Dont take this thread as stupid or nieve but I was sitting here thinking about it and Ive never seen a 396 SR. I know there are a few problems with a 396s valve train geometry to begin with but I didnt think it was a big deal. Does anybody have any dyno results of a Solid Roller 396. Im curious now about building a 396 SR this winter instead of a 383 since its going to be a street car and If I can make good power with the lower RPMs of a 396 then ill do that.


Just curious tho,
-john

 

what valvetrain problems are you refering to? having to run a small base circle cam? most 383s need a small base cam for rod clearence. if anything, the larger displacement is easier on the valvetrain because you dont have to rev it as high to get the same piston speed and power.

 

Why would a 396 valvetrain necessarily be any different from a 350?

 

Ya i really dont see how the valve train is affected either...but to answer your Q.

My buddy had one. 396/AFR heads/SR cam. Made 48x rwhp SAE through 9 inch, 28inch hoosiers and t56. Ran 10.7 @ 131+ in full weight car.

 

My buddy has one. It is an auto with a 9" rear also and put down 446 RWHP on the dyno a month ago. It is a bad *** ride.

 

I was refering to information that i had learned from Vince aka (spraytheway). the last time I talked with him in buffalo. A topic that I never fully grasped and didnt even try to. It was way over my head. Fopr that I apologize I shouldnt have made a assumption with out being to explain myself better. Lets forget that I said that then lol.
Then how come the peak HP and TQ numbers occur lower in the rpm range than that of a 383. And becease a SR begins to call into question the streetability of a motor what HP and TQ curve peaks would I see with a SR in a 396.

I apologize if this isnt making sense its like 3 in the morning and im trying to finish my college term paper and bounce around on here at the same time.

thanks guys,
-john

 

the longer stroke creates a given piston speed at a lower rpm. thats why all else being equal, the bigger motor brings the powerband down.

 

So where would you say the power really comes into play, 2500, 3000 rpm where would it start to drop off with a SR, roughly seeing how there isnt much more information given.

thanks,
-john

 

depends on the intake and cam you run too. usually a 383 will make peak for a given cam/heads/intake about 300 rpm earlier. for the 396 bring the peak down another 200 rpm. hell, we had one 396 we spun to 7200 rpm on the bottle. it depends on the combo. we only spun it to about 6500 on the motor because the power band dropped off because the LT1 intake didnt have enough plenum volume to feed it. but on the bottle it was a whole nuther story.

 

I think im gonna change up my build and go with a 396 SR instead of a 383 SR I figure ill be able to get more bang for my buck. ITs still gonna be on the bottle tho. lol

-john

 

because of the sacrifices you make in rod/stroke ratio and compression height in the 396 over the 383 tho, the 383 will usually live longer, especially when a power adder is used. ive seen many 5.7 rod 383s live to 100K miles, but a 5.85 rod 396 usually needs a freshening at about 50K miles.

 

That sounds pretty reasonable though. I was planning on going with a 6 in rod with the 383 anyway. I can live with 50K miles for a SR 396. I doubt ill put that many miles on it before I go to a new set up anyway. What kind of reliability issues do you think I will have being a street car only and the occasional 200 shot of spray. Im planning on using a set of full port TFS heads with 2.02/1.60s custom grind cam. What do you guess/think it would be capable of putting down?
-john

 

with a ported LT4 intake 460rwhp shouldnt be a problem.

 

How many people are driving these solid roller cars on the street on a regular basis?

 

They can be plenty streetable, but they require maintance unlike the HR cams (re-adjusting valve lash). They are also louder with a destinctive ticking sound. How it drives will depend on the cam, gearing, tuning etc. Withevery thing setup correctly, you should be able to get a SR in the high 240/high 250 range to drive pretty well.