This is the short block that had been installed in my 1995 Impala
SS for many years. It is a stock crank budget 355 with Mahle
flat top pistons. The engine saw almost no drag strip time and
only a few laps at Virginia Int'l Racway due to power steering issues.
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Finally found some time to pull the motor, (with the help of
ERE-67 Thomas Ferretti).
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The replacement block is one I took back from a customer due to
the pistons being too noisy. I'll be using the same rotating
assembly which consist of an Eagle forged crank, Compstar rods and
custom Ross pistons. The pistons have .006" cylinder
clearance which makes them quite loud due to rocking in the bores.
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Here I have the block cleaned up and ready for assembly.
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Main clearance is set and thrust is .007"
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Pistons cleaned up and installed.
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I'm going to experiment with a standard volume oil pump in
combination with the somewhat larger main bearing clearance of a
"race" motor.
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The pump is a Melling M155 with standard pressure spring.
The pickup is installed by Stan at Stef's.
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Test fitting of my personal Stef's oil pan. I've had it
laying around for years. It is 2nd generation (my design).
This has billet front 1/2 moon but still with the thin and soft side
rails. The 3rd generation, (latest design), has billet side
rails and an oil level tell-tale plug.
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Windage tray nut and stud hits the oil pan scraper.
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One problem found is that the scraper bumps into the windage tray
nut. This was fixed by pushing the scraper down.
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GM 846 camshaft. Crane 109831 cam:
222/230/112, .543/.563" lift with 1.6 rockers.
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A few things going on here: This is a Hex-Adjust timing set
I had laying around. I lost the bolts that came with it and so
found these ATI damper bolts which sit flush to allow the opti-spark
to fit nicely. The eccentric cam pin button needs to be ground
down so that it fits flush or else it opti-spark (or in this case
the TorqHead sensing unit) will not fit.
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Cam degree first check with eye-ball intake centerline gives 106
and cam card states 107.
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2nd check via .050" intake lift shows 4.0 BTDC and cam card
states 4.0 BTDC. I'm close enough.
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Photo taken here to record the new rear main seal that I'll be
testing out on my engine. This is a double lip seal from Mahle
which is only a few bucks more than the FelPro.
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I'm making sure the dipstick tube and "stick" fits and
does not bump into the windage tray. The Eagle caps are angled
such that the stick will slide by and past the windage tray hole, (as
required).
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Timing cover on.
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Oil pan bolted on. Crank turned while listening and feeling
for interference and all is good. The oil pump pickup clearance
was checked and it's a tad large at 1/2" from pickup to pan
bottom but in this case it's not adjustable.
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Here I am prematurely installing the TorqHead hub and reluctor.
(Live and learn). Turns out the sensing unit goes in 1st and
then the hub. If you do the hub/reluctor first then the sensing
unit does not have enough room to insert into the nose of the
cam.
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RTV and $0.50 Kennedy.
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Sensing unit 1st, then hub-reluctor.
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This TorqHead kit was already aligned on the old 355LT1 but here
on this new 383 combo with different timing set it looks like I should
re-align and re-gap the sensor. Thankfully I saved the gap and
aligning jig.
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Photo to show my cleaning set up. For blocks I use the
pressure washer with solvent and hot water, (I have an outside main
line to the hot water heater). For other engine parts I use my
Safety Kleen parts washer and elbow grease.
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Moore Performance ported LT4 cylinder heads. These were
ported for a 396cid blower motor. I never measured the chamber
volume.
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I measured 2 chambers. 1st one here gave me 61cc, (more than
I guessed).
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And the 2nd one gave 61cc. That is unusually large for a GM
LT4 head. I'm glad of this because I have a flat top 383 and I
don't want 12.5 compression ratio. This gives 11.7
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I'm using dielectric grease for the seal and denatured alcohol.
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I've been waiting for the GMPP lifter tray. I'd like to be
able to experiment with different camshafts and this LS style tray
will allow for a quicker swap.
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And here it is.
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Rockers all installed and adjusted. The 5/16" pushrod
guide plates are typical in that they don't line up the rocker tips to
the valve tips very well.
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This is the worst of em. The rest were better. I'll
leave it like this. So...I'm using 7.250" pushrods and
these older style Comp 1.6 roller rockers and the original Moore
Performance CNC ported LT4 heads that came with the car when I bought
it. (it had a 396LT1 blower motor).
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GM 846 cam, CNC ported LT4 heads at 61cc, TorqHead LS1 PCM control
system.
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Planning to run a 150 - 200 hp nitrous kit of some sort.
What is the best kit out there now-a-days?
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Lets put it into it's rightful home to power The Heavy Eliminator
II
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Slipped in with only minor snagging of #8 coil and the windshield
wiper motor.
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On the motor mounts and 2 of 6 tranny-engine bolts installed.
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