Los Angeles area, local pick up only. $400 OBO.

ZZ4 short block. Spun rod bearings, will need rebuild. Mid-1990's style Vortec small block chevy roller block, 4-bolt main bearing caps, forged crankshaft, one piece rear seal, powder metal connecting rods.

Crank probably needs to be re-ground.

Consists of block and rotating assembly only. No cam, lifters, timing chain, flexplate etc

 

I sure wish you were closer.

 

Great website Mike.
Thanks for all your contributions over the years!

 

Thanks... hopefully moving on to bigger and better things the 383 I'm planning. Part of me is sad to see the ZZ4 go though... its been a good engine since I bought it back in 1999.

I want to have AFR freshen up my heads before I put them on the 383, so hoping the money I get from this core can go toward that. They're in Valencia and the machine shop they use is down the street from them... only about 1/2 hour from me, so very convenient.

 

That ZZ4 block would be a good start for a 383.
Where are you located?
I'm in the SFV.
Any chance you might want to help me with some 7730 tuning?

 

I'm going to get the HT383 short block and then finish it with my heads a new cam.

 

You can buy just the crank from gm, would make sense especially if your block is still good. I'm sure your zz4 crank and rods would sell easy enough. Have racetec make some custom pistons and have a 388 that's bulletproof, and balanced to a much tighter tolerance than the ht383 short block will be. Notice gm only recommends a max rpm of like 5500 on the ht383 short block? That's pretty sad all things considered dude. Get the ht crank, some scat rods and racetec pistons. Have a short block that will take 650 hp for the same or less money than the ht383.

 

I don't know, they're probably being conservative to some degree I'd imagine. The ZZ4 has a "max rpm" of 5800, but I've had that thing up over 6k numerous times and it lasted for 20 years.

This 383 I'm building isn't intended to be a high rpm screamer. With my 180cc heads and the relatively mild cam I'm putting in it, it's torquey street engine that should be good for somewhere around 430 hp. Plenty for me.

My thing is I really only want to do this job once. At <<1000 miles a year I drive it, this has the potential to last me the rest of my life.

I've never built a short block myself, so I don't trust myself to do it, and (no offense to any professional engine builders here), but I don't really trust shops these days. I get the GM warranty on the HT and I can buy through Summit who I trust as well (their customer service has been phenomenal with me over the last 25 years I've been buying from them).

 

Update to the description...

It's a nodular iron crank. Not forged... ugh...

The local guy came by and we looked at the part number on the crank and it came up as nodular iron. I was dumbfounded...

After looking online it turns out that the early ZZ4s had nodular iron crank.