I have Caprice.

 

If you are into street racing, then you should want a Stroker with all the extra torque. Torque is going to give you those fast 0-60 second times. When people race on the streets, it is usually light to light.

If you have ET streets, you will definitely hook up just fine as long as you know how to drive your car. Once you learn how to launch the car with all of that torque, look out and hold on.

That is one reason I have always liked the LT1 over the LS1. Torque is there as soon as the clutch is released. The LS1 doesn't have max torque until 3500RPMs or so.

I wish you were down here so we could race and then you would see how well the Strokers run

 

One of the siliest arguments I heard on this thread is this "strokers have too much torque". Look at some dyno graphs (I do it a lot, nearly every day). A stroker will have more torque ~proportional to displacement. IOW, a 383 will have ~10% more torque than a 350, actually ~7% is more typical, all else being equal. So it's not huge. In this range, more is clearly better.

Launching any hi-po car on street tires is tricky, you need to use the "Built in Launch Control Rev.1" that all F-bodies come with. This unit is of variable quality but has an innate capability to "learn". The ability to "learn" is much greater in some units than in others. On the street, these are called "drivers". Just be careful with yours and do not press the "off" switch prematurely. The unit may malfunction if exposed to two-carbon fragments while in operating mode. Older units such as the one in my car operate at lower clock rates than the newer "Gen-X" units. But they have much more opportunity to "learn". These units are in general very flexible and reliable. Operational tips include the above mentioned need to avoid two carbon molecules as well as understanding the all important "sleeP' mode. The unit will malfunction if forced to operate for more than ~16h/day. IOW, it should be placed in "sleep" mode for ~8h/day. A service life of at least 70 years can be expected.

I was haivng somuch fun with the decription of the "driver" I think I will elaborate on it and post to the lounge.

Rich Krause

 

So rich-
you in for a rebuild pretty soon?
btw
I'm very happy with my gen X model- it is learning pretty quick but every time it gets scanned it shoots out nothing but a mumbled mess of letters and numbers few can uncode. any suggestions

 

I would just like to add that if you look at all of the really fast 4th gen fbodys (cars running low 10's or quicker) they are all running strokers on spray or some form of boost. Just look at some of the feature cars in GM Hightech and read the bio 383, 396 even 401.
I don't recall seeing anyone running that fast with 350 ci, except a back halved Super Stocker which is super mega dollars, also look at the really fast LS1's all strokers.

 

You missed Joe's response. He ran high 9's with his 1st stroker. I'll add that, from what I remember and please someone correct me if I'm wrong but, Jordon Musser's car ran high tens (n/a) with a stroker. Another gent who posts here from time to time (Taner) is running 9's with a 396 stroker and nitrous. A guy here local to me is running 10's n/a with his 381 stroker LT1. So you see, we could go on and on with this....
Of course we could quote some of Patterson Racing's 310-330 cid engines that are running the Comp Eliminator circuit to make the point that the smaller destroked motors are faster than the ones I mentioned. Does that mean we should all rethink our decision to build bigger engines? I think not..... but first you have to understand why destroked engines are sometimes easier to make faster and based on your previous posts I don't think you understand engines that well. Not a flame, just an honest observation.

The bottom line is this.... if you push a 350 ci motor to 7k and make 550 hp, you can make the same hp with some 50+ lbs-ft more torque from a 396 at 600-800 less rpm. The stroker will make more torque in the rev band that you'll use in a drag race and that is where it's at!
If you want to make some real power... push the stroker to the same rpm..... no contest.
Do the math sometime. Take a dyno graph from a 383 or 396 and compare it to a 350 making the same hp. Now, calculate your shift points and see what rpm range you need to worry about in a drag race. See which one makes more average torque throughout that rev range.
I'll guarantee you this.... 20-30 more lbs-ft of torque available at each shift makes a big difference in 1/4 mile times as does the average torque through that rev range.

Launch-wise.... you're going to need suspension regardless. The 350 will need more gear out back and a higher launch rpm, so the amount of torque multiplication off the line is near the same and not worth mentioning.

Good luck, you've got quite a bit to learn.

-Mindgame

 

MG-
dont forget that some of those vehicles mentioned were daily driven and/or 6speeds!

frank-
the bottom line is pretty much "yes"

however many people (like myself) refuse to do anything that will hurt the already craptastic handling in their cars..

No on is saying 350s arent fast. we are just saying that all things equal, 383 is faster


also
are you telling me that 1.6 rockers and a CC305 with long tubes will yeild me an 11 sec time?

 

the biggest arguement that you have come up with on this one is lack of traction, however the examples that you are giving of cars that are as fast are dependant on high amounts of traction, so I don't see how it applies. Your car wouldn't run anywhere close to what it does if you were pulling 2.0 60' times and put any weight reduction stuff back in. I don't understand how this even differs from a car that just plain has more power? Either one is going to be tough to hook up on the street. If thats what your worried about, build a serious stroker that makes tons of low end power, then throw some 3.08 gears in it and smoke everyone around you. The simple fact is that strokers have the capability to make more power, if thats something you don't want then stick with what you have, no offense intended.

 

take careful note of MG's sig

 

Man I found this thread late. BTW - I love the anology Rich. Very amusing.

Here is another stroker example. A N/A, hydraluic cam, ported stock head 383 that has run 11.20 @ 122 MPH. This is with the PCM pulling up to 6 deg of timing on the launch which is causing a serious bog. The launch RPM's are dropping from 5800 to 3500 RPM in the 60'. Even with the bog in RPM the car has 60' times in the 1.58 range. Once the timing retard issue is solved 11.0's and 10.9's are expected.

This is a daily driven M6 that does has the drag race suspension goodies and weighs 3500 lbs.

Now you are saying that you want 1/4 mile times since you are building a "drag car" but then you have concerns about too much torque and hooking up? Well if you are building a drag car and don't want to build the suspension with the motor then it really is not a drag car.

Bottom line, a properly built stroker has more availiable torque and has the potential for quicker 1/4 times with more MPH than a 350 or 355.

 

Well put Mindgame.

If you want to compare the times, which you keep asking, then just look at the top 3-4 fastest FI LT1 cars. They are all stroked with Forced Induction of some kind. If you are not on a tight budget, meaning you are going to install forged crank, ect. in the motor, then it is common sense to spend
a little extra for a stroker. But since this has been stated several times in this post already, maybe you just don't get it.

 

I stayed a 355 with my car because of the fact I'm using a ported LT1 head. LT1 heads wont flow enough for a 383. Even ported ones. You will "aerodynamically stall" the air when running a 383 with stock heads. Now if I had the money to buy an aftermarket head, then have it worked on, sure, I would go with the bigger stroke. Ask Phil about it, Treye.

 

what should i ask him

 

You should ask him about the whole "Why my little 355 from podunk SC will outrun your Michigan 383". Phil can shed much light on the subject. Or, we can just wait for my car to get back together and you wont have to ask, numbers will explain for themselves.

 

I have to disagree here. The stock castings can be worked to flow plenty for a 383. Sure it is possiable to get a cam that is too large for ported stock heads and if you go in to the world of solid cams then ported stock heads can fall real short. Hell, if the cam is not matched to the head flow then you can have problems even on a small CI motor.

If anything I am seeing a lack of flow in my intake. When the intake is bolted on to the heads I get about a 10 CFM drop around .500. With the car running the MAP drops as low as 93 KPI above 6K RPM. To me that says the heads are not the problem. It is the intake that is slowing my car down.