well i recently pulled my motor and stripped it down to the block, cleaned and painted it. Funny how a simple new head gasket job gets out of control. My question is should i go ahead and get the block bored .30 over or just keep the stock bore? The cylinders look really good and i went out and bought a cylinder hone to use. the crank, rods, and pistons are in really good shape. All the bearings looked almost new.(obiously buying new ones) The origional plan was to pull the motor and instal new berings and rings, just to freshin it up. I really wanted to do a 383 stroker but with all the other stuff i am buying for the car i cant afford to do it and use all the nice forged parts. so for now i dont want to invest to much into the bottom end right now. What do u guys think?

 

The factory hone and rings are quite good don't screw with them unless doing an overbore.

A 355 has a lot of advantages over a untouched stock shortblock, question is do you really want to spend the $500 on a rebuild kit, $160+ on resizing or replacing rods, $200+ on rebalancing, $100 on decking the block etc.?

 

Dam Dwayne I thought you were going to claim that a 355 vs. a 350 was worth .3 and 3mph!!!! Busting *****...........

Anyways yes a 355 can have more advantages to it, but the cubes aren't really it. You CAN make the motor a better piece by indexing the bores, decking the block, running better quality parts but you don't need to. If the bores are good a fresh hone with some new rings and bearings will do. The machine work will cost you a bunch more than just a fresh hone. Your plan that you have will work fine for you, deglaze the bores, put new rings in and bearings and you will be good to go. If you are going to replace parts other than that then go 355.

Bret

 

IMO one of the biggest advantages of a 355 would be if you decked the block to get better quench, a stock motor will usually be .020+ and then the thinnest readily available gasket is .026 making a .046+ quench. On a performance build for a 355 quench will usually be closer to .035 allowing more compression dynamic or static without detonation. The overbore likely has a slight positive effect on head flow due to slight unshrouding of the valves but this would be a secondary benefit.

 

Well thanks for the info. I think that i will go with the rings and berings. I didnt know that their was so much more to building a healthy 355 that just boring the block and slaping in a set on new pistons. So pretty much what you r saying is that if i am going to start really messing with the bottom end that it would make more sense to build the 383 and do it right. Oh well guess i will just have to wait.

 

well, the obvious would be the option to either increase or decrease compression ratio to whatever you're planning on doing. i just went with a 383 setup and i'm regretting not doing a 355 blower setup. i really wish i would have put in another 500 for bottom end and had the best.

if you're not willing to spend the big bucks on the best and the highest performance then stick with stock setup. if you rebuild with good parts you'll be better off....specially if you do the work yourself. the best thing you can do for your block is doing it right. and either making sure you have someone that knows what they're doing or doing it yourself (if you read and know what you'[re doing).

i'll be doing my next block myself. havent decided on either a 6.0 ls1 or a 355 lt1 yet. it all depends on if i can get a good turn key ls1 or a decent lt1 block for cheap.

 

I'd agree with the previous posts. If you're not going to replace your pistons or anything else, just get new rings and bearings and call it a day.

 

if you are looking for new std rings i have a new set they are,
Sealed Power E-530K. I bought them from Summit Racing.
I was going to do the same thing but I went a differnt direction.
PM me if you want them or want more info.

 

So i was considering a re-ring to my stock 350 shortblock when i had it apart to replace the cam bearings, but my local machinist turned me away.

He was saying that a simple flex hone would not get you a good enough surface for the rings to seat (IIRC, he likend it to some sort of back-woods farmer practice for non-serious racers) I think his point was that you could get away with it, but for a high perfomance engine it would cost you. Is there any truth to this?

 

Dwayne, I'm thinking about re-ringing and re-honing my LT1-350. It finally gave up the ring seal this past summer and I've had the motor out ever since.

I wouldn't do it if you didn't take my dang ET record away from me. Snatched it right out of my hand when I wasn't looking.

Already have a brand new set of Mahle stock rings, (plasma-moly top ring).

I need some more tricks to pass you up though. Already plan to use that .026" head gasket. But other than that I think it will be up to me to get a good tune up for the launch. (I've been running soft timing at launch for bracket racing for years now). With my 200lb advantage there should be no reason I cannot sneak back past you by oh say 0.2 seconds.

Time for some Bostic LCA relocation brackets I think.

OH: Kyle97 I ditto what has already been said. If you want to hone and re-ring it go ahead but if it's still running strong right now don't even do that. Just get some cam and main/rod bearings and bolt it all back together. If you still want to re-ring Bret already covered that. Yes you can dingle-ball it. The Stock Mahle rings are what I would put in if it were my motor. Nothing but Mahle man.

Karl
95 ImpalaSS 4000lb race weight Heads/Cam MPH Record Holder
11.98 @ 115mph Stock bottom LT1-350 | Ported LT1 heads | GM846 cam | 3600 Yank | 4L60E | 4.10's |

 

Karl, hell he only beat you by .03 sec with less MPH.

Bret

 

Look at the rest of the details, Karl has a lot of high dollar stuff I don't and Karl will be the first to tell you I am making a whole lot more power, he is ETing with setup, I with raw HP.

 

Dwayne, so the high dollar shaft mounts are the big difference? Where would you find all the details that are different? Why don't you just tell the guys what the differences are?

Bret

 

http://dan.esteban.com/impalass/Retu...&CompareID=329
How about CF hood and DS, bumper delete, AC delete, more stall, more gear, "reassembled" shortblock rather than untouched. Gone to such extreme lengths as removing the catback not just uncorking, lightweight wheels and skinnies, more than 500ft. less elevation, better BARO etc., hell I bet Karl weighs at least 40lbs less than I too.
Here is what Karl had to say on the b-body forum when the news of my record broke.
For those of you not that familiar with what is going on Karl is the guy who held the record before me and today is becoming an accomplished LT1 shortblock vendor, so I consider all that VERY high praise. Not to mention he is the first to take a built LT1 powered b-body to the 10s NA.

 

WOW and I was impressed with my full wieght 90 9C1 B-Body with L05 pulling 14.8 and 2.1 60's with open diff and used tires. REPRESENT!! Those are some hella fast Caprice, and Impallas!! Great work