383 street/strip build

[Hemirunner]

Speaking of line boring the B engines...don't you hate what Program Engineering did to the billet cap they make now? When you buy them for the RB engine, they sell you a cap that works for both B & RB engines so you have to bore the ever living hell out of them...they just cut the bearing tang deeper so they cover all the engines with one part number. Man, it takes forever...

I have never bored a 383/400 to the bigger bore. I usually build these combos for high rpm use and I like the slower bearing speeds with the small bore. I have always wondered if the crank is more rigid with the larger bearing though...the bearing selection is a bonus, I'll give you that.

When you get into the 4.250/4.375 stroke stuff, the cranks are more rigid. I think between that and the better bearing selection, I'm willing to accept the trade off in bearing speed. I know what you mean on the program caps, that was a pain although I was using a rottler F-67A so it was a little easier...Made the thrust a real easy procedure.

 

[jess]

i might be intersted but wont know till about next weekend
i am redoing a boat in my shop right now so i gotta get that done before i get my car in there with all the work i gotta do i am deacating my whole shop to the car and motor build i gotta see what i got for heads and open the motor up and see what i got
i am thinking it was rebuilt hte oil is at 90 psi cold and 70 warm
i am shure it dosent have anything great but ya never know
thanxs for the link on the build i am gonna read it later tonight

 

[fatecaptured]

Hey Rusty, Is a domed piston and a zero deck really a good idea, not being ignorant, i'm asking. I've always read that u want a flat topped piston with a zero deck or are u saying to use a dome to get there?:icon_scratch:

Good article. I vaguely remember reading about that 383 build.

 

[Hemirunner]

Hey Rusty, Is a domed piston and a zero deck really a good idea, not being ignorant, i'm asking. I've always read that u want a flat topped piston with a zero deck or are u saying to use a dome to get there?:icon_scratch:

Good article. I vaguely remember reading about that 383 build.

He's saying to use a quench dome piston with an open chambered head. A zero deck/flat top/closed chamber head combo is always better but the quench dome piston is made for the open chamber heads.

 

[rev.ronnie]

When you get into the 4.250/4.375 stroke stuff, the cranks are more rigid. I think between that and the better bearing selection, I'm willing to accept the trade off in bearing speed. I know what you mean on the program caps, that was a pain although I was using a rottler F-67A so it was a little easier...Made the thrust a real easy procedure.

That Rottler machine is a Caddie, for sure. If I did any more volume, it would become a necessity. I am still boring with a Storm Vulcan line boring machine and I can only cut .020 at a pass, so it's a long job.
When you bore them on the F-67A, do you finish size them with a line hone?

 

[RustyRatRod]

I'm saying that running quench whether with a dome or not is better than no quench. The concensus is that a flat top is better for quench, but quench DOES work with a domed piston. That's how my engine is going together. KB400, 516 heads at 80cc's.

 

[jess]

i tryed to find a cast number on the heads but i cant find anything the big old stock manfolds are eather in the way or is the number under the valve cover? i am not shure but i am thinking they are open chambers cause the heads r blue the block is orange i was told the cast numbers on the block say its a 1968 383 i wonder if someone put differnt heads on it? the ppl i bought this car from said they brought it to a shop to get tuned up and i know the shop and the guy is a big mopar guy and he said he didnt think the motor was stock why he said that i have no idea besides that it runs great it dosent seem like anything special besides the hight oil psi

 

[RustyRatRod]

Casting number is under the valve cover.

 

[jess]

lol ya all r proubly thing what a dumb *** lol it will take sometime to figure out this mopar stuff i will pull the cover off in the mor and see what i got

 

[Meep-Meep]

Interesting comment about the Pro Gram caps. They told me it was to allow for variances in the bore but what you said makes sense. I'm fitting a set up for a hemi then will take it in to get it align bored.

 

[rev.ronnie]

Interesting comment about the Pro Gram caps. They told me it was to allow for variances in the bore but what you said makes sense. I'm fitting a set up for a hemi then will take it in to get it align bored.

Before I started using mostly the Mopar performance and aluminum Indy blocks, I used to install a lot of the cross bolt conversion caps on BB Mopars. Man, those were a lot of work to machine...I wonder if they leave a ton of meat to bore in them now too.

On the hemi block, how much machining is required to get the side registers? I have never installed a set on one.

 

[Hemirunner]

That Rottler machine is a Caddie, for sure. If I did any more volume, it would become a necessity. I am still boring with a Storm Vulcan line boring machine and I can only cut .020 at a pass, so it's a long job.
When you bore them on the F-67A, do you finish size them with a line hone?

The rottler is very rigid. I could cut the pro-gram caps taking out .050 in a pass easily. I usually made a pass like that to get in the ball park and then went to finer cuts. I rarely ever followed up with a line hone. I could finish on size with that machine and found it was a better bore than I could get with a line hone.

 

[RustyRatRod]

lol ya all r proubly thing what a dumb ***...

Actually, not at all. You're asking good questions. Dumb would be forging ahead not knowing. You're askin and learnin. That ain't dumb at all.

 

[jess]

thanxs
i just like to ask alot of questions and learn as much as i can
i have learned the hard way a few times and it seems like it always cost's more money and you dont get the results you want
kinda like asking 100 ppl the same question but only listening to
the 1 that tells ya what ya wanna hear
i didnt even wanna tear the lower end down but now i see to get what i want it is a must and i am kinda looking forward to opening up the old 383
thanxs guys for the help

 

[jess]

ok i pulled a valve cover off the only numbers i can find r
6234 2960 11

 

[RustyRatRod]

There's more there, I believe. It will be stamped on an intake runner. You sire that's 960 and not 906?

 

[super-bee_ski]

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 think my 70 Bee was rated at 335HP from "Mother MOPAR"
But then again, my 70 Hemi only DYNO'ed at 457 HP at "Dugan's" in Riverside CA. (Stock auto cam)

 

[jess]

i just went and checked again 2960
i also seen a number 23 in the back of the head

 

[super-bee_ski]

Like RustyRatRod suggests:
See pics below:

 

[RustyRatRod]

This may or may not be all of them. It's close. Numbers on the left are what you're looking for. Scroll down to "B/RB" head castings.


http://www.mymopar.com/headcastnumb.htm