4 bolt splayed & oil dipstick

I'm on the cusp of going ahead with my 383 stroker blower motor. My engine builder is recommending 4 bolt straight mains vs splayed. He claims the splayed interfere with the oil dipstick (happened on a customer's car).

Also, is $700 a reasonable price to do this conversion?

You may lose the dipstick with the splayed caps. I just machined my block yesterday for some 22deg Callies caps and it definitely looks like it'll interfere. I haven't really spent any time looking for a solution (aside from straight outers) though,.. I don't need it, I'm just plugging it up.

Regarding cost, I guess it depends exactly on what is included in that $700. Most of what I've messed with has been aftermarket stuff (bowtie/rodeck/etc.) and I hadn't ever had to convert a production 2bolt block before. It took me probably 2-3hrs to complete it, so I'd probably charge $225-250ish for the machinework alone (~$75/hr). You'll need to have your stuff align-bored & obviously honed afterwards...

Dunno, depends on what all he's doing for $700 : )

That includes the caps, the align bore/hone, and labor (everything, AFAIK).

I retained the dipstick with my splayed Miloden caps and Canton pan, but I had to cut off quite a bit of the dipstick tube. This didn't seem to cause any problems.

$700 seems a tad steep. My caps were $200, the ARP studs were another $50, I machined the registers and drilled/tapped the side bolt holes myself and left the line-boring/honing to the machine shop who charged $275 for that task (I think their normal charge is $325 if you have them machine the registers and drill/tap the holes).

Diptstick still functioning with my ProGram splayed caps.

My dipstick works fairly well with the milodon caps. I paid $500 for the conversion.

What kinda caps are you thinking of going with, I have Oliver Caps on mine and all I did was took two plyers and flattened out the end of the distick tube a little (the part that curves at the tip) and it fits real well now. No interference but when it had the little curve in it, it would hit the Cap pretty bad now with the curve/swirl flattened out, its completly fine.

Hope that helps,
Claude

Originally posted by Injuneer
Diptstick still functioning with my ProGram splayed caps.
Was that without any modification to the tube?

We had to flatten my dipstick (that sounds really painful.. ;)) to clear with the mains and Canton. But it works fine.

________________
Rob
1994 Firehawk#319 (http://www.robshawk.com)
11.83@120.61
Slightly Modified (http://www.RobsHawk.com/MODLIST.txt)
1996 Blown V6 (http://www.RobsHawk.com/Jana/Camaro/)
2002 Trailblazer (http://www.RobsHawk.com/Trailblazer/TrailblazerSm1.jpg)
San Diego F-Bodies (http://www.SDFB.org)
"Kill a man, and you're a murderer, kill many, and you're a conquerer, kill them all, and you're a GOD!"

Get the GM billet splayed main caps $50 ea from scoggin dickey and the dipstick clears just fine.

Originally posted by Injuneer
Diptstick still functioning with my ProGram splayed caps. Same here. I'm using a Lokar flexible dipstick, Canton pan, and Pro Gram/Oliver caps. Here's a picture of how close the 4-bolt cap is to the oil dipstick hole.

http://home.gci.net/~jimlab/images/Block/Asssembled/PB140024.jpg

I paid about $500-550 for all 5 caps and about $225-250 for the machining, if I recall correctly.

I have the stock dipstick tube, and it is rotated out away from the block to clear the headers on the outside. I honestly can't remember if the tube need to be cut.

Damn, Jim... That's one incredible engine. I took a look at some of the other pics and all I can say is WOW!!!

Check out this one boys...

http://home.gci.net/~jimlab/images/Engine/Completed/special_lt1.jpg

.....**in awe**.... Beautiful engine, beautiful intake. Is there some more info on that intake?

________________
Rob
1994 Firehawk#319 (http://www.robshawk.com)
11.83@120.61
Slightly Modified (http://www.RobsHawk.com/MODLIST.txt)
1996 Blown V6 (http://www.RobsHawk.com/Jana/Camaro/)
2002 Trailblazer (http://www.RobsHawk.com/Trailblazer/TrailblazerSm1.jpg)
San Diego F-Bodies (http://www.SDFB.org)

Originally posted by Rob(94Hawk#319)
.....**in awe**.... Beautiful engine, beautiful intake. Is there some more info on that intake?$2,850, with nitrous bungs installed. :)

http://home.gci.net/~jimlab/images/Intake/