If I were to do it all over again I would have done things a little different and went with a stroker and a solid roller cam set up. When I redo my combo again I will go this route (383) and shoot for low 10's N/A. Granted I am satisfied with what my car runs now N/A considering I have a tight nitrous converter and I haven't tuned it yet nor taken out any considerable weight. The ONLY way to run good numbers at the track is to have the whole car matched. What I mean by this is gear ratios, transmissions, torque converters, suspension, heads, cam,etc etc. I spent lots of time researching my combination and was actually able to pick the parts with the assistance of others that enable the car to run a good number. BTW Once I take out another 200lbs and a dyno tune I should hopefully be running ~11.1's. I will also be testing out the limits of the stock crank and 2 bolt mains by spraying the car this year with a 300hp shot so if it breaks I'll be sure to post.
Good luck on your combo Frank and if you have any questions feel free to e-mail.

Matt

PS- thanks for the compliment although I don't feel my car is fast anymore

 

Nostang,

You should check out Jason Warrens car on the TEA web site.
That is IMPRESSIVE! 9's with 2 bolt mains, stock crank, eagle rods & forged pistons

If you want to go fast on a budget a 355 has to be the answer.
There are a lot of guys running pretty fast on 2 bolt mains, and stock cranks and they seem to hold together.

Sure if you're going all forged and paying for 4 bolt splaying you should go with a stroker but you're going to spend a whole lot more right?

splayed mains with machining $700
forged crank $800
clearance block $150

This is a great topic I have a 4 bolt block at the machine shop right now.
Who has broken a stock crank and how much will the PM rods take with ARP bolts?

 

Even with a stroker you dont need all those high dollar parts, in my opinion a waste of money.

 

I'm going to have to agree with Trey on this one (no not myself). That is if you're going to rebuild the bottom end (I mean replacing parts) you midas well go with the 383 its worth it if you're already going to be buying parts. However, if you're debating whether or not to rebuild the bottom end and don't really need it, you may wanna just do a cam and rebuild the top end. I've seen plenty of guys turning mid/low 11s with matched parts on the top end. Whatever you decide to do make your you properly MATCH the parts, there have been a lot of guys mention this and it is VERY important. I'll give you an example, back in my 3rd gen days a friend of mine rebuilt his motor got GREAT parts, put it all together and best he ran was a 13.3x at 102mph. Like I said those parts were great, the problem...they were not matched. Another friend of mine had great parts, spent less money and ran 12.60's on the motor at 112 mph and not too decent 60 ft times.

 

Everyone seems to have THEORIES. Aside from the one guy that listed his 10.6 for his supercharged/nitrous car, nobody else has offered a quarter mile time for their strokers. Theory doesn't win drag races, either.

Frank

 

For the street all you need is the parts I listed above to build a 383 that will turn 6300 rpm's with no problem then add your cam of choice and head work of choice, it is a very economical 383 buildup that will work fine. All the forged cranks, and high dollar rods and exotic pistons are not needed (unless you plan on spraying or boosting). Just my thought on the matter.

Eric

 

I don't really know what to expect from my soon to be stroker, but I would suggest asking someone for a ride, or take one out for a spin. That's the best way to get an feel for it. Just a thought.

 

This has already been said, but if you drop a stroker in an otherwise stock top end engine, you aren't going to see much difference at all. The power comes in when you match the stroker with parts that can let it breathe. It would probably be more proper to say a stroker has more POTENTIAL for power than a stock displacement engine, assuming matching parts.

 

It sounds good on paper, but I haven't seen proof on the most important kind of paper...A time slip.

Frank

 

Honestly, you're beating a dead horse now. So you don't feel convinced? Don't do it. Then you can wish and sing your blues one day when you want more power.

 

12sndz for comaprison purposes only my old 381 stroker with stock 2 bolt mains and stock rods,gm steel crank (not to mention hype pistons) and afr 190's ran 10.95@124.1 n/a (3574 lbs) and driven to the track... full interior and yes power passenger leather seat option If your building a 355 and 383 and comparing using same cam and heads there will be no real power difference other than torque..basically cam and heads used will be ultimate factor if there will be significant gains or not..you build a 383 and throw in a lt4 hot cam or cc306 and if you dont have tuning ability dont expect much..

 

This is one of those questions that has to be answered with physics and math and theory, not timeslips, because there aren't any races going on with two IDENTICAL cars, one 350 and one 383!

 

No, consistency does.
If we're strictly talking drag racing (namely bracket racing) then ultimate power output takes a backseat to consistency. So what class are you building for? Then we'll go into specifics there.

From what I gather, you're looking to build a street car that can run good numbers on the weekend. Or is it the other way round??

For the record.... my 401 powered 66 Nova with solid roller cam, 11.8:1 compression, Dart RR heads, TPIS MiniRam, Accel DFI and other goodies would turn consistent ET's of ~10.4 @132 mph with 1.4-ish 60' times.... no power adders. I put about 5k miles a year on that car. I had a 385 cid Vega that was quite a bit faster but wasn't fuel injected and ran low 9's on the juice.... all on 10.5" tires.
So what's the question here??? Can a stroker go fast? I dunno, how fast do you want to go?
I'm expecting my current combination to go low 10's and it's N/A. That's my guesstimate based on my experience with other cars just as fast and faster. So how much power do you think you need??

-Mindgame

 

Frank: I see your point, but I think you are carrying it a little to far. An ET has so many variables that have much more impact than a 0.27" of stroke (3.75"-3.48"=0.27"). My car weighs 4,100lbs and has a "road race" type uspension, so comparing it to a 3,400lb car set up for drag racing doesn't prove much about the relative merits of a stroker. The concept of building a really fast car with stock bottom end parts is intriguing. I see that and wish you well. At some point though, you will reach the limit of the stock parts. At that point, get better parts and stroke it, you will be glad you did!

A stock crank that has beeen properly prepared is quite strong. A good visual inspection, magnafluxing, polishing, balancing, etc. and it will support a lot of hp. Exactly how much? Well, with the way things fatigue and fail, it's not like you can say: "a stock crank (or rods, or whatever) is good for xxx hp and no more". But the chances of failure go up as the hp and revs go up. Another variable is simply the number of hours of use. Metal fatigues, even when the stresses are far below the limits. Obvioulsy, the more stress, the greater the fatigue. But the way many of us use our cars is actually very taxing on parts. Street use, with lots of fatigue cycles following by high stress track use.

Given the costs and downtime incurred by a major failure, using stock parts close to their limits may not be as economical as it seems. I hate taking my motor out and rebuilding it due to broken parts. I have been there and done that too often. I like a safety margin such that when I put it together I can expect a couple of seasons of street and track use without the necessity to rebuild. So I advocate using better than OEM parts when feasible. They don't have to be the best of the best, just a nice middle grade seems to be the sweet spot of price/performance.

Rich Krause

 

Being a budget racer myself I like the 355" motor. If I had $5,000 to spend i would use it to make my car go the quickest with the money. If you buy a forged bottom end and build a stroker there goes your $5,000. But there are alot of factors like streetcar or racecar? Dailydriver or streetstrip warrior? I built a V8 S-10 a couple years ago with a 350ci motor and went to the track well it ran 13.50's on street tires and 3.42's with stock torque converter. I ran it awhile and wanted more so I went with a 383 crank and pistons being the only change (except the 383 had more compression) same heads, cam converter and gears. The truck picked up .8 tenths in the quarter and 7mph which was great but I couldn't keep the motor together broke it regularly then I sold the whole ****. A 383 definately makes some torque but for the 2 grand for a bottom end I would buy some Nitrous and or a blower and beat the pants off most N/A strokers streetcars that is. When I rebuilt my LT1 I looked at the options and wanted a very mild streetcar that ran 12's N/A and 11's on N2o and has done that for over 1 yr. and I have had zero engine probs. It depends on how much money you have to spend and how fast you want to go. I prefer my 355 b/c it is easier to hookup on the street and the track and runs good numbers for a heavy 3.42 geared daily driver. JMO Later