ERE-383 #89
Engine build for the 2018 ISSCA Raffle.

577 Horses 

Golen machined block with 4-bolt mains and ARP studs.	Eagle forged "396" crankshaft.  (3.875" stroke)
Getting things ready for cleaning and fitting.	Rods all fresh from the parts washer. These are Forged Eagle 6.0" H-beam rods.  They have 7/16" ARP 2000 rod bolts and are stroker clearanced.
	Measuring rod bearing clearance.  All ended up at .0020" using the premium race King CR807XPN.
Notice the "stroker" clearance.  This is the rod shoulder machined by Eagle and the rod bolt tip is included in the machining.  If you don't torque the rod bolt to the exact setting then the bolt will be turned one way or the other.  I set my torque wrench to 75 ft-lb but that was too much.  I ended up having to set my torque wrench to 70 ft-lb for the exact fit.
Mains being set now.  Main bearings are race premium King MB557XP, (standard size).	All fitted up nicely.  0.0025" for #1,2,3,4 and 0.0035" for #5.
Spent quite a bit of time doing more block clearancing.  This 3.875" stroke crank makes it very tricky.  I don't want to go into the water jacket.  You'll see later what my solution is to have the rod bolts clear the block.	Now to the ring filing.  These are the Mahle 1.0mm rings which is the industry standard now.  Thinner is better.  The thin rings conform to bore distortions.
Rings at .022" 1st and .020" 2nd.	Photo verification of the oil gallery plug.
Advanced Induction camshaft.  This is the "Big Kahuna" camshaft grind. (235/245/110) (.608"/.611" lift).
Block cleaned.  Rings filed.  Ready for rotating assembly.	Front oil galleries threaded for plugs.
Thrust at .004"
Extreme timing set.	Here is a photo of the piston and the beautiful rings.
Here is my clearancing solution.  After talking it over with a Pro Stock engine builder, (Jim Morgan), we both agreed that it would be safer to just clearance the rod bolt as opposed to risking grinding through to the water jacket.	Here is how much clearance the block can take.  Not much more than this.
Now I have a safe amount of clearance with the bolt head clearance work.  All rods needed one bolt head to be clearanced.	Now I'm watching the paint dry.  POR-15
Camshaft degree check.  Intake centerline measured to be 107 deg.  Cam card says....107 deg.  :)	Now it's time to get the heads and other parts out of the current 350LT1.
I really like my shop.  Not a lot of room but enough to pack in a few cars and tool boxes.	Pre-pull photo of driver's side.
Pre-pull photo of passenger side.	Ready to pull.  Attempting to pull the engine with both headers still installed.
I ended up removing the driver's side headers to make it easier.	This is the only side of my garage that has the floor painted.  It makes for easy wiping up of oil and coolant.  One day soon I'll finish painting the rest of the shop floor.
Intake off.  Some milky spots probably due to the car sitting for a long time and not getting the oil up to normal operating temperature.
Heads off.  All looks normal.	Heads look normal.
Nice timing set.  This is a normal amount of chain stretch.	But a new timing set was installed while it is convenient, (see degree wheel photo).
Now the cleaning of parts and installation of top end begins.  Here the timing cover was cleaned and installed.  I'm setting the engine on the ground to get access to the rear main seal housing to install that.  It has to be centered perfectly around the crankshaft and so I use 3 feeler gauges (.004").  Not shown.	All parts get cleaned up in my parts washer, (which gets a new drum of fluid every so often and this drum is fresh).
Mr. Gasket 0.026" thick head gasket which gives 0.031" piston to head clearance, (quench).	Right side head torqued.  Re-used the ARP head bolts which are top quality.  I'm working on my new Eastwood work table and I think I like the height and convenience.
New seals on the timing cover...wait!  There is a nock on the door.  It's FedEx....	Direct from Ontario Canada...TorqHead 24XLink.
Pressed on the hub with 24x reluctor.	I use a crank stud from Callies to press on hubs.
See the alignment tool for the crank sensor?	And now the shim/feeler gauge.
Let's finish the oil pump and oil pan installation.  The windage tray needs some bending to clear the rods.	Melling 10554ST, (Shark Tooth).
Press on pickup.
Pan test fit.  One rod bolt, (#8) slightly rubs.  Hammer on the pan and all is good.	The pan fits now.  The #1/#2 rod bolts need the pan to be clearanced as well as that #8.  Maybe you can see the dent in the pan for #1/#2 clearance?
Getting ready for final assembly and the dyno.	Before I go any further I recently started doing a water pressure test to check for leaks.  Especially with the Eagle rod and 3.875" stroke crankshaft which require a great amount of block clearance.  A few engines ago I had ground through and needed to do an epoxy fix.  All looks good here.
Valvetrain assembled.  This was all running nicely in the stock bottom end 350LT1.  Only thing new is the Crower lifters and the Manley pushrods.	Oil pressure test.  70psi with my weak drill.  The standard volume and standard pressure Melling shark tooth is a very good pump for the money.  The gears area smooth as silk.
This is the dyno set up.  Single plane manifold and rear mount distributor.  This gives quick and easy set up at the engine dyno.