Help me build a low buck/best bang engine

turtlevette said:

Imo Apita said:

OK no chance for that to happen......:gurney: wallet is broken...

Any good news?

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Then i suggest you make due with the running engine you have in the car. How bad is it really? Maybe we can help you determine that.

If the bottom end is still in ok shape a cam change and a set of cheap aluminum heads is your most effective use of funds.

Now a lot of people will jump in and say don't attempt to freshen up or increase power on an old bottom end. I disagree for most hobbiest guys that are only using the car a few thousand miles per year. It'll be a long time before you put the final 50k miles on that 90k engine.

Or if you have plenty of time on your hands pull it and put new bearings in and do a re-ring. It shouldn't need a bore at 90K miles unless it has been poorly cared for.

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MYBAD79 said:

Good thing that this engine was free... take it apart and even if it's only for your education or experience.. I doubt the block is useable and I'd be surprised if the missing material from the lifters did not destroy the bearings/journals....

What exactly is wrong with the engine that you currently have in the car? A stock L48 with cast crank and 2-bolt mains can still handle a lot of abuse, flat top pistons to bump the CR and some aluminum heads and a nice cam will make a hell of a difference. Personally I would never use a flat tappet cam but budget is budget.....

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:withstupid:x2
This block scares me. If you want to strip it down and measure everything out, that's step 1. There may not be a step 2. If you really want a performer on your budget, I think you would be best off (as someone else mentioned earlier) finding a later block already machined for rollers. Fresh bearings, rings, hot cam and a little time getting your dremel familiar with your heads and it'll get it done for now.
I'm in mine for about double what you're budget but I might have been able to do it for about the same were it not for the .030 bore and hyper pistons.
If you can get one that doesn't require any machinework, I figure around $500 for a decent late model block and ~$300 for new rings, bearings, oil pump and chain set. Leaves you about $200 for a decent roller cam and then the porting (if you already have the dremel) is mostly just time. If you do "home port" your heads, find a shop in your area that actually has carbide bits in 1/8" shank. Using sanding disks and rolls will take you about 10x longer and cost you a fortune.

Well, the wife just got laid off so the low budget motor is going to be a no-budget motor.
Had a bum shoulder last weekend so didn't do anything.
This weekend I plan on taking the heads apart and cleaning them.
And I need to go pick up an engine stand somewhere's.
Anyways, don't nobody hold their breath, this is going to be a looong project.

well, that's bad news.... hope she finds a new job soon...

disassembling the engine and cleaning/inspecting parts does not cost anything.... take your time....

OK, wifey has some good prospects going, more news at the end of the month :thumbs:
In the mean time I've taken the heads apart.
Cleaned them in a parts washer, got a nice chemical burn to prove it..:cussing:
All the intake valves had a nice heap of burnt oil on them. All the rubber o-rings were dried up. This thing must have been burning oil like it was going out of style. Didn't maganaflux but used dye penetrant, no cracks.
At least two studs/head have stripped/damaged threads.
Haven't gone past the machine shop yet but what is a ball park figure for installing screw-in studs?
I'll post pics later but one thing I'm somewhat worried about is that all the valve springs had a very sharp edge to them.The thickness of the bottom coil of the springs are worn down to half the original size.
The valve spring seats (cups?) also have a very sharp edge to them in the heads. Any chance that too high of a spring pressure has worn it too far into the head?



Downloaded free cam selection software from Comp Cams:
http://compcams.com/camquest/default.asp
Curious as to how accurate it is since the variables they ask for are not that elaborate.
With a 383, 10.5-1 compression stock ported heads with large valves and a 800cfm 4-barrel the highest HP cam is the XE-274H-10 with the 4-7 firing order swap. Max HP (395) at 5000rpm with max Torque (445) at 4000 rpm
That seems a little optimistic for my peanut brain.
Maximum torque cam is the X4254H with 462ftlbs at 3500 rpm. HP 351 @ 4500rpm.

I shouldn't make any assumptions but mid 200's to low 300's rwhp seems feasible. With 400+ torque.
For now this 11-1 kit is still high on my list:
http://www.flatlanderracing.com/scatsr-chevysbcast.html
Also found this:

It's from http://www.blp.com/
http://www.blp.com/pdf/NP2006.pdf
No prices, but can't be expensive, drill fixture and 8 jets.
As usual, mixed reviews on the rest on the 'net.
Any comments as to high useful this would be? Trying to keep detonation at bay with 10.5-1/11-1.
Would a homemade water/alcohol injection system with a WOT switch be better insurance?

I know i'm still in fantasy la-la land here but just trying to get my brain around a couple of things and having the plan ready when I start building this thing.
I know I don't have to reinvent the wheel here but just trying to be a little creative. It doesn't help that I just saw a running 350 for sale on graigslist for $700....:crylol:

OK, time for an update;
Took the ol' 461's to 3 different shops and all of them told me not to use them.
Reason being that it's about $700 to get them back into shape and aluminum heads are cheaper then that.

Will need to build something soon since my current L-48 is running on 5 cylinders.
I can pull of 3 plug wires and the idle doesn't change. Plenty spark on new plugs so it's the cam going.

Took the spare engine apart today and found a couple of interesting things that I'd like to share and would like your comments on. It has had a previous rebuild.

Timing gear is plastic and missing a tooth:


Now who would want to use a plastic gear on a rebuild?
The cam looks reasonable with scuff marks and wear marks but nothing outrageous. Doesn't really matter since I won't be re using it anyway.

Main bearing is worn paper thin, this doesn't seem normal:


The two outer bearings are worn and the inner bearings look like they haven't



Sorry, fuzzy pic of the first bearing closest to the timing chain


What would cause this uneven wear on the outer bearings compared to the inner bearings. I'm new to SBC and semi-new to engines but I've not seen this wear pattern before.

Last one bothers me a little, on cleaning the block I found that cylinder #8
has a very thin wall portion close to distributor side. Measured it and found it to be 0.091 inch. A 0.030 overbore would leave 0.061. It's the bottom half inch of the cylinder bore.

Imo Apita said:

OK, time for an update;
Took the ol' 461's to 3 different shops and all of them told me not to use them.
Reason being that it's about $700 to get them back into shape and aluminum heads are cheaper then that.

Took the engine apart today and found a couple of interesting things that I'd like to share and would like your comments on.

Timing gear is plastic and missing a tooth:

Click to expand...

The old gear had a nylon coating on them...same thing came out of my BB. The coating was cracked and chipped pretty much all the way around.

Them plastic gears are the joke of the 1/2 century...I have NO clue why they are used in stock engines from all the makers I know of....

except to generate service work....

those center bearings....the typical bearing is worn down to the copper there, the front and rear look fine to ME....

:clobbered:

The part I don't get is how the main bearing is paper thin in the center (hard to see in the pic) and the center bearings are still thick.