Need help with a magnum 383 build...

[Chryco Psycho]

with iron heads you can still make a ton of mid range power if the heads are ported correctly , you will have tons of torque , I port a lot of iron heads with great results , if you do go to alum heads you will probably blow the budget & you will have to run higher compression to offset the heat loss to alum heads , typically you need close to 1 point higher compression with alum heads to maintain the power
 I use a lot of the Engle & Lunati cams that are specifically designed for the larger Mopar lifter , it is easy to get in the 245-250* range at .050 lift & be close to .600 lift with 1.5 rockers or even break over .600 lift with 1.6 rockers , these cams make great vacuum & still act like a street roller grind without the expense of roller cams , power will typically peak in the 6000 - 6500 range depending on specific grind used

[FirebirdStud]

with iron heads you can still make a ton of mid range power if the heads are ported correctly , you will have tons of torque , I port a lot of iron heads with great results , if you do go to alum heads you will probably blow the budget & you will have to run higher compression to offset the heat loss to alum heads , typically you need close to 1 point higher compression with alum heads to maintain the power
 I use a lot of the Engle & Lunati cams that are specifically designed for the larger Mopar lifter , it is easy to get in the 245-250* range at .050 lift & be close to .600 lift with 1.5 rockers or even break over .600 lift with 1.6 rockers , these cams make great vacuum & still act like a street roller grind without the expense of roller cams , power will typically peak in the 6000 - 6500 range depending on specific grind used

After looking on the 440source website, Im leaning heavily towards those stealth heads for 899 bucks. That is pretty damn cheap. How would those work right out of the box?
That 496 is really grabbing my attention... how much clearancing issues is there going to be?
Maybe will have to do the 438 one, not sure though.
How hard is it to convert to the roller cam? Is it a PITA or no?  Do I need to get the 3 bolt camshaft or is the single one ok? Im thinkin the 3 bolt is better...

[hemiken]

Sounds as if you are making the right choices to me.......... Go with the 496 Stroker and Stealth heads, you can get away with doing a gasket match port with the Stealth heads and put a big hydraulic cam in the 'Cuda for your Dad.  This should make enough streetable power and you can always step it up at a later date if you want more power without sacrificing parts you have already purchased.  Just more massaging to get more horsepower.

I would wait until you have a list of parts and engine size before you decide on the camshaft.  The brand and type of cam will most likely determine if it will have a single bolt or three bolt configuration.  Hold off buying a timing chain until you determine what cam you end up with.

[Chryco Psycho]

the cams I use can be ordered on either 1 or 3 bolt blanks , I alway use 3 bolt , they are stronger
the stealth heads are relatively small , I port the factory iron heads bigger but they will work & will probably be cheaper than rebuilding the factory heads
there is a fair amopunt of clearancing to get 500CI in a low deck block & the oil rings ride over the piston pin , if you were building to race I would say go for it but for a predominatly street engine the 435or 470 CI will be better
 Roller cams are a drop in , just add the bronze dist drive gear
Stay away from the needle brg roller rockers to

[moper]

Very simple.

Stroke it like CP said to the 435" using Brandon's B block kit. Have your shop balance it, not 440Source. Order it with flat tops, and have your shop get them to "0" deck. FYI On a 383, this means square decking the block a ways. I'd stick Edelbrock RPMS on it. No aftermarket heads should be run out of the box, and paying top port iron these days makes no sense unless your class or feelings force you to. I have never had a major issue with RPMs, and a smaller cube big block will love them, and rev just fine to 6500+. A solid flat tappet, static true 10:1, an RPM intake, and a carb in the 800cfm wet flowed area (My 1st choice: Holley Street Avenger 770 w/vaccum secondaries) and you will exced the 500hp/500tq and have enough vaccum to run power brakes. W/O the brakes, this package would far exceed that figure.

[FirebirdStud]

I know I kind of left this hangin for a while, but I was in England  for a year working. I loved it over there, but I missed muscle cars!! haha.

So, Dad and I are ready to start on this thing. The car hoist should be here by the end of the week. Then its garage cleaning time to dig out the car and see what we have. The motor is where we would like to start right now.

After some conversations, I think I have him talked into supercharging the thing. I told him we should do it right the first time! So, is the 383 really the block to start with? Is there a different way we should go for a street car with a supercharger? I would like the tall supercharger that sticks out of the hood. The hood that is on it isn't anything fancy, so Dad said we could cut a hole in it if we choose to..

He has also decided that we are going to tub the rear end and get a narrowed diffy to cram under there with a four link setup.. So we are gonna need some power to turn the rubber. 

Again, we still want this car to be a street car. It wont happen overnight, it will take some time. Our goal is to get the car out, yank the motor and start working on that. This winter we will bring it to a local bodyshop to work on for the 6 months and get it sprayed. When springtime rolls around we would want it to be moving. It might not have everything we want done, we know this

[FirebirdStud]

Maybe I should attack this from a different angle:

Say you could build your car over again. How would you do it with what you know now?

For instance: I know that I can make enough power with a 385 built LT1 and have great reliability with the motor, but if I had gone 396, I could make a little more power, but seriously sacrifice reliability down the road because of the increased side pressure on the pistons and jugs... Get what Im saying?

Basically, I want to build this thing to make some great power, but I dont want to sacrifice streatability or reliability in the process. If it means leaving 50 ponies on the table to make sure it is still running great 15 years from now, Im ok with that. Im not trying to be king of the dyno, just have a really fast, fun street car that will last a long time if maintained properly. 

With that said, we are looking at the supercharger option pretty hard now... And Im leaning towards a fuel injected motor. What are the pros/cons with a fuelie versus a carb on a superchager?

[Chryco Psycho]

well the way I chose to do it was to use the high deck 440 block & stroke it out to 512 CI maxing the rod ratio & ci without seriously sacrificing durability but still making a lot of power.
 the only better way to do it is to do a 451 / 400 block , this has a stronger block & better rod ration , removes 7 lbs from the rotating assy & makes a lot of power .
everything is a balance , more power with a supercharger will shorten the life fo the engine , EFI is wicked , used with O2 sensors the engine wear due to much better fuel mix control is superior as is the drivability

[Rob C]

Cody, as I think you know, the longer the stroke, the more cylinder side wall loading will occur. It's a natrual thing. The 383 is a good block to start with and HP limits are high enuff to be able to turn the engine into a super great machine. OF course, heavy right foots shorten the best built engines life down alot. All the insides should be forged. So power handling shouldn't be a problem.

The 383 is a short stroke engine that will like to rev. IF you stay at this CID, you'll just have to be careful of over camming the engine since a short stroke engine is weak in torque. To build up torque in any engine, you'll have to eye ball the total package and the little things that go with it. It's just a nice thing that the engines natural CID is (for the time it was built) generaly large.

Also, remember that the engine is old, so alot of things your modern car has, your taking for granted without really realizing you have. Computers really add to the car alot these days. While I'm not suggesting to add one, the rest of the engine is very close to basic as it gets.

Use things like a good use of a quenched area on higher comp. pistons. (Not for super charging) Zero gap rings, possibilty of coatings on the piston crowns and in the head chambers after a polishing, use of a roller cam over a Hyd. which will hand out not only HP, but torque and lots of it, roller rockers etc.........

One of the interesting and cool things about a old car, any old car, is that the engine is a basic slate of what possiblitiy's are out there and what can be done to it. I love the fuel injection idea. It will add so much driveability to the car and ease of operation for Dad.

On super chargers, while they can shorten an engines life, it's also made with a direct connection with the right foots weight and it's life span. A 6-71 / 8-71 roots style super charger make crazy torque on demand from idle to redline. A Hair dryer  (Vortex, paxton) style unit comes on softer and builds up for a softer addition of pressurized power and isn't so brutal on the crank and other internal parts.

Theres alot of stroker options out there to choose from.

[Moparinho]

Very simple.

Stroke it like CP said to the 435" using Brandon's B block kit. Have your shop balance it, not 440Source. Order it with flat tops, and have your shop get them to "0" deck. FYI On a 383, this means square decking the block a ways. I'd stick Edelbrock RPMS on it. No aftermarket heads should be run out of the box, and paying top port iron these days makes no sense unless your class or feelings force you to. I have never had a major issue with RPMs, and a smaller cube big block will love them, and rev just fine to 6500+. A solid flat tappet, static true 10:1, an RPM intake, and a carb in the 800cfm wet flowed area (My 1st choice: Holley Street Avenger 770 w/vaccum secondaries) and you will exced the 500hp/500tq and have enough vaccum to run power brakes. W/O the brakes, this package would far exceed that figure.

I reviewed this discussion. I like its sounds too...   But,  what is exactly the "Brandon's B block kit" ?? 

[NoMope Greg]

I reviewed this discussion. I like its sounds too...   But,  what is exactly the "Brandon's B block kit" ?? 

Brandon is the owner of 440 Source.  The idea is that you buy the 440 Source kit, but have your own machine shop do the balancing work.

[moper]

Sorry, that was what I meant but I typed it a little tto casual...lol.

If supercharging is in the cards now i would start with the 400 B wedge block like CPsaid, or get a new block in the B deck height. Roots blowers are some of the hardest on the crank and block webbing so spend on that and i would not run a 440Source crank in it. They are good pieces for many builds but blower engines IMO need a better crank.