Engine rebuild- Need high output and longevity

Okay i really hate asking this question. But maybe you guys can help me. My 97 Z28 has 106k mi on it. Stock engine, full bolt-ons. A lot of seals are bad and im just thinking its time to do a rebuild. I go to iraq here in may for 1 year. I wanna get a blower for this car as soon as i get back. Vortech or a ProCharger. Now i want an engine that will last a very long time and keep its daily driveability. I want to get close to 500 HP out of it and i would like to get an N2O system incase i ever run into trouble at the track. Yes i did a search already and didnt quite get exactly what i wanted. I saw a lot of talk about 355's 383's. I heard strokers dont last long blown. Now im not saying this its just something ive heard. Like i said im real lost here. Someone help please?

4-bolt main conversion, Eagle 4340 crank, Eagle H-beams with L19 or 2000 bolt upgrade, and Ross pistons and only detonation will break it.

Regarding pistons, would you pick 4032 or 2618 material? I would think 4032 because of the better wear characteristics due to higher silicon content (less expansion and less piston to wall clearance)... 2618 is stronger and can take more abuse, but longevity would be somewhat reduced.

Also, which is better - D shaped or full dish? I would guess D-shape to help with quench, but I really don't have that much experience/knowledge... I guess the heads would have to have the right combustion chamber shape to match the dish for getting good quench?

Mike, what material and shape are the ross dishes?

Mike, what material and shape are the ross dishes?

My SRP's that I broke about 11 of last year on 4 different occasions had a D shaped dish. I thought that was good since they match the quench of the head. However, the custom Ross pistons have a the concentric center of the piston depressed. I guess it's an O shaped dish.

The O shaped dish has a huge advantage when it comes to strength. Since the dish covers a larger area of the piston top, it doesn't have to be as deep or as near to the edge of the piston. This gives you alot more thickness between the bottom of the top ring groove and the bottom of the dish, which is where my SRP's failed every time.

And as far as quench is concerned, the turbo GN 3.8's all had O dished pistons stock, and the Neon SRT4 has something like .250" quench height. I tend to believe that turbo motors aren't as sensitive to quench as N/A.

Good news and bad news.

The bad news is the used 355 that I'm gonna run at first has the D-shaped SRPs...

The good news is that the 383 I'm planning on running down the road has a set of Lunati custom pistons: -30cc, 2618 material, full / O-shaped dish (bought 2nd hand, new for $450)


Keeping tally... It looks like the plan so far is:

4340 Eagle crank
4340 Eagle H-beams w/ L19 or 2000 bolts
Ross Pistons (O-shaped dish, 4032 or 2618 material??)

let's keep this going... wrist pins? bigger dish or bigger head chamber -- does it matter? coatings -- bearings, pistons, chambers, valves, exhaust ports?

those SRPs in the 355 will probably be ok at moderate boost levels..espcially assuming your running a 5.7 rod and not 6.0.. wouldnt worry about them.. just keep them in mind wile tuning it.. those lunati pistons sound interesting.. is that motor a long rod motor or 5.7 rods.. im in the middle of a piston search for my engine.. it had custom -26cc SRP.. 3 of them broke under some fairly extreme circumstances in about 200mi of use.. the engine builder built it with 6.0 rods which creates a when going with a low CR set up (wasnt my choice i bought the engine with the damaged pistons and am now correcting it).. not many off the self pistions with a 26cc or greater dish to go with a long stroke long rod engine... i found some diamonds that have a -31cc for that set up but id like too explore all options

way to hijack my thread Roadie

way to hijack my thread Roadie


yea no **** future just buy roadies motor LOL

You want low silicon alloy for boosted situations. D-dish v. "O"? Both work.

Rich

way to hijack my thread Roadie
It wasn't an attempt to hijack... Like I said, let's get a list of "the right stuff" (whether that be parts, design (shapes, rod length), clearances, coatings, etc) for a high output and long-life engine, just what your thread is asking for...

Keeping tally... It looks like the plan so far is:

4340 Eagle crank
4340 Eagle H-beams w/ L19 or 2000 bolts
Ross Pistons (O-shaped dish, 4032 or 2618 material??)

let's keep this going... wrist pins? bigger dish or bigger head chamber -- does it matter? coatings -- bearings, pistons, chambers, valves, exhaust ports?

I'll be running -31cc SRP pistons in my forged 383ci with a T88 setup... we'll see if it will hold 800+rwhp ;)

It wasn't an attempt to hijack... Like I said, let's get a list of "the right stuff" (whether that be parts, design (shapes, rod length), clearances, coatings, etc) for a high output and long-life engine, just what your thread is asking for...

Well now i feel like a douche.. I didnt see that post. :p

Well now i feel like a douche.. I didnt see that post. :p
No worries man. :)

I'll be running -31cc SRP pistons in my forged 383ci with a T88 setup... we'll see if it will hold 800+rwhp ;)

is this already built? keep us updated on how well it stays togather

D-dish v. "O"? Both work.

Both work, but the O is definitely stronger. If you don't detonate, either won't be a problem.

is this already built? keep us updated on how well it stays togather


Yeah, HPE built it last year for me:

383 8.5:1
Eagle 3.75" crank
Eagle 5.7 H Beam rods
Forged -31cc pistons
4 bolt splayed
ARP hardware..

LE AFR210's
224/224 cam

Gonna break it in N/A next spring/summer before I put the T88 on it.

Okay i really hate asking this question. But maybe you guys can help me. My 97 Z28 has 106k mi on it. Stock engine, full bolt-ons. A lot of seals are bad and im just thinking its time to do a rebuild. I go to iraq here in may for 1 year. I wanna get a blower for this car as soon as i get back. Vortech or a ProCharger. Now i want an engine that will last a very long time and keep its daily driveability. I want to get close to 500 HP out of it and i would like to get an N2O system incase i ever run into trouble at the track. Yes i did a search already and didnt quite get exactly what i wanted. I saw a lot of talk about 355's 383's. I heard strokers dont last long blown. Now im not saying this its just something ive heard. Like i said im real lost here. Someone help please?

You have the same goals as I did when I built mine. I've got 25,000 miles and counting and I get on it just about everyday. I basically wanted alot of low end torque and good driveability. You can do it with stock ported heads and a small cam and about 10 psi. My setup will smoke street tires all the way into 3rd gear at 50 mph so any more HP for the street is overkill. Just do a budget 355 rebuild with some dish forged pistons. Don't go too big on the cam or you will lose your driveability.:)

Just some simple stuff to point out. Stud the mains. Use a high pressure oil pump. Block the oil filter bypass. Get a bigger oil pan w/aftermarket windage tray. Clearance the bearings at 25 thousandths and use hardened bearings, like Federal Mogul. Don't use a cam with too much lift (probably no more than .550, better to go even lower if you want long life out of the valvetrain) or springs that are too heavy duty. I hate to recommend a Hot Cam, but if you intend to put a lot of miles on it and don't want to have to replace springs often, something small and low on the lift like that cam would be a good choice. The blower pushing 10 PSI can make up for not having the utmost cam IMO. I'd go with non self aligning rockers and guideplates over the S/A versions too. I'm no expert but this was the advice of an expert who helped build mine, it it's worked very well so far (except for cam, he wanted me to have the most power under the curve possible while being streetable ....I'm advising you to go more conservative on the lift and spring tension since you want to drive it a lot). Probably best to float the pins if you know someone who knows how to set it up properly. Use a steel oil pump shaft and make sure they don't overtighten it (trust me). There's something else concerning oiling but I'm forgetting ....ehhh, someone help me out here ...you should use the screw in type instead of the plug in type ....ehhh, can't remember right now. Lots of stuff to consider ....

The parts you mention are really good of couse, sounds like you should go with the O-pistons if that's an option. Of course, once you get all that together, make sure your tune is slightly rich and slightly low on timing. I would not use FMU but use 42# injectors and tune it conservatively. Good quality in tank pump is probably best, or an extra inline ..usually works fine. Good luck (with everything, not just the car) :bow: :usa:

I'll be running -31cc SRP pistons in my forged 383ci with a T88 setup... we'll see if it will hold 800+rwhp ;)

That piston was going to be my choice, however at that kind of power level my engine builder suggested not using the 4032 -31cc extreme duty SRP, and going with the 2618 JE version of that piston. For only $150 more for 8 pistons it was a logical choice. I built a 383 with the 5.7" rods.

At the lower power level of 500 Hp that the original poster wants, the SRP's will be fine! Much over that and I was recommended the JE's. I ran some Speed Pro -22cc 4032 pistons to the power in my sig, but I wouldn't consider that spectacular :D The only thing wrong with that setup (stock crank and resized rods) was that I kept seeping coolant from the heads. I don't even want to know what kind of backpressure that Turbo Tech log header was handling with 18 psi of boost. In a blown application, it would have been fine.

Bill

I was looking for a set of the Ross tub-style dishes on their catalog, but I found nothing. I remember seeing these just short of a year ago; have they ceased stocking it? What I did find, however, was a small dish (in terms of volume) piston but they reduced the total compression height and sacrificed any squish area (piston is in the hole).

Does anyone stock a large (volume) tub dish, \"O-dish?\"

Does anyone stock a large (volume) tub dish, \"O-dish?\"

The only off-the-shelf pistons with a "O-shaped dish" (with adequate volume) I could find were Diamond.

11420 - B:4.030" CH:1.550" (3.48" stroke, 5.7" rod) V:-22cc W:539g
11423 - B:4.030" CH:1.250" (3.48" stroke, 6.0" rod) V:-22cc W:467g
11426 - B:4.030" CH:1.125" (3.75" stroke, 6.0" rod) V:-31cc W:417g
11435 - B:4.030" CH:1.062" (3.875" stroke, 6.0" rod) V:-34cc W:???g

They don't have anything off-the-shelf for a 3.75" stroke / 5.7" rod combo or a 3.875" / 5.85" rod combo.