pparaska

The rod/stroke ratio of the engine, in my opinion (based on reading things from Vizard, and many other tech writers) is only an issue at the extremes. The difference in rod/stroke ratio has been seen worthy by many writers only as it pertains to what you are looking at - reliability in terms of piston side loading. I've seen articles where "experts" think that once you get to 1.6:1 or below rod/stroke ratio, then you need to be concerned about the side loading issue. Here's one example: http://www.musclemustangfastfords.com/tech/mmfp_0711_ford_small_block_stroker_engine_build/piston.html However, other net-wisdom is pointing to a 1.7:1 ish or above ratio as "good" for piston side loading, etc.: http://www.victorylibrary.com/mopar/rod-tech-c.htm The stock 400 had 5.56" rods, 3.75" stroke - that's a 1.48:1 rod/stroke ratio. This has been deemed as "not good" by many, as a "too short rod" setup. A 350 or 377 SBC has a 5.7" rod, 3.48" stroke - that's a 1.64:1 ratio A 383 or 400 with a 6" rod, 3.75" stroke has 1.60:1 ratio A 350 or 377 with a 6" rod, 3.48" stroke has a 1.724:1 ratio. A 327 with a 5.7" rod and 3.25" stroke has a 1.754:1 ratio. And "The 350 Chevy should have built" has a 6.209" rod, 3.25" stoke has a 1.91:1 ratio. But, I'm thinking that a good forged 1.125" compression height piston with a 6" rod using the 400's 3.75" stroke will be a good choice, as you can back down on the compression and cam and make that needed hp/tq with less combustion pressure and a better response at the lower end cruise. It still gives a 1.6:1 ratio, almost the 1.64:1 of the stock rod (5.7") 350 that never seemed to have a reputation for excessive piston side loading wear. However, the 1.724:1 ratio of the 377 with a 6" rod does lower the rod angle by a degree or so. Check this out: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/longest-rods-std-deck-454-bbc-33043.html From what I've seen, the kind of power and torque you are talking about will be a bit of a stretch for a 377. You'll need to have optimum everything to get it out of the 377 in my opinion. It's going to be easier to do with the 400. Just another reason I'd not worry so much bout the slight difference in the rod/stroke ratio difference between the 1 or so degree difference in rod angle between a 377 and 400 with 6" rods. Just my opinion

It's a small company. Hard to tell why you aren't getting any results, but let's hope they just took a cruise together or something . Keep us posted.

I'm with Z48LT-1 - forget the polished stuff - you'll hate keeping it looking nice. I'd do as he says, and brush it. I did that to the AL radiator bracket/top cover I used to run. I used a piece of wood with a guide to run along the edge, and some sand paper. Nice brushed finish with the grain all parallel - looked good and no maintenance.

bj, - those current draw numbers sound about right. I found something like 15amps @ ~12.5v on low, and ~35amps @~12.5v on high. There's a VF7 relay rated at 70amps - not sure its available. There are others though. See my (updated) post in Larry's thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=99700

Awesome! I love the engineering, design, color, execution. A true hot rod!

Getting piston deck heights to come all within 0.003 or 0.004 of each other is pretty difficult. I'd go with the 0.038" as your smallest piston-to-head clearance and be very happy! That's about ideal! I've had the tops of pistons cut down a few thous. to bring everything close using stock rods. With aftermarket rods, and pistons, it's usually easier though. I've also been known to take a few thousandths off the top of a piston myself, using a lot of checking (relative to the ring lands, valve pockets, etc.) by using sandpaper and a figure 8 motion. It takes a long time. That was because I had a piston that was 0.004" higher than all the others and it bugged me. I probably could have left it alone .

I say "Just Say No" to the amp meter. The only practical use they have is to show HOW MUCH the battery is being drained or charged. In the 240Z, it's not even real, as only some of the load goes through it. I took the two wires/lugs for the amp meter and bolted them together and then slid 2 (different) sized heat shrink tubes over the connection and shrinked them, and then tied the wire out of the way so it wouldn't chafe, etc. I ran a volt meter instead (tapped off that conntection). The 240Z amp meter is prone to burn out, and then the car has much of it's electrics disabled when that happens. Not a really good failure mode, IMO.

Hi Mike! Long time no hear! Thanks for that link - I will check it out!

I want to clarify something here - Mike's post above is of course to be taken in a general sense - flaming will get you banned. But what we have absolutely no tolerance for is public flaming of an admin or moderator. This is gestapo rule here, nothing close to democracy. I've posted about my idea of what HybridZ is and will repeat it here to show you why I wrote what I did above. Please try to keep this metaphor in mind when you are visiting HybridZ: HybridZ is like a house party thrown by a friend or a friend's friend. You show up with eats and something to drink, but the host has already provided a ton of that stuff. Everyone is behaving in a mature manner, being nice, being tactful, not stepping on toes, but adding to the conversations in a respectful, sharing, helpful manner. Everyone is smiling or maybe not smiling because they are so intent on describing in great detail how they did something very technical. But after they are done, they are smiling, cordial, humble. No one is puffing their chest out, trying to act like the big dog. If they do, they get uncomfortable looks from all around and they cut it out. The idiot that is a friend of one of the house-owner's friends is not watching his tongue, and just blurts out flames or is arrogant, etc., and gets his butt shown to the door. The super idiot is the one that picks a verbal or physical fight right there in front of everyone with the house owner or one of his family (I.e., the admins/moderators) So, who do you want to be? One of the pleasant, interesting crowd, or the chest-puffer, idiot that flames, or the super idiot that picks a fight with the people HOSTING the party? You decide - the consequences are clear - act like an idiot and you WILL be shown the door. If this little metaphor above doesn't work for you, maybe something more authoritarian will work. Think of this place as like a country under martial law. We have our rules and we enforce them by penalty of ban. It's unlawful for us to kill, so we just ban and block people if they willfully step out of line too many times - or they flame a government official (admin or moderator) in public. Back to your regularly scheduled tech talk!!

Don't be afraid to pay a bit of a premium if the machine shop is well known to do top quality work. There's a machine shop I have used for 30 years - same owner and many of the guys in there have been there that long. They build cars and race them. And a lot of the fast people around use them. But they are $90/hr. I just pay, knowing I will get quality work and advice. The place is Burtonsville Performance Machine Service in Burtonsville, MD.

Glenn McCoy went with a stock replacement T-5 clutch setup. A few thousand miles later with not that much heavy use and the 450ish HP 383 is causing it to slip. Don't skimp - R&Ring a clutch is no fun, and you might over heat the flywheel and possibly make it unsafe to use again. I'm running a CFDF clutch with my 407ci engine - barely broken in. It held up to a bit of WOT use not even the 500 street miles into the use of the clutch that they warn you to be easy with it. The reason the JTR book says to use the 153 tooth flywheel is the starter placement issue and the T/C rod bracket. I am not sure that an 11" clutch can fit on a 153 tooth flywheel, but if it can, definitely go with an 11" unit.

I was reading an article on the LS7 heads by Vizard: http://www.gofastnews.com/board/technical-articles/261-7-liter-corvette-heads-can-they-improved-upon.html and found the following quite interesting: So, if you didn't know before, this is one place (other than a light block and a great head design) that the new SBC (LSx) is better than the old SBC - The larger cam base circle allows a more aggressive valve opening for the same pressure angle limit for roller lifters.

This is posted on David's site, http://www.gofastnews.com http://www.gofastnews.com/board/technical-articles/96-turbulence-combustion-dynamics.html Part 2: http://www.gofastnews.com/board/technical-articles/169-cylinder-turbulance-combustion-dynamics.html Part 3: http://www.gofastnews.com/board/technical-articles/216-turbulance-combustion-dynamics-part-3-a.html Really interesting reading.

If you build it with a 3.25" crank (327), it's probably small journal and you can use bearing spacers to put it in the 350 block. If you do that, I'd suggest getting some longer rods and using a shorter piston than a standard 5.7" rodded 327 uses. The standard 327 piston has a lot of extra pin-to-top height and makes for a very heavy piston. Personally, with the cheap cost of a 383 cast 9000 scat crank, I'd sell the 327 crank and get a new 383 crank and go from there. JMO.

People are not always who they seem to be, in regards to usernames/handles also. Make no definitive judgements on who is ACTUALLY writing what in this thread, as we have some people using other people's accounts here. Crispy Chicken is a very low form of life in my opinion, for remarks he made about stealing from the rich, IMO. And if he can kiss his butt good bye on this site... Now back to finding this guys car/trailer!

I know that I've talked about doing this before - with know crossmember below the oilpan, there IS room. It's not something I've written off either... I LOVE the sound of that blue vette with the 180 degree headers. To me, that's close enough to the sound of a flat crank V8 Ferrari.

Michael, my recollection isn't that you had a tough time starting out with the 3.27:1 first gear, but just shifting it way too early for the barely streetable cam I had in the 327, plus the 16lb flywheel. The light flywheel has a lot to do with take off too, if that was a problem. Put a 30lb flywheel in and it makes a huge difference. I decided to just go with more cubes and a bit less radical cam for the engine. This worked out great for take-off (light throttle), even with a 252/252 @.050" cam with 105 LSA - LOTS of overlap. The G-Force T-5 is VERY loud in third gear, worse under load. Even 5th gear is loud. I didn't realize it until the trans was at G-Force, but they have to use the OE GM 5th gears, since the ones they make are only splined for the Ford shaft. I am concerned that I will blow 5th, as I hammer 5th gear a lot. Mike Kelly told me that the guy as 5speeds.com worked with someone in Europe to develop a high strength 5th gear. I may look into that. Of course, the G-force tranny shifts great!

Tim, if I had all of that stuff available to me and knew how to use it, I'd be making all kinds of stuff like the nice mounts you made! I get by with a grinder, hacksaw, circular saw with metal blade, MIG welder, files, dremel, die grinder. So things take me much longer and don't turn out as precise . Hell of a nice job!

Very cool! I made the trans mount, per JTR manual in a press. It was tedious, and I like your solution better. But for the engine mounts, I felt like the $45 for the spacers was well spent. If I pay myself for my time, it'd be cheaper for me to buy them than make. Your solution is nice though, for someone with time, a nice welder and the materials sitting around!.

I think so, Jay

Guys, I can save you a whole bunch of trouble and money here. All you need to do is learn how to do this, and you have the F1 sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DprEuC1-S_o

I remember that Jerry - I also remember seeing it at the Atlanta convention a few years earlier, but it wasn't running yet then. It was an old hemi though, smaller than a 426.

And at 1.2 to 1.3 hp/ci, your adding something like 120 hp, assuming the same performance / build philosophy for each engine. That's 120 hp for 60 lbs. I doubt you were near 2hp/lb before the swap, so the hp/lb is now a significantly higher for the car. Now all you have to do is find 60 lbs on the car (and/or driver! LoL) in the right locations and your 120hp stronger and still weigh the same.

Interesting tool. Since Comp Cams insists that all street-application and even most drag cams have a 110 Lobe Separation Angle (more descriptive to me than LCA) the suggestions almost always show a cam with 110 LSA. If you go into the Oval Track stuff, you start to see 106LSA cams being suggested. I know Terry Oxandale uses oval track cams on the street and likes them. I think it'd be nice if the cam companies started being truthful with us and followed a technique more like what Vizard writes about. In other words, use the LSA that makes the best power and just back down on the advertised or 0.050" duration and select the right cam with the right overlap. I noticed that the cam info area doesn't show overlap. Of course you can look at IVO+EVC seat-seat and add them in your head. But I wonder if they are considering overlap when selecting what is a great or good fit.

Sweet car! http://autospeed.com/cms/A_109588/article.html