OK, my dad is worse than me, I wanted to do a Hotcam kit this winter. Well he mentioned that instead of doing the cam in the car, just pull the motor and freshen it up (new seals, misc). Now he is talking about doing a mild port job on the heads and intake (basically gasket matching them) and then punching it out to a 355.

I am not going to be pushing that much power, I'm hoping for 350 on the motor and maybe 460-480 on the juice. Would the stock crank and rods be able to handle that so all I would have to do is get some new pistons???

What other recommendations does everyone have??? Thanks guys

 

Stud it, mag the crank, Arp bolts in rods, go like hell!

 

LOL sounds about right!!! Any pistons you would recommend??

 

The good heads/cam setups are near 480flywheel NA bearings being the weakest link.

My vote is rebearing it and spend the rest on GOOD heads and cam not some HOT cam crap.

 

For a cheap rebuild, the Speed Pro powerforged pistons work well. They are a bit heavy, but they can take some abuse. The stock rods are rumored to take 500 with good bolts although a set of Eagle SIR rods might be a good idea.

 

Chris, do you have a 4 bolt main or studded 2 bolt?

 

I got ARP bolts, Forged SRP's and im supposed to be able to spray 150-200 shot no problem (coming out to around 500-600 hp)

 

if you want to spray, get some srp pistons or whatever and give them a tad more ring gap for the juice. anything helps on a relatively stock bottom end. arp main studs are a must and have everything balanced. stock crank and rods are some of the best production sbc parts ever.

 

Personally i would trust the stock rods to right around 500fwhp if you use good hardware in them. The stock crank if its in good shape 550-600 maybe. New pistons are a must on the rebuild. If i had it to do over again i would have used some nice SRP or Mahle pistons in my build.

Remember a decent set of forged rods with good hardware are only ~ $300

Use studs in the bottom end.

Steve

 

DAMMIT!!! Snowball effect taking place. I planned on just doing a cheap rebuild and it seems like everyone is telling me to do extra stuff. By the time this is over I am prolly going to have a 396 with AFR's and a custom cam!!!!

Thanks for all the replies guys, keep em coming!!!

 

I went 4 bolt splayed, and poured the block with a Roc Bloc half pour. Looking towards the future...

 

so far i have 8k miles on my speedpro forged pistons with stock rods/crank and have had a single problem with them

 

Hey, they get the job done.

 

How about for say a budget street 383 build, looking for about 450 NA rwhp about 6800 max RPM, would a set of forget pistons, stock rods (shotpeened, ARP, etc), and cast Eagle (or other) be ok for that setup? I don't plan on going much over that in power, mostly street use, occasional 1/4 mi (once or twice a yr), and occasional autox or RR (also once or twice a yr).

 

For your power goals you don't need to stud the bottom end. Making the bottom end stronger is never a bad idea but it is going to cost more. I would get new rods or at least new rod bolts. New rod bolts installed in your factory rods will cost about 150 bucks vs a new set of SCAT I beams for 250 bucks. There used to be a guy on ebay that would sell stock rods with arp bolts installed for about 100 bucks but I cant find him anymore.

I would also replace the pistons. Speed Pro pistons are a good choice or you could go with some Probe pistons. Both are good and will support your goals.

One more thing, I would check the block and only bore it if needed. My block had 150,000+ miles and is good enough to get away with a good hone. To bore the block over is about another 120 bucks which you could use toward something else.