good luck with your build man. My ls1 build is somewhat near to completion. Just not alot of good documentation yet. build once the car is complete there will be pictures galore. I think you and i actually spoke a while back about these swaps.

with the room available I wonder how a good set of headers will be done especially on the drivers side.

Yeah as far as headers...if you get a set that goes down and then back they will work just fine. My real transmission is suppose to come in today but yea...like you said I'm waiting on my other one before I start welding. We haven't done a whole lot the last two days... I do know all the engine parts come in today...besides my cam kit. So we will be building the engine and hopefully making it permanent so I can start working on the steering and the sway bar.

^post up pics of the engine build!

I'm loving this thread just so you know

Subscribed. Good luck with this.

Just wanted everyone to know I ordered what I believe to be the rest of my parts and I get my transmission tomorrow. So it's going to start going together in the next week or so.

and didnt you almost buy my blown rotory to rebuild? this is quite different ha

yes I looked for several parts. I even bought parts off of people. side housings and rotors and everything. and then decided to say screw it. I sold it all to cam at pettit for one low price to just get rid of it. Today I'll take a bunch of pictures and start showing the engine putting it together. All we did last night was throw the crank in. The pistons go in tonight and I'll throw the intake and carb on top just for looks. But the big thing is putting the transmission on the back and dropping it into the car. I've been waiting on head bolts and my cam. The head bolts keeps getting farther and farther on back order. To the point it's almost not going to be in to april. When I first looked the date was the 5th...then it was the 11, now I looked the other day it's the 25. So I'm going to call and have them which it out for studs. They are stronger just more expensive.

For your guys viewing purpose I threw the engine half ass together for looks but I ran into a problem... maybe someone can throw some insight to it.


Anyways when putting the rod bearing in we ran into a issue with binding. I'm kinda confused.

I didn't use the plastic gauge stuff cause I bought a 383 stroker kit from summitracing.com

The kit comes with the crank, rods, pistons, rings and the bearings as well as my arp bolts.

So I more less assume if it's a kit that's all made to go together I shouldn't have to check that stuff.

Anyways the more is stiff turning over with bolts loose. You can tell I have the thick rings and fresh engine.

But when tightening down the rod bearing you can no longer turn the engine over.

If it's torqued to 40 lbs your not bugging it....and that's just one rod and piston with all the others still loose. If you torque to say 10 or so you can turn it but it's very hard. I tried this on several different rods and they are all the same. So I'm thinking maybe my crank is outta spec...TOO BIG? bearing say standard on them so that's not the case. Unless they got stamped wrong. I think I might compare them to my old rod bearings.

oh and if your wondering I have new valve covers and everything coming so don't worry..not using those dirty ugly looking crome ones.

the rod bearing? you have 8 of them..

was the kit you bought not put together?

plastigauge is a great product, but you paid to a complete motor.

i raced my way through college.. and i sent you money for stuff.. this is not rocket science.. send me a pm.. then call me..

wondering.

beers :beer:

You do realize the kit you linked in your first post required your blocked to be bored out .030" ? I was wondering why you painted it before taking it to the machine shop......

The block had already recently been bored 30 over.. All the rest of it...as far as bearings is standard size. The pistons and rings are in.

And yes I know I have 8 of them. The point was you should install your first rod...put the bearings in....oil them up really good..apply the rod to crank. Put on your cap and install bolts. I did a little tighten with my ratchet, then a little more, then pulled out the torque wrench and did final torque and I couldn't turn the engine over.

So I then loosened the bolts and turned it over without any problems. So then I slightly tightened the bolts and I can verily turn it over and I'm using a cheater bar.

I think either this new crank isn't turned down to spec.. or my bearings that have standard stamped on them aren't the right ones.

main caps are ok and crankshaft rotates ok without rods on --right?
take a caliper and spec out the crankshaft and rod bearings
I always thought you install all the rods and rotate then loose then tighten them outside to in?
Plastic is always needed-- crankshaft tolerances can always differ some. Doesnt take much to lock it down so it cant be turned by hand.
od

well after doing some research and asking around.....my buddy was helping me..and like him....we've changed out bearing and rings and stuff..but never built from the ground up. I just read that rods only go one direction when being installed. I some how believe I managed to install all of them the wrong way lol. I'll fix most likely monday when we get all of our parts and finish building the engine.

oh man--you havent built from ground up before?
Oh there is a LOT more to installing crank/mains, pistons/wristpins and rods.
little things like
1- it has to be a REALLY CLEAN AREA---really clean and no dust being blown
2- temp needs to be stable and a little warm (70's)
3- have to check end play,
4- pistons ALSO only go one way!
5- rods also only go one way
6- dont forget to seat the main bearings studs with hammer ( brass)
7- the block has been cleaned --right?
8- check bearings for proper clearances on the ends and insure the lub holes are aligned (a lot of people drill them a little)
10 use the same high quality of break in grease on everything
11 you HAVE to use the plastic to be sure the oil film can get in there ok
12- is your crank OK --was it cleaned or turned?
13- then you get into how to properly get the rods bolts tq ed down right--with streach and all.
Man you need to read a lot----just wait til to get to the cam and heads.
you can do this--you will learn a lot.

this engine should be able to turn without the heads on with about 20lbs of torque --anything much higher meens a problem.

yes I know all parts have to be the same temp when checking clearances and stuff..... I know 90 percent of it. just never did it all at one time..

As far as taping the top making sure they are set and solid before torque and torque in 3 different steps... I know all of that. I'm using arp bolts and going by everything they say when torquing.

I have a new crank so it's nice and pretty.

Before we started to do the rods I could grab the harmonic balancer and turn it over pretty easily without much strain. I knew something wasn't right when I did the rods. I know the pistons go in only one way. Like I said I've done all of this stuff at some point and time just new actually did a complete rebuild. With all brand new parts. I'll have the engine put together monday and the transmission will be mounted. My mounts will be made and the engine will be getting wired and I'll be working on the steering and everything else.

when all that weight is in there your new nickname for the car will be ........ sledge . LOL

yes

hmm...idk...cause arp says you should loosen and retorque all of the bolts atleast 5 times to verify there is no friction and everything goes down smoothly.

As far as rod go I don't see why where you start would matter. But the mains I torque them the same way I do my heads. From the middle out...and even then I don't really see why it would matter. But I do

But like you guys say from the outside in....only thing could be cause of pull and stress I guess as you built them.

Good luck with the build! I'm building a 347stroker + 100shot for my 67 mustang. Take your time and do it right I didn't do that on my last 302 rebuild and well you know what happened next.

^The big bang? lol

outinnowhere3193 whats the weight difference from the re?

big bang...or a loud knock.

I'm only going to be 10 to 1 compression so I'll be fine on that end of the stick...it's the backing sure she breaks in and I don't throw a rod. So I've been doing some reading about break in's what's your guys thoughts about breaking it in on synthetic oil?

The last part of your statement makes me laugh. Card'd 383s can push 650+ without spray. I've seen it done and I've built 2 that did.

Woot...that's right...yeah with everything I have I should have a easy 600 but 500 at the wheels is really what I'm shooting for.

Just for anyone else that is checking in on this and what not. We all know how our girlfriend and wifes can be when we start working on our cars. But anyways monday starts my day to go back to working on the car and I'll be spending the majority...if not all of the day over there finishing the build and installing the motor mounts and getting things situated. My transmission parts guy is going to put me a clutch kit together so I'm hoping to see things really put together in the next week. Although I'm still waiting on the cam till about the 16

500 to the wheel??
uhhhhh--dont know if i would want to do that without some real chassis bracing and swapping axles?
So the PPF will be completely gone right?
I really dont know what the diff will take? or the rear suspension for that matter.
Whoooo--getting the engine is will be a piece of cake compared as to what to do with the rest of it?
You the man dude--show us how! rooting for ya.
OD