Looking for 383 build ideas

[69roadr]

This car is going to be my go out and have some fun car/ let off some steam. A summer cruiser that is comfortable on the streets and able to cruise down the highway. Some of the trips I hope to take it on will involve several hours of highway miles so it will have to be geared accordingly. I do have intentions of taking it to the 2 local events per year and running it down the track but nothing serious! Needs to be able to hold its own with the new 392 challengers. What are your thoughts on that?

Fun summer cruiser that can lay some rubber on a regular bases!!

hope you're a young guy. i had my 383 built by Dick Landy industries some time ago. (puts out just under 500 h.p.) and it kind of wears you out after 10 mile drive, what with all the noise and shaking going on. but is fun to cruise around town blowin off ricers!

 

[YY1]

A surefire way to run 13's is to build what you think is a 12 second car

 

[69 GTX]

I had a 69 RR I used to race with 383 .030 12.5 to 1 torker intake 750 dp with a DC 509 cam ran 7.60s in the 1/8 I hurt that motor so I took the street 440, a 10.1 smooth idling 484 lift rv cam 750 vac secondary rpm intake and put it in the car so I wouldn't miss any points races. I'll be damned if it didn't run the same 7.60s et. with out race gas. I share this to prove the point that a mild 440 will make the same as a more modified 383 (more $) I'm currently building (LaRoy engines) a 440 with roller cam 10.3:1 and 6 pak & trick flow heads. I did use some pricey parts but it should be about 575-600 hp tq at just a little more than your budget.

 

[383man]

Yes know what your goals really are before you dig into it. Like I posted earlier I built a very mild 383 that ran 12.30's @ 110 and it even had the stock bore and pistons. If you want to go fast and have the budget then build a stroker. You can stroke the 383 or a 400 or 440. And make sure you know if you want a fast drag car or a highway cruiser. I run 4.30 gears with 30" tall tires and my stroker 440/493 I built mostly for around town cruising and some drag racing. But I drive it 60 mph down the highway all the time and it turns about 3200 at 60-65 mph which dont bother me at all as I grew up on cars like that. I built mine to run on pump gas and wanted to get in the 10's just how I drive it. But its not built to go racing down the highway at 120 mph which I would never do on the street anyway. You can build a nice stroker and put your Roadrunner in the 10's on pump gas if you have the budget. Because if you want to spank some of the new cars with power adders you gotta run atleast 10's and even then it may not be enough when you realize how much faster these power adders like turbo and Super Chargers make the new cars. You will also need to make your drivetrain strong enough. Building a mild stroker thats a naturally aspirated eng to me is basically the old school way as the muscle cars of the 60's and 70's were not using power adders as they were all eng. Alot of guys are also dropping new supercharged Hemi's in there older muscle cars and going fast that way and many are turbo and supercharging the older muscle cars engines and going fast. . There is alot of options depending on how fast you want to go. Myself I dont like to fool with power adders because no one did when I was growing up around muscle cars as back then we all ran N/A engines. The technology is way better today so it easier to run a power adder eng. But if you just want to built a mild 383 to run 12's thats fine and nice but you wont be able to smoke alot of newer cars running 12's. You can still beat some but many of the new cars will run 11's right off the showroom floor. You just need to know what your budget is and what you can honsetly build on your budget. And what you really would like to build. Good luck , Ron

 

[SlinktRR]

If you want to long distance cruise you may not need 550 horsepower. Could try building a modern road burner, like a 08+ challenger r/t. Rebuild the 383 to 400-450hp, which will be much cheaper than stroker, then put the money saved into a tremec t5 and 4.10 sure grip. I have started on a 67 gtx project and have been talking to them about their 5 speed. American powertrain has two versions. One has a 0.8 overdrive (close ratio) and the other is 0.54. That is a massive rpm reduction at cruise. With that overdrive you could run 4.56 sure grip if you wanted and have it all...great acceleration even with a 383 and liveable cruise rpm. You can also get a t56 but then you have to ditch torsion bars which will make a huge cost commitment in alterkation, etc. So many possibilities.

 

[poopdeckpappy]

Call 440 Source and talk to them personally. They will give you a stroker combo to fit your wants and your budget. I have a 69HP block stroked out to 438 cu. in.. I'm still trying to find time to finish the build. I have everything I need and purchased it all from 440Source. They helped me alot and could easily do the same for you. Pick the machine shop wisely though. I've had a scare recently that woke me up. Inspect the shop and their finished products before you agree with anything!

 

[64 Post]

I built a 383/451 combo. No exotic one-off parts were needed. A simple 3.90" stroke 2.20 Chevy rod pin crank, 6.7" Chevy rods, and 1.300 shelf pistons. I built it with 12.5 compression because of the altitude in Denver. I used MCH ported Eddys when Jeff had a Xmas deal going, big Comp solid cam with EDM lifters. Topped off with a Street Dominator single plane and Holley 950 HP carb.

I wiped a cam lobe, tore it down and re-honed the bores but didn't re-ring it as I only intended to get the summer cruising season out of it. On the chassis dyno it made 476HP and 497 TQ. I never got around to rebuilding it and it's still in pieces. I'm looking forward to the day I get it back together with a bit more attention to detail and a proper break-in on an engine dyno.

 

[mopar 3 B]

I built a 383/451 combo. No exotic one-off parts were needed. A simple 3.90" stroke 2.20 Chevy rod pin crank, 6.7" Chevy rods, and 1.300 shelf pistons. I built it with 12.5 compression because of the altitude in Denver. I used MCH ported Eddys when Jeff had a Xmas deal going, big Comp solid cam with EDM lifters. Topped off with a Street Dominator single plane and Holley 950 HP carb.
I wiped a cam lobe, tore it down and re-honed the bores but didn't re-ring it as I only intended to get the summer cruising season out of it. On the chassis dyno it made 476HP and 497 TQ. I never got around to rebuilding it and it's still in pieces. I'm looking forward to the day I get it back together with a bit more attention to detail and a proper break-in on an engine dyno.

Amazing a chevy crank in a Mopar block. Just how does that work?

 

[383man]

Amazing a chevy crank in a Mopar block. Just how does that work?

Most of the Mopar stroker cranks use Chevy size rod journals. I did not with my 4.15 crank but I would have if I would have known more about it when I built mine. They are just as strong and gives alot more clearance so less grinding has to be done on the block since the chevy size rod journals are smaller. Ron

 

[HT413]

Amazing a chevy crank in a Mopar block. Just how does that work?

It's not a Chevy crank, it's a mopar crank that had its rod journals turned down to fit Chevy rods.

 

[mopar 3 B]

It's not a Chevy crank, it's a mopar crank that had its rod journals turned down to fit Chevy rods.

An off center grind to create a stroker crank. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[64 Post]

An off center grind to create a stroker crank. Thanks for the clarification.

Ron hit the nail on the head. (post 19)

Offset grinding is the hard way to do it these days. Most crank vendors have new Mopar stroker cranks (with the proper radiused journals) with Chevy sized (2.200) rod journals. When getting into larger stroke combos it is an advantage to use the smaller rod pin size for oil boss and cylinder clearance and not to mention saving a little bob weight.