I've been looking into some balanced stroker kits offering an Eagle cast crank with SIR rods, pistons, flexplate, dampener etc.
But I've read some posts where guys said that they bought kits and then ended up having to grind some of the rods for clearancing, and then have the assembly re-balanced afterward.
I'm wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom for someone buying a kit, what to look out for, who to buy from, or not buy from?
Is it a better idea to buy a kit that hasn't been balanced and then have it balanced separately after checking for clearancing?

Thanks

running a small base circle cam will help out with clearance issues. rods the use bolts instead of the bolt/nut deal usually provide a lot more clearance too.

ede is right. What they normally have to grind on is the rod bolts. the bolt and nut type cause clearance issues the most.

I have heard it go both ways w/ guys and clearancing. Some have to some don't. A small circle base cam will help some, but its all really up to what it does when it gets in the block.

I used a prepacked Eagle cast crank stroker kit for my 383. It included the i-beam rods and I ran a CC XR276HR-12 cam. I had to grind a very modest amount out of 4 rods. The area of the rod centered between the red dots shows exactly what part of the rod will need the work. The block will also have to be clearanced, this work is circled in green in the pic, it was done by a machine shop in my case. You can clearance the block yourself but it a biiiiiiiatch, just pay the shop the extra 100$ to do it.

The amount that I had to grind out of the rods was so small that rebalancing the assembley wouldnt have done a damn thing for me, the amount of oil weight on the crank as it spins fluctuates more than the weight I took out of my rods. The amount of metal I ground out was less then a pop-corn kernel on each of the 4 rods that needed work. Get .050 in clearance between the rods and cam and then quite grinding. I have .050 in all my clearanceinig for the stroker assembley: rod to cam, rod to block, crank to block, etc... Some people run as low as .035 some like .100. I think .035 is to little and that .100 is to much. Both Eagle and my machine shop agreed on .050, so thats where I settled. Also, both Eagle and my machine shop thought it to be unnecessary to rebalance.

Here is a pic from the Mike Davis site. Again the area centered in red dots is all I had to clearance for my application, requirements will differ for every application though.

http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~davis/z28...8_383teardown/

Thanks, that's exactly the information I was looking for.
That's cool, cause I've seen some pics of stock rods that needed to have large amounts of metal removed. And it seems like that won't be the case with an Eagle kit.

how much for the eagle kit and were do i get one?

Eagle 383 kits are available all over the place. I've been buying from CNC motorsports lately, partly because I like their site, and selection, but their prices are always competitive too.
Can't tell you much about what the price is for you, depends what you order.
I can't afford a kit, but if I were going to get a budget priced one I'd be looking for an Eagle cast crank and some Scat 4340 cap screw rods.
The other kits are probably good tho.
I've seen it posted here, and a local engine shop told me that Scat cranks are hard to balance.

Do a search of eBay for Eagle and CAT plus the part you want. These parts are cheaper through eBay than any retailer I've ever seen. The parts are brand new in the box, and are actually sold by a distributor, just at a hefty discount. I paid $300 for a set of 4340 6" Eagle rods with capscrews and bushed pins. I got the matching 3.75" stroke forged 4340 crank for $400. Pistons are around $450, so for $1,150 you can put together a bottom end that will easily support 750 HP.

http://www.karl-ellwein.org/3832002/pistonbox.jpg

Check the pic in that link, it shows a LT1 rod that was clearanced, its the rod in the middle witht he big end up and the piston on the bottom. You can compare it to the other rods that werent clearanced, this guy is running a solid roller cam.

Credit:
http://www.karl-ellwein.org/383y2001.htm

Mike you got Vette heads right? If so this kit would be right up your alley.

I have the same kit but with -12cc KB slugs and 64cc heads.

http://www.cnc-motorsports.com/produ...953&CtgID=9048

That's a cool link, Ominous. I've been considering the LT1 383 possibilities myself, now I'm even more fired up.
The reason I mentioned that I'm leaning toward cap screw rods is because theres a possibility that I'll be changing cams. And with a 2 pc timing cover and roller lifters, cam swaps couldn't be simpler. Guys are saying that with cap screw rods, there is less likelyhood of clearance issues. So rather than putting a new cam in and hoping that it will be OK, the added clearance of the cap screw rods will guarantee it.
.... Another thing to think about.

Takes alot of ***** to swap in a cam blind IMO. I know alot of folks are setup to do it and do it all the time. But for me it just never sit right in my gut and would always be thinking about it, in a stoker motor that is.

Yeah that site is really cool, and the guy is also real cool. We came across the site while researching solid roller cams. My buddy is doing a roller retrofit, he bought all the hydra parts to do it with a CC 236/242 cam. However it just didnt feel right to have dropped all that cash ~900$ just to end up with a frickin valve float nightmare in the upper Rs. However Crane has some street roller solid lobes that are damn potent and a bit more motor friendly then the race lobes. So to make a long story short he returned all the Comp hydra roller stuff back to Summit and replaced it with Crane solid roller stuff.

That Impala goes 11.8@115mph with a race weight of 4500lbs.

I cant get over those numbers for 383 LT1, we just cant wait to get the my buddys solid roller HSR motor up and pounding.

FYI we are running Eagle H-Beam rods in it.

This may be a stupid question, but, wouldn't grinding metal off of your rods sacrifice strength?

My plan is to find the cam that has the largest base circle and tallest lobes, that would be the stock one (I took some measurements). And do a mock assembly with that one in the block, and spin it around, and check that for clearance at all the tightest points. And if that clears, it would seem like a smaller base circle cam would certainly clear. Doesn't it? That's what I'm hoping anyhow.
Yeah! ... 383 LT1, what a concept ... AFR heads too!
My personal choice will be a 4340 crank and some H beams. I couldn't afford a kit so I've started buying individual pieces.
I'll be using less cam and less CR than the Impala 383, since it will be my daily transpo. I haven't ruled out a solid roller though. Comp has some solid grinds that look like they might be pretty street friendly too.
KB finally got their site up and I noticed a set of pistons that look interesting.
http://kb-silvolite.com/performance....tails&P_id=296
I haven't seen these before. With 60cc heads CR would be 10:1, good for a smaller cam.

It's commonly done on strokers. It's better than having the rod bolt hit the cam.
You have to be careful.

It is commonly done, and it does sacrifice strength. I'm not a fan of reduced base circle cams, but they allow normal rods without grinding the bolt head. A better solution are budget capscrew rods that accomplish the same thing, and if they should need to be clearanced you'd be grinding a little metal off the rod itself, not the most important fastener in your engine. Just my two cents.

I'm still studying that Karl Ellwein link.
.... There's so much great stuff there.
2 bolt, factory crank, factory rods (nice ones) and then he has shaft mounted rockers.
It's beginning to sink in, I should have 2 cars.
One that I can afford to buy gas for, and one that's barely legal enough to drive to the track.