Well, as some of you may know I just finished putting the xe230/236 in along with some homeported heads. After having some issues with grounds and tuning and whatnot I finally got it relatively dialed in. The fifth full throttle run spun a rod bearing in my stock shortblock. So now I am looking at my best options. The car is my everyday driver so I am looking to get this all done as soon as possible and as economical as possible, but I also plan on spinning it relatively high and don't want to have to worry about this again. What do you guys recomend for a budget performance buildup? Play engine builder for me and tell me what you would do.

 

What RPM are you going to be spinning it to?

Nu-tek has budget 383 strokers already assembled and ready to drop in with none of the headaches of building it yourself.

I think the 383s start at $5500.

 

I would like the capability of spinning to 6700 rpm on occasion, but more often than not I will probably keep it below 6400. I have seen Nu-Tek's shortblock, but I don't have $5500 laying around and building it myself is not a problem, although you are right it is a headache. Just trying to do this without losing the farm.

 

Brotha, although this is inconsequential right now, but what oil were you using and what RPM were you seeing on your WOT runs?

You can easily replace the rod and main bearings for cheap, and have your crank refinished if you didn't score it.

Tell us how you knew you wore your bearings, and what you did right after? I'm trying to figure out if there may be other damage.

 

The crank I would think is what you would have to worry about and make sure its properly balanced.

I put a SCAT cast crank in my motor and I can spin it upto 6900rpm if need be. Not too good for the valvetrain though.