready a brand new Stef's oil pan you remove the windage screen and sump tray for cleaning.

Clean with soap and water then dry.

RTV the 4 little windage screen bolts too.

That's a nice looking oil pan.  It really kicked my butt today when trying to fit it.  The front area needed lots of trimming to allow the oil pan gasket to conform.

The other side of the oil pan.  Here I am filling all holes prior to oil system test.  Installed temporary level sensor, temporary filter. . .

And I filled in the front crank hole with the ATI super damper.  This is an Impala SS hub.

Install hub with quality tool.  Make sure to use reluctor spacer if it's a 94, 95 B-body.

Now I spin the oil pump and look for expected pressure and also for leaks.  I was able to get 50 psig at 850rpm (which I think would be 1700 crank rpm).

One area of leakage.  I drilled here for an additional bolt hole.  Sorta oblong.  It leaked oil.

Cleaned and filled with RTV and installed bolt and re-tested a few hours later.  No leaks, (yet).

Now she is painted with POR-15 engine black.

Another photo of the Mahle pistons

Here is a little bit of test fitting.  Kent's billet MSD optispark and Dave's ATI damper.

Monday morning:  Getting the skid ready for shipping.

Need to wrap up the rear.

One final pose.

Crated and headed for Yellow Freight.