Engine SwapEverything about swapping an engine into your Third Gen.....be it V6, V8, LTX/LSX, crate engine, etc. Pictures, questions, answers, and work logs.
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What is engine bluprinting?
What are the benefits of engine blueprinting?
My block is getting machined now and the machinist wants an extra $100 to blueprint it, but I don't know if I need that, or if it will benefit me. The motor will have the following in it...
-3.75 crank to make it a 383
-hooker super comps
-hyd roller cam .555/.576 and 236/242@.05
-performer rpm air gap
-speed demon 750
-AFR 195's street CNC ported heads
to my noleage, blueprinting is having the engine apart, and mesuring every part cylinder bores, mains ..(with dial guage, vernier caliper ..), then taking a book with the original specs, you make sure every # is identical.
Benifits .. you know your parts are in correct shape and form ..
In auto mechanics school, we had to take an engine apart, blueprint it and put it back together ..
what pistons & rods are you using ?
If you mix & match parts, like in a rotation assembly, you get it balanced.
Blue printing is very time consuming. But in the end you will have a better engine. You could see 5-10 hp over an engine that isnt blue printed. I would spend the extra $100. Give me the adress and I will ship my engine to have it blue printed.
"End tapping" sounds a lot more like chasing the threads, which should be done regardless. The same goes for torque-plate boring/honing. Neither of those are really part of what could be described as "blueprinting".
Easy way to sum up below. If you can get it doen for $100 go for it. Its ecaxtally like it sounds.
They spec everything to manufacture spec's and make sure they are as close as can be.
Ivd done a few small blocks myself. and Tons of aircraft motors at work...
I have a few books you would be interested in reading. I'll dig em out and get the names of who wrote then...
Quote:
ENGINE BLUEPRINTING
A process of checking each mechanical aspect of an engine and Engine Blueprinting photo tworepairing it to blueprint drawing specifications. This long-term process includes the following:
A. Handpicking parts such as cylinders, connecting rods, pistons, camshafts and, if necessary, the crankcase, to ensure castings are equal and of good quality.
1. Magnaflux all steel parts.
2. Zyglow all aluminum parts.
B. Checking machine work quality of crankcase.
1. Crankshaft centered.
2. Cylinder decks, equal heights.
3. Main bearing bores perpendicular to cylinder decks.
4. Oil galleries properly drilled.
5. Stress relieved and align-honed.
C. Quality machine work of crankshaft.
1. Strokes equalized.
2. Rod journals indexed.
3. Man and rod journal sizes consistent and within new closer specs.
4. Oil holes aligned with grooves or holes in bearing.
D. Connecting Rods.
1. Equal length.
2. Bearing pin bores within new specs.
3. Straightness and twist.
E. Cylinders and related.
1. Bore and choke sizes equal.
2. Valve guides honed to low side of specs.
3. Valve seats concentric within .0002 of an inch.
4. Valve spring pressures equal.
5. Airflow and combustion volumes consistent.
6. Piston skirt clearance equal (as per service bulletin.)
7. Piston rings fitted to cylinder and pistons.
F. Valve timing and camshaft.
1. Camshaft degreed to crankshaft. (Proper valve-to-piston timing.)
G. Check all bores, journals and oil clearances. Repair as necessary.
__________________ 383 LT1 , Ported heads | Intake Drilled and running MSD Pro Billet Distrib.|Callies racemaster crank & rods | JE Pistons | Novi 2000 supercharger| Alloy Engineering Billet Strut Mounts | SLP Headers| TH400 w/ 10inch PTC 3500 converter | spohon adj. trq arm, cross member ,etc.. | 9bolt with 3.45's
* Gauging interest in selling supercharged 383 /th400 combo for a LSX T56 swap.* PM me if interested. Poss. Trade drive line for LSx t56 drive line*
True blueprinting has nothing to do with the factory specs. It is done to ENSURE that you PICK the appropriate parts for your build and to make sure those NEW parts meet the clearance tolerances you will need depending on your applications.. Forged pistons will require a greater piston to wall clearance due to expansion rates of a forged piston. you want a certian amount of clearance between your crank and the bearings all dependent on what bearings you use, crank you use, and oil pressure you will be running. Same with rings, etc.. It's a VERY complex and VERY VERY time consuming task, but you will have a VEEERY high quality engine when you are done. Things like making sure all your combustion chambers have the same volume, all your pistons, rods, pins, etc are all the same weight, the entire rotating assembly is balanced, etc.. if you ahve a block at a machine shop and he's going to charge you $100 to "blueprint" it, all he will be doing is making sure all the bores are spot on with each other, there will be a specific distance from the crank centerline to the deck, etc.. all this informatoin will be given to you so that you can appropriately buy the right parts for your engine. Blueprinting generally involves alot of high dollar custom parts.
If you're doing a basic rebuild, blueprinting the block really doesn't have much benefit to you and would be money best spent elsewhere like a good 3 angle valve job.
There's aloot of books out there on blueprinting an engine. go to Barnes&Nobles and grab a few of those books. Very good reading.
