Someone posted in another forum that 383 strokers in general need pistons, rings and major things like that done every year. Is this ? Or is there some truth to it? Myself, I would think it depends on how well you take care of it an the quality of the parts in it.

:hail: IROC-Z

 

Man, I hope not! This is the third 383 I've built sitting in my Malibu right now (others done for friends/relatives). All of them have many tens of thousands of miles on them. No problems to report that are the fault of the engine itself.

Nitrous explosions, yes. Horrendous overrevving, yes. Running lean and frying stuff, yes. But nothing that's the fualt of the motor design, parts choice or assembly.

 

Ain't nuthin wrong with mine.

That's BS.

 

Yea, I thought he was full of ****!

:hail: IROC-Z

 

I can add some good flavor to this topic. It depends on what you put in the 383. One factor is rod length. Some people are bent on having no less than 6" rods. Maybe even 6.125" or so long rods. This causes the piston pin to start overlapping the ring package. That reduces its life. Also pushing the ring package towards the top of the piston exposes them to more heat and combustion. This too shortens their life. A 383 built with 5.7" or 5.565" rods has enough room to keep the rings off of the pin and away from the top of the piston. So this is one reason why some people have to re-ring their 383 ever year or two while others last for a decade. Another factor that many people blow off is the crank material. GM beefed up the 400's mains on the 3.75" crank for a reason. During testing they found that the cast crank wore the bearings out faster than they wanted. The crank when ground with 350 mains flexed too much increasing wear on the bearings. They were left with two options, increase the main size or only build forged 400 cranks. Since they were working for a low RPM engine with minimal cost they chose to increase the main bearing size. So a forged crank 383 is going to enjoy a longer bearing life than cast crank 383. Since most 383's are beat to heck they usually don't live long enough to just wear out the bearings. So there is something of a choice in a 383 that goes beyond just the quality of the parts. Some low dollar parts could live decades longer than top notch parts.