A few of my f-body buds are struck on 355s for some reason. Somehow, they think that if you took your typical 355 with a good set of heads and matching cam and compared it to a 383 with the same heads/cam, the 355 would make more power. To me, that's like saying you can take a 305 with heads/cam and make more power than with a 350 with heads/cam(I realize that's a bit drastic, but similar concept). I can see where a 355 could be beneficial if you were wanting to build an engine that you were going to rev to the moon, but for an average budget build(seeing <6500RPMs) I believe a 383 would be the better choice. As you can see from my sig, I've made my choice. I'm just curious as to what kind of views people have on this topic. For this comparison, let's journey to our ideal engine builder's world and say we are looking at everything equal except for the stroke of the crank keeping the motors naturally aspirated. So, let's here what you all have to say...

 

The longer the stroke, the longer it takes to get into the upper RPM's.

This is part of the reason why the 69 DZ302 was alot faster than the 350.

 

Put the Dz heads/cam/compression in a 350 and the 350 walks on it. Did it, thirty years ago. All things being equal, there is no substitute for cubic inches. The small engine may make more HP per cu in, but total HP and TQ well go with the bigger engine.

 

Tell them their smoking crack. The longer stroke of the 383 will make more power for any given power range (all things proportionally equal between the engines-> head flow in cfm versus displacement, cam duration/lift versus disp., etc.) and will do it at lower revs. If they argue, then tell them to get two wrenches (a long one and a short one) and go try to break loose a stubborn bolt or nut. Obviously the longer wrench will allow you to exert a larger moment and, therefore, will break the bolt loose easier. Same leverage principles apply for engines. Each crank throw is like a "wrench" and the rod/piston is like your arm/hand. The longer the stroke, the more the piston's force is multiplied.

Of course, higher revs means more potential b/c you are moving greater amounts of air and fuel in any given time period(depending on your cam specs). But why spend big $$$ on the parts needed to safely turn 7000+rpm on a regular basis on a 355 when a 383 will make the same power (with cheaper parts) at lower revs? Plus, most of the time the 383 will still make more peak torque.

But if they WANT to go with a 355 then thats cool. Many 355 owners on here are making some serious power.

Bret or Chuck could really make this thread interesting though. :thumbsup: to you guys

 

Basically, working off the earlier post and adding my little input.

With more cubic inches in the cyl. this allows for more room to stuff more AIR/FUEL into it, so that more power can be produced. Most times people just bore the motors to the max, and no stroking, so that it can rev faster and higher. Given the proper internals and balancing they can rev like nascar motors. Which are between 7000-9000+. When to stroke it to increase CID, yes it takes lover to rev, but you fill those cyl' with more air and fuel and this out weighs the loss of quicker revs.

Engines that rely on high rev power with a sacrifice of CID, such as 4cly's NEED to rev fast, though speed to get air and fuel in, and out quickly and get it out is the key. Also being a INLINE helps too. but we are getting away from the point of the post.

It all boils down too what your using the car for, on the street, where low to mid range is prefferable a stroker more than shines though. I mean for circle track racing, and MAJOR, 1/4 mile track only you want a higher reving motor. Thats why you see alot of

ALL BORE, no stroke

SOLID ROLLER

ALL CAM

Motors that scream with crazy and bearly streetable cams that LOVE high rev's. Keeping the rev's but increasing dispacement via the diameter of the bore, not the length of the cyl, which the piston would travel down further the cyl.

My vote for driving, street and track all around 383 rocks out. A 355 is just a .030 over 350 which gets the same cubes as a 383 bore but the 383 has a different crank that draws down. So the 383 wont rev as high, who cares.

383 has so much more low end grunt, that if it hooks well, its gonna charge ahead so far that catch up will be slim to none, using same or at least equivlent cam, heads, headers, tuning, weight etc etc combos.

So i vote for 383, but to make 355 faster they need a crazier cam and heads are needed. So 383 will win via displacement, 355 would win for better traction, and cam and heads.

 

Anyone w/ a 355 have any comments...? Just like to see both sides.. I got the 383's side already

 

I just had a 355 built ($2k for bottom end rebuild as compared to $5k for a Nu-Tek 383).

I was going to build a 383, but decided against spending the extra $$.

The 355 is fine, but it depends on how fast you want to go, & how much $$ you want to spend.

 

In the simplest terms it boils down to what you want to do with the motor. If you are running prolonged high RPM's such as road racing or circle track the the shorter stroke smaller bore set up is better. It reduces wear and prolongs the life of the internal parts.

If you are running in short RPM bursts such as drag racing then the long stroke larger bore combo's are the way to go. The additional torque and HP that is provided outways the additional wear that larger rod/piston angles, more centrifical weight and piston speed brings.

In either case our cars are limited to <7K RPM by the factory PCM. So if you are going to spend the money on a complete build up go with the 383 or 396. All things being equil the strokers will make more HP & TQ over a 355.

 

If you're on a budget and are looking at using the stock crank, then the 355 is the way to go as far as money. However, if you are replacing the crank, money is not really a good excuse to choose a 355 over a 383. I'm not calling you out, just thought I'd clarify that for anyone that reads this who may be trying to make a decision on what to go with. There's already enough people that think a 383 will cost a ton more than a 355, we don't need any more running around.

 

Spin both engines to the same rpm and the 383 comes out on top. Not only that, but you are going to have a fatter torque curve with the 383.
If racing is the only thing you care for, you might want to go with a smaller engine because you can get enough head on the engine to turn some serious rpm. And in racing (especially with small engines) that's where the power per cubic inch comes in. Too bad no one makes a 4.125 bore block... LT1-style. That'd be the hot ticket..... the 377.

-Mindgame

 

I had my crank turned & reused it to save the $$.

I also didn't want to spend the extra $$ on the extra machine work to clearance the block for the stroker.

 

I agree with 95Camaro-Z28.

I was debating between a 355 and 383 for a while and now I've decided on a 396

Check the GP section. cmotorsports has a budget 383 rotating assembly for just over $1K. And the cost of clearencing the block for the 383 or 396 crank is not much of a valid argument for disregarding the two IMO.

Besides, if you plan on building up the bottom end of your 355 you'll be paying just as much for a forged crank as you would for a forged 383 crank.

There are advantages to both buildups and people are getting great numbers out of both 355 and 383.