Building a 383 stroker - Enter At Your Own Risk

At high RPM load (like racing the 1/4 mile) The block and crankshaft flexes up to 1/16 of an inch. David Vizard, "building a high performance small block Chevy" Just throwing this out there.
Studs are better as far as anything I've read. But at first I thought the price was to high, at $200 a set. Then I found that Skip White Performance had the same studs for $50. Same material, same heat treat, same rolled threads. Otherwise I'd be cleaning the old bolts to reuse them. With ARP your paying for the name.

 

You can take it with you, but it won't do any good, lol. You can rejet that carb to dial it in, but I found that a 750 afb worked well on my 383. Just try it out and see how it runs. A lot will depend on how you drive it, what rpm.

 

A total of 121 posts in this thread, and a full 10% of them mention Skip White Performance. Call me overly-suspicious, but if I cannot ACME Auto Parts say anything ACME Auto Parts, without mentioning ACME Auto Parts, then it seems ACME Auto Parts there is an ACME Auto Parts ulterior motive behind ACME Auto Parts everything I am ACME Auto Parts posting. Like RPM, I've known Fred White for decades, likely longer than some of you have been potty-trained. But I don't have need to trip over my male member to make sure I mention his name in every post I write.

I certainly hope this conveys my point clearly enough. But, as always , I am available for further clarification, should it be required. Clarification is likely going to mean someone is going to walk away with a boo-boo lip, so be careful what you ask for.

And some of the statements I have read in this thread have more than pegged the Bullsh*t Meter. I've no idea where some of you dream some of this fecal matter up, but know that you're not fooling me with any of it. You are, however, providing stupid, ill-considered, and flat-out-wrong advice to those who might not know any better, so STOP IT, RIGHT HERE, AND RIGHT NOW! From this post forward, nonsense is going to be called out as such, so gang wary.

Anyone having any problems understanding what I have just said?

 

Sorry if my post upset you, Ron. Or anyone else, for that matter. But I feel we all have an obligation to provide good and useful information to others. Someone with just enough engine experience to be dangerous should not be tutoring complete rookies on how to assemble an engine. So, when I see misinformation and disinformation being handed off as gospel, that winds me up.

The way I see it, if someone doesn't know enough to do things the right way, and they are too stubborn and proud to learn, then let them go ahead and break their own stuff. Maybe they'll learn from the mistakes. But if someone doesn't know enough to do things the right way, then they don't need to be deceiving anyone into thinking they do.

 

Ahh, sorry. I misunderstood what you were saying. Now I get it. Nobody ever accused me of being a quick-starter.

 

That's why I quit after post #63 by me. Some don't know when to quit.

Promote all you want--as long as it is one of OUR sponsors. And NO ONE knows everything about what an engine will do under certain circumstances.

 

OK, OK, it is clear something is broken in this forum. The flipping wheels are coming off. And I don't know a kind, polite, friendly way to put them back on, because no matter how it is done, people are going to get their feelings hurt, they are going to develop boo-boo lips and they are going to storm out of here.

The whole point of building a forum community is the build it, not to tear it down.

But the point about building up community also comes down to providing good, solid, and truthful information (read: facts) for people who are really wanting to learn. Spewing fallacy accomplishes nothing, other than forcing people who have been deceived by the fertilizer to throw good money after bad.

And let me tell you, boys and girls, this thread is the absolute epitome of fallacy and deception. I am not trying to say anyone has intentionally or deliberately confused fact and fallacy, but it sure has been happening. Over and over and over, ad nauseum.

At the end of the day, the buck stops here. And please note, I did not say bucks, as in dollars. When things go bad, that's on me. When someone confuses myths for facts, that's on me. And if people are going to create constant hives of baloney, drivel and outright nonsense in this forum section, then I am going to close it down.

I've had some forum members approach me, via the back channel, asking if it would not be best to identify the bullshit in this thread. But, to a person, they have all suggested that it be done without singling anyone out. Any of us here with more than 19 seconds of machine shop/engine building experience are immediately going to see that if I start identifying the rubbish and the tripe in this post, then it is going to primarily lead to one person being affronted. Because this single individual has been missing the mark, from one end of this thread to the other. I'm not trying to say this thread contains some of the most ill-advised and foolish statements I've ever read, but the son-of-a-gun is sure packed with ludicrous statements and observations.

What is so hard about learning the lesson that it is better to keep one's mouth shut and be thought a fool, than it is to open one's mouth and remove all doubt?

I have had it with sitting here, and reading this nonsense, up to my eyebrows. It is going to end. By whatever means necessary. I reckon if I have to wade through this thread, one post and a time, and call the bullshit, everywhere I see it, then that is what is going to have to happen. I really am trying to find a polite and friendly solution to this problem. I can be the asshole, because that is my nature, but if there is a kinder and gentler way to fix things, then I want to explore that option. If we cannot fix things that way, then the only other realistic solution I can see from here is to close this forum down, and stop allowing people to talk about subjects they clearly know nothing about.

What really grinds my gears is that there are some useful nuggets of information in this thread. The majority of them have gone overlooked, and have been lost in the flood of garbage. I don't want those members to think their efforts to help are not appreciated. But it seems like every stinkin' time someone starts one of these threads, common sense flies in the face of stupidity, and we end up with the same result.

So, you tell me, people. How shall we move forward with this conundrum? Shall I start picking out the absurdities and calling them out for what they are? Shall I just lock this thread, with a sign reading, "Toilet out of order"? Shall I just close down the engines forum, so we prevent this idiocy from ever happening again?

What is your pleasure?

 

I'll be the idiot that opens his mouth first. Shut it down. FWIW

 

I would hate to lose the advice from the true experts we have. I have built a few engines over the years but there are guys here that have built more QUALITY engines than the total number of engines that I have turned a KEY on, much less a wrench. I have come to recognize those guys by reading a lot of old threads and all the new ones since I joined. Anyone asking for advice should invest the time and effort to enable him to separate the fact from BS.
That said, the only suggestion I could put forth is that it would be convenient (read that as EASY for the lazy) if we had an area where the wrenching background of members could be found. A man that has built T/F motors for a living has a lot more credibility than the backyard hacker with a half dozen builds to his name and 4 of those were "swap parts overhauls".
Then, if a questioner ignores the good advice and follows the bad because it agrees with what he wanted to hear, "Caveat emptor"

 

Absolutely.

But what happens when a complete newb wanders into a thread like this, looking for real information, and does not have enough background to tell the good from the bad? That is what I am concerned most about.

I just read a PC from another member, and he completely understands the scenario. A newb comes here, looking for good advice, reads some of the nonsense in this thread, cannot understand just how silly it is, and makes purchasing/machining/assembly decisions based on what he has read. He ends up spending all his cash to build his dream engine, only to have it self-destruct. And now, he has no money to rebuild.

Nor will he ever trust anything he reads on this forum again. That is not the kind of atmosphere I intend for this forum.

Please understand I am not arguing with you, I am just trying to show there is another angle from which this mess can be viewed. I've a miserable headache, this thread is not making it any better, and my own indecision on how to proceed with it are what have me upset. I value your views and opinions. I hear what everyone is saying, and I am taking it all on board.

 

Mike,

No problem. That was just the selfish side of me coming out as I enjoy reading the good stuff while wading thru the rest. I completely understand where you are coming from and can understand the headache.

Looked at from your position of responsibility, it's a no win situation. Even if you "assigned" only qualified people to answer these questions, somebody is going to build an engine "just like Joe-the-Super Builder said build it", blow it up and it will be the forum's fault.

Maybe a disclaimer......"We got experts and we got dumb-a***s that don't know s**t from shinola but act like experts. It is your responsibility to discern the difference."

Good luck with this.

 

Agreed!! Everyone that wants to do their own work, and don't know how, should turn to a professional for help on a personal basis only. Just to say --I built that-- usually is just B/S or cost that person a lot of money and headaches. JMO from a former Master ASE certified Technician. Which don't amount to a hill of beans in this instance.

Everyone knows if it was on the Internet---It's true!!

 

I frequent some other "car" sites & it seems [generally] that when the B.S. meter gets too high that the other members call out the perpetrators .... but then someone goes away unhappy [or they still think they know better] I'm inclined to think that everybody around here just wants to get along , & while that's a noble calling , it's not in the best interest of the group... I don't purport to be an expert , I do however know what experience has taught me [what works & what doesn't] & I also concede that I certainly don't know everything... AFA trying to educate/inform some folks ...."you can lead a horse to water ..... " that's the point where the discussion ends !!
dave.
My grandfather told me if you didn't learn something daily , it wasn't worth getting out of bed...

 

Mike, Sorry if I broke the rules. I didn't realize how many times I mentioned the place I bought my rotating assembly. My bad! I pretty much am the newby looking for advice, and now I don't know what is good advice and what is bad. I generally go by the book and remember what I heard to add in if feasible.
However this site is as good or better than listening to a bunch of buddies sitting around shootin the breeze in the back yard or in the garage. If I do it to my engine it is not the fault of this site. It is my fault for not finding it in the book before I do it. Nobody to blame but me. The most knowledgeable person I know in this town says the differential being up at 3* and transmission being down at 3* isn't necessary for correct drive shaft alignment. He's built hundreds of hotrods and it doesn't matter. All I'm saying is that the BS flows deep no matter where the information comes from. Even the guy that has built hundreds of hot rods.
Don't give yourself a head ache over bad advice, your poor head will explode. What might help is if you might make a comment as to say, " you actually did this to an engine and it didn't explode"? when you see something you know is wrong. You couldn't do much more than that. I'm sure you could come up with something better, but just a word from the administrator would let me know something needs to be researched a little better.
Again, sorry about the name dropping. Won't happen again. As far as this thread goes you can do what you want with it, but I'm just planning on posting pictures of the build from here on out.

 

Go ahead and call out the people putting out bad info. If they get a boo boo lip it's their own fault. I don't feel it's your responsibility, but you might save a newbie from making an expensive mistake. Maybe you'll make them mad enough to stay away, or at least stop putting out bad information.

 

The guy is right , 3* up/down is accepted as standard because of the angle the intake is milled , however , to be accurate , the tailshaft & pinion shaft need only to be equal & opposite[within reason] & the working angles of the u-joints should not exceed 3* but be more than 0*.... as an example : my output is at 1* down, pinion is 1* up & the working angle of the joints runs around 2*...... PLEASE , do some research !!
dave