I assembled my shortblock using the standard eagle 383 kit with ARP rod bolts and the RA doesn't hit anywhere in the block, rod bolts come close to the block but never make contact.

is there is a certain "breathing room" required even if the RA doesn't make contact with the block?

thanks

 

I want to say .050 clearance but its probably more than that

 

someone on another forum said between .040-.060 is the general req

any other opinions?

 

.040-.060 is good and should be just fine. Make sure you check the cam to rod clearance as well. The lobes will tend to hit the rod shoulder. If it does just grind it down a little and radius the shoulder of the rod. A good trick to measure hard to reach places is either zip ties or solder in an appropriate thickness. What I like to do is put the zip tie around the cam lobes very tightly and nip the extra off the tie and install the cam. Installing one rod at a time to check for clearance.

 

I guess each block is differant as I had to clearance in 4 areas at the pan rail. Also had to clearance the stock pan for # 6 piston and the front bottom of the pan for #1 and #2 and no interfearance with cam.

 

Yeah forgot to mention clearancing the oil pan. I almost always have to do a little something for 1 and 2 rods, but the rest usually clear just fine.

 

Make sure the Large ends of your rods are cam clearanced. They usually come from Eagle with this done, but I have had several times in the past a few sets of rods where 2 or 3 had been missed in the same set. This clearancing allows you to run a standard base circle cam. You should see an angle ground on the top of the large end of the rod at the end of the threads. PM me if you don't understand and I will email you a pic.
Also, some rod bolts clear the block without hitting with these I beam rods and 8740 bolts (depends on the block). But you will need to do additional clearance work. .050 is plenty. I typically give them more.
Good luck with the build!

 

Did you use 5.7 or 6" rods?
I ended up breaking into water several times and had to weld the block with my 6" kit.

 

James its probably due to the fact that you're using H beam rods, I do not use them since they generally have less clearance. The scat I beam with 7/16" bolts is usually what i find most agreeable. I have a few tricks at the machine shop that I use that makes them generally fall in and they are not at all hard to figure out.

 

I've always heard that .060 clearence is good. I only had to clearence the block for the #7 rod at the pan rail. Also watch the stock windage tray. The rods will hit it too.

 

James Montigny, What manufacturer and part number were your 6.0" H-Beam rods? Were they the ones specifically "clearenced" for "stroker" applications like they so often advertise? Also, did you have any problems with rod to cam interference with your build? What cam lobe lift, ICL, LSA and duration @ .050" are you using?

 

Those are Eagle 6.00" forged H-beam rods with ARP2000 fasteners.
I don't have the PN, I ordered the whole 383 rotating assembly together.

No problems at all with rod/cam clearance.
I'm running a custom billet cam from Bret Bauer 23x/24x 61x/61x 10x LSA 10x ICL (obscene amount of overlap)

Build documentation -> http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2297151/6

 

James two(2) final questions then: 1) Is that "custom billet cam" you're running with your 383 Eagle stroker set up .... ground on a standard base circle .... or ..... is it a small (or reduced?) base circle cam??? And, 2) Is that .61x" valve lift achieved with 1.5 or 1.6 ratio rocker arms? (Or .... what is the actual lobe lift on your cam?)

 

I never did get a complete answer from Bret when I asked about base circle.
He said 'Base circle changes with lift"; I didn't ask for clarification at the
time since he provided both the cam and the rotating assembly and I had
much bigger issues to deal with at the time.

What I can tell you is that I ended up using 7.500" pushrods.
That's partially due to my Dart heads and +.100" valves.

I run 1.6:1 rockers, so .61x = .38x lobe lift.

 

yeah I got the milodon windage tray bolts that drop it