383 street/strip build

[jess]

ok i am new to mopars and i dont wanna waste money
would rather do it right the 1st time but need help
ok alot of help lol
i have a 68 383 stock as far as i know
runs great good oil psi no smoke and since i am gonna restore the car over the winter i just dont have the funds to build the whole motor
so i just wanna do a top end with stock heads
i am not looking for alot of power but 425 would be great
i have a alum intake and a 750 holley on it now
i was gonna get the carb rebuilt chock horn removed i know a guy that dose this very well
i was thinking about a soild flat tappet cam but will be street drivin on the weekends planning on around 1500-2000 miles a yr
some mild port work to the heads and intake i will do this yes i have done it befor good timming set headers yes i know a 440 would be a better option but i got this and it runs good if i dont blow it up next summer i plan on selling it and building a 440 stroker alum head deal
please let me know if i am way off here? and i am open to all suggestions thanxs

 

[shag766]

i am no rocket scientist on this subject but i thinking 425 hp without some much bigger heads is a stretch.:eusa_think:

 

[jess]

what would be a relistic number?
i was told the 1968 383 should be a healthy 330 hp
yea a extra 95 hp would be kinda hard with out doing major work
well maybe 400?

 

[shag766]

they say this biggest bang for the buck is in the heads. i don't know how much you can port the stock heads out. with out getting into a package of heads, cam, and carb and you add 30-40hp, you are getting close to being there. my guess.:eusa_think:

 

[jess]

if a were to buy a set of alum heads could they be used on a 440 block if i decide to build a 44 later on? i found some good deals on alum heads i know how much a person can spend on a set of stock cast heads i sawsets going for under 1k flow numbers are not very impresive but like i said i am new to mopar motors the last set of heads i put on my old pulling motor costed me close to 5k it is a learning curv doing a street frendly motor i am used of race only

 

[Cranky]

Heads between 383's and 440's are fully interchangeable....but, a big head to be used on a 440 stroker probably will be too much head on the 383....if anyone considers too much head as a bad thing

 

[RustyRatRod]

450 is certainly within reach of a stock stroke 383. With good quench, and good professionally ported heads and smart parts choices. Compression around 10.5, duration @ .050 between 250 and 270 and around .570 lift with a good intake and carb package and big tube headers, you should have no trouble seeing 450 HP. You'll just make it at a little higher RPM than say a 440.

 

[jess]

well i no pro at head porting but i know what i am doing in that dept
altho i will be asking some questions cause i know ford heads and mopar heads are not the same i will check the head casting numbers see what heads i do have and and go from there valve size and cam is were i will need help also an off the shelf cam would be nice but i have no proublem going custom if that will be a better option i relize alum heads are the way to go and i am still considering that option but on the other hand making stock stuff work is also cool and it shows off mopars real power it isnt hard to bolt on a set of alum heads and make power but getting power out of old stock iron is a lost art almost

 

[lewtot184]

a few things to think about. 383 4bbl's only made around 280hp stock (this isn't a number i pulled out of my butt, this is mopar's number). when going from 280 to 425-450 can be a stretch. the best a 383 has is durability. the worst is weak torque and very easy to over cam. this becomes more of a problem with an automatic trans and a heavy car. a good head with a matching piston will be critical to make all of the other parts work well. i've got some big ideas but without knowing the exact head that will be used comments may be useless. i ran 383's back in the day and liked them. learned a lot of do's and don'ts.

 

[jess]

i am leaning towards the stock iron heads mostly cause i can port them myself and upgrade the valve cheap
keep in mind this isnt my dream motor i just want something to get me out there for a decent price that sounds mean and runs well
i am not looking to run 10's in the 1/4
14's would be nice and be able to drive it on the street i got a ton of work to do gotta replace the rear 1/4's and do a good amount of body work to the rest along with break upgrades
so the motor is just to get the car out and running and do fair on the strip

 

[69clone]

I was in your boat not long ago. You can probably look back a few pages in the race forum on here. A lot of good info from BudNick.

 

[RustyRatRod]

ehhhh....the 383 came as a 325 and 330 HP engine. Don't know where you're comin up with them low numbers, but they're wrong. Those might be 2 barrel numbers.

 

[fatecaptured]

I went and grabbed the old mopar bible "Big Block 'B-RB' Engines" by Larry S. Shepard and Micheal J. Gingerella. Page 54, under 'B-RB' Engine Package Specifications and Production Volumes:
1962 , 383, 343 hp Dual 4-Bbl.
1967, 383, 280 hp single 4-Bbl.
1968, 383, 300 hp single 4-Bbl.
1969, 383, 330 hp single 4-Bbl.

hope this helps.

 

[lewtot184]

ehhhh....the 383 came as a 325 and 330 HP engine. Don't know where you're comin up with them low numbers, but they're wrong. Those might be 2 barrel numbers.

i am correct. the numbers are published by mopar performance in their engine manuals. look it up.

 

[lewtot184]

9th edition of the engine manuals. this has been published in other manuals.

 

[khryslerkid]

You may not want to put too much on your top end if the engine is "high mileage"
Now back in the day I had a '64 Polara 500, 3600lb. car, 120,000 miles. A friend of mine sold me a set of 440 heads that were ported, a Crowler 460/280 cam, high pump liters. and a set of used headers from a '67 Coronet. I used the stock afb 4bll. Enlarged jet. Had it in the high 14,s. No high stall, stock rear. Then I installed a Dana 456 rear and had it in the mid 13's. I would loved to have installed a high stall converter. That was one tough engine but I wouldn't recommend building an engine like that. Lol

 

[HT413]

A built 383 wont have much resale value even if u dont blow it up before next summer, so maybe its smarter to just save the dough and put it all into the 440 stroker build and make that happen sooner.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I got news, if you think for one minute that everything in the MP manual is gospel, you gotta nuther thing comin. Almost NONE of their claimed camshaft specs measure up. Not even using their beloved "850" as the given figuring duration at .050". It doesn't work out at the industry standard "750" either.

I go by what CHRYSLER rated the engines at, not what Mopar Performance says. MP is Chrysler's aftermarket performance department, much like the GM performance branch and phord's "SVT" program and such. Besides, how do you know what those numbers are corrected to? What dyno was used? Net or gross? Those are simply numbers in a book with no explanation of how they came to them. None, zero, zilch.

The Chrysler numbers were stated as gross up until what.....1971? Then they changed to net. Every single Mopar Performance manual ever printed was printed AFTER the late 1970s. Before that, it was Direct Connection before that it was Hustle Stuff. So, that means those numbers in the MP manual are most likely net figures, which means we are both right. 330 HP is a VERY easy place for a 9:1 mild cammed 383 cube four barrel engine to be. VERY. I assure you, those engines produces every single bit of 330 gross HP and then some.

 

[RustyRatRod]

9th edition of the engine manuals. this has been published in other manuals.

Case and point. The 62-65 B body according to the chart YOU posted out of the MP manual is a GOOD choice, while the 65-67 B body is a "poorer choice". LOL That's flippin hilarious. Also, notice the 340 power output. That's GROSS advertised HP. While all the rest are obviously net. Now...where's the 375 HP 440? The 440 six pack was rated at 390 HP, not 370. Yeah uh huh. You made my point for me. Don't get me wrong, those books are a gold mine of info, but they have mistakes abound.

 

[rev.ronnie]

The biggest problem stacked against a 383 is the lack of compression. If you use a 906 head, it will not have 10:1 compression...it's more like 9:1. You're going to need a set of closed chamber heads to get the compression and squish band that would benifet you the most.

I did a quick search; read this discussion on the matter of compression and heads. It covers what will probably get said on this thread...it may leave you with a whole new set of questions.

http://www.moparchat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101271