I recently spun a bearing and decided to go ahead and stroke it Ive been doing research but Im not sure if the parts are gonna be good enough. My goals are low 11s mainly and for a power figure lets say 450+rwhp. More concerned with e/t than anything else. I already have Ai 190s and will probably go with a bigger cam for the extra cubes but I still need to talk to Ron/Phil. My current cam is a 23x/24x 540/540 I believe. I dont have the cam card in front of me.
The crank is a big part obviously and was leaning toward the lunati sledgehammer. It says it is a 1pc seal but does it have to be specifically for an lt1? some say yes and some say no.
I was looking at Mahle pistons either the power pak or Ai has a "kit" with the mahle pistons and compstar rods. Ai also lists forged pistons and pro-series forged, again not sure the difference.
If i dont go with the kit from Ai, how bout either lunati pro mod or manley h-lite rods. The manley rods are ~595 grams and rated for 700hp/8k while the lunati are rated at 850hp/8500 rpms @ ~650 grams. Both are on summits site so I could use my wicked car care one card which has no interest for 12mos.
Clevite bearings throughout. Not sure if a bearing is a bearing but they were used during the Hendrick engine build-off so the name stuck.
So what do yall think?

 

The crank is a big part obviously and was leaning toward the lunati sledgehammer. It says it is a 1pc seal but does it have to be specifically for an lt1? some say yes and some say no.

Other than a stock crank, which is balanced to use with stock parts, there is no such thing as an LT1 specific crank. It is simply a 1-pc. rear seal SBC crank. Lunati is a nice piece.

I was looking at Mahle pistons either the power pak or Ai has a "kit" with the mahle pistons and compstar rods. Ai also lists forged pistons and pro-series forged, again not sure the difference. if i dont go with the kit from Ai, how bout either lunati pro mod or manley h-lite rods. The manley rods are ~595 grams and rated for 700hp/8k while the lunati are rated at 850hp/8500 rpms @ ~650 grams. Both are on summits site so I could use my wicked car care one card which has no interest for 12mos.

The Lunati and Manley rods are far superior to the Compstar rods, which are Chinese forgings. They are, however, finished and inspected here.

Clevite bearings throughout. Not sure if a bearing is a bearing but they were used during the Hendrick engine build-off so the name stuck.

Cleveite is an excellent bearing. You should consult your machine shiop, but you will need the "H" series bearing to use with an aftermarket crank.

Rich

 

Why an "H" series for an aftermarket crank?

 

H series has a chamfer to match up with large crank fillet radius. Higher quality cranks have a larger radius radius (fillet) where the journal meets the crank "cheek". This decreases the stress in that area, which is a common place for a crack to develop. Very high end cranks may have a fillet with a varying, nonconstant radius (i.e. not a section of a circle). Some crank experts feel this is stronger based on a stress analysis, which is quite beyond me.

Use of non-chamfered bearings with a crank having a large fillet radius can cause serious damage. In the old days, engine builders had to cut down the available bearings.

Rich

 

so what do you think about the rods? on summits site it says neither are clearanced for strokers. is this a big deal or does it just make life easier when clearancing the block? also would the difference in weight be big enough to matter? the price is about the same with the lunati rods being stronger but heavier by ~65 grams. Anybody ever use the Mahle forged or pro-series pistons?

 

Good information, Rich.

 

Mahle makes an excellent piston. I'm running the pro-series and they are absolutely beautiful pieces. As for your rods, most h-beams are going to require block clearancing anyway, and it is not a big deal with all things considered, plus you're going to need to run a small base-circle cam (hopefully yours is already). IMO the Compstars will be fine at your power level goal and RPM use.

 

+1

Never knew that.