gvincent Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Curious here, there really is no way to really check and see if an engine is a 383 stroker or not just by looking at it from the outside while it is still in the car. The only clue I'm thinking about is to look for the 8" harmonic balancer with the counterweights on it for a 400 SBC crank. But that only works if the motor was not internally balanced during the build and they used a 400 crank or an unbalanced Scat crank or something similar. If it was internally balanced the harmonic balancer would be a Neutral type unit correct? Are there any other tell tale signs one could look for? I know you can drop the pan and look at the crank and block to see if there is any clearance grinding visible but I can,t do that. Anybody have a picture a of the 400 harmonic balancer and what to look for or feel for? the counter weights are on the rear of the balancer? Thanks, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 There are some very expensive gauges that some racing organizations use to measure CI, but not many people have one. Really the only way to know for sure is pull a head and measure the stroke. The 400 damper is a good sign, but you can build a 383 internally balanced, which would look just like a 350 from the outside. The 400 damper has a counterweight on the inside of the inner hub, on the backside towards the block. I may have one laying around, if so I'll put up a pic. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 its NOT that hard, get a old spark plug and break the porcilin out, then silver solder a brass tube to the area the porcilin used to occupy,so that air or fluid freely flows thru it. attach a rubber tube about 6 ft long and place a brass fitting in the loose end of the tube so it stays in the bottom of any container you drop it into and then remove the rockers from cylinder #1 , rotate it to TDC,, place the rubber tube in a 2 qt bottle of trans fluid and turn the engine over slowly, BY HAND NOT WITH THE STARTER, it will blow air into the fluid then suck trans fluid into the cylinder, after several rotations the air will be out, and youll be sucking and pumping trans fluid only, once thats done, put the tube in a 2000cc buret, http://www.novatech-usa.com/s.nl/it.A/id.3597/.f rotate the engine to tdc,measure the fluid level, rotate to BDC measure again, the differance is ROUGHTLY the CYLINDER VOLUME 350= 714cc 383= 781cc once thats done turn the engine to tdc, most of the oil will flow into the buret,remove the pulg adapter and leave the plug threads clear open , hit the stater, spin the engine, it will be very noisy and spray some oil for a few dozen revolutions, once it stops spraying oil, replace the rockers, adjust the rockers and start the engine WITHOUT the #1 plug in place, after it runs for about 1 minute, stop and install the spark plug and ignition wire on the #1 cylinder, yeah it will smoke badly for a minute but no harms done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 A picture would be great! I am going to see a firebird that supposedly has a 383 stroker in it but he has no proof as that is the way he bought it. http://nh.craigslist.org/car/261850716.html http://nh.craigslist.org/car/261137898.html Thanks, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 originally posted by Some clueless idiot with his head up his ass........jt1 The 400 damper has a counterweight on the inside of the inner hub, on the backside towards the block. I don't know where I came up with that garbage. The 400 damper has an indention on the outside of the outer ring, which goes halfway around the damper and is about 3/4 the width of the outer ring, about 3/16" deep. I found one in the shop, but my camera is at home so it will be in the morning before I can post a pic. Sorry for the bad info, I guess it's been a while since I looked at one. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 I'm going to have to wing it, I don't think the owner will let me remove his rockers and put transmission fluid into his engine but that is some great information that I will use if I do buy this motor. In the meantime I found these photos on Ebay, I think you can see the indentation on the damper ring that JT1 is talking about. Thanks Grumpy and JT1, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zwitha383 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 An 8" dampener is not really a good indicator. I have a 6" or 6 1/5" on mine, I can't remember. (And it doesn't look anything like the ones above) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forces Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 You could drop the pan and see if the rods are clearanced, I know mine are in my 383. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 gvincent, those pics are exactly what a factory 400 balancer looks like. If it's an internally balanced 383, it will have a regular damper on it, and using Grumpy's method, or pulling a head and measuring the stroke is about the only way to be sure. A 383 should have some clearancing on the bottom of the cylinders like Forces mentioned, right where the rod bolts are closest to the bottom of the cylinder. jt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 If you can pull the pan then you should be able to measure the stroke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forces Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Touché Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 Well I bought it yesterday for $700! 88 Firebird Trans Am in decent condition, The motor runs nice but I could not get it to idle below 2000 RPM the car has not bee run in 2 years, the choke on the Holley 750 is wired open so it was hard to get it going when it was 22 degress outside. Once warmed up it ran nicely above 2000 rpm. I drove it off the U-Haul trailer last night. It stalls when you put it in gear and you have to keep one foot on the gas a little and one foot on the brake to kep it from stalling, Spins the tires very easily! The Engine bay wiring is a mess, they really cut up the old 305V8 fuel injected harness. The A/C is gone, the fuel injection fuel tank return lines have been pinched shut and I am guessing ther was a charcoal cannister at one time. The engine is wired in with just the mimimum of wires. The two fans are wired to a on/off switch in the dash. The oil pressure was reading 80Lbs, it has a Moroso 7 quart oil pan. I will post pics soon, it is 10 degrees and windy outside this morning. Looks like another Stroker Z on the way, Now I need to find that T56 and mate it to the stroker. I have to find out if it is a one piece (post 86) or 2 piece seal(pre 86) block as soon as I can see if I can get the casting number off the block. Thanks, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defrag010 Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 if it's an OEM crank, then it has to be a 2 piece seal because there were no 1pc 400 motors. However, you can use a 2pc to 1pc seal adapter for using a 2pc seal in a 1pc block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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