Well I'm finally getting around to turning my new 383 short block from Wheeler Motorsports into a complete engine. After I got it on the stand, and before I put the pan or oil or anything into it, I turned the motor over about 4 or 5 times by hand to check the piston to deck clearence. In process, I noticed that there was a bit of a tight spot for about ~45 degrees of rotation. Now I know that assembly lube was used cause it has been dripping out a little bit. Then I decided to put the oil system together and see what would happen. So I do that, prime the oil, turn it a couple times, prime it again....and so on for a total of about 5 times. It feels like the tight spot has loosened up just a little bit. But the spot really wasn't/isn't "tight"...more like stuff would describe it better. When I would turn it, I would have to put just a little bit of muscle, not much, behind it, and then a little bit more during the stiff stop...not gritting my teeth or anything though. Anyone ever experience anything with this or have any suggestions?

Tom

 

I'd suggest getting on the phone with Wheeler before you go any farther. They may say no problem, or they may want you to look at a few things (bearing caps, etc.).

 

Well I went out and primed it again, and turned it over a few times and it feels like it has gotten a little looser. The problem with Wheeler checking things out with it is that they are about 8 hours away. But I'll probably call them tomorrow and let them know about it before I fire it up.

Tom

 

That's all I'm saying, give them a call before you do anything else. You should let them know what's going on, and doing so may be critical with regard to warranty claim.

Personally, I'd prefer taking care of it now, rather than find out in a month or two that it has to come apart again.

 

Well I called them up first thing thing morning and talked to Pete the owner. I explained to him the situation. He said that all their engines that they build and ship out are turned by hand to check for that kinda stuff and it should be ok. He said that they turn about 9 new assemblies a day that they there is probably a difference between what feels right to them and what feels right to me since I don't build motors for a living. He went on to explain that sometimes with bearing clearances...some of the main or rod bearings will be closer to the loose side of the tolerance spec and some might be towards the tighter side, either way still within spec. What he just suggested that I do is...if i feel comfortable starting the engine the way that it is now, put about an hour or so on it in to driveway, with a periodic 3-4K rev, then pull the oil filter and cut it open and see what I find. He said that if there isn't any metal in it that I don't have any friction to worry about. What do you guys think?

 

Sounds reasonable to me.

I assume if you find metal he's willing to take it back and make it right.

I picked up a rebuilt long-block about 12 years ago. It felt awfully stiff to me when I turned it over. But, I got it running. It used oil; a head cracked; and finally I discovered it was cracked in the lifter valley. When I took it apart, I further discovered that the rear main bearing was one undersize smaller than the crank. The bearing material was so deformed that the groove & oil hole were almost shut closed. I've never seen anything like it. By the time I found all this, the seller had skipped town. Apparently he was scrounging scrap heaps, throwing rebuild parts in them, and selling them cheap - all the while not paying his machine shop service provider, either.

Oh, the oil control rings were one oversize too small (compression rings were right). Always used oil...

 

i've never heard anything but good things about those guys. i called awhile back with some questions and got great responses. the guy i was talking to was really knowledgable, courteous and patient.

that said, everyone makes mistakes. i've always been told the crank should spin freely. the question isn't whether it'll run now, it's whether it'll still run well 20,000 miles down the road.

will they still warranty it if you find shavings in the filter?

why don't you call a local machine shop and get a second opinion?

you already have the engine on a stand. it'd only cost a few bucks to rent a torque wrench and buy a plastiqauge set. it's not hard to check the clearances. DON'T DO THAT, though, unless wheeler agrees. you'll probably void the warranty if you do so without their agreement.

if they won't agree to your checking it yourself, maybe they'll agree to a local engine builder or machine shop doing it.

bottom line ... it's a lot of work and expense to put that engine in the car and have to pull it back out again. a couple of hundred bucks for shipping and a little wait might make more sense.

even if you have to replace the bearings yourself, they're not expensive and would seem to me to be a better choice than having to go into it later.

on another subject, i see in your sig that you have a performer rpm intake on your car, and that looks like a stock hood in your sig. how well does it fit?

how did you get the intake to fit the late model heads?

what kind of an adapter are you using?

what about egr?

 

Well what I think I'm gonna do tonight is install the dampner so I can put the crank bolt in and try and track the torque that it takes to turn all the way around. Hopefully I can post the results a little later on tonight.

And Sean,

Well the Performer RPM intake is a vortec intake so getting it to fit the vortec heads was not a problem. And I used Holley's TBI to spuare bore adapter plate to put the TBI on it. I wouldn't use it again cause it was a bit thick compared to what I've heard that you can get them. PAW supposedly carries a much thinner one. With the thick Holley adapter, hood clearance was pretty tight. I had to take off the insulation from the bottom of the hood and trim down the air cleaner stud. And that's all with a drop base air cleaner.

Tom

 

what i was talking about was pulling the pan, removing the bearings one at a time and checking them with a plastigauge. if it's binding, i'm pretty sure the problem is with a bearing, they align hone all their blocks.

i've been wanting to put a performer air gap on my bird. i've been wondering whether you could have the top of the intake machined down a bit to accomodate the adapter.

i'm also wondering about getting an egr to work and fitting an intake designed for pre-87 heads to post 87 heads.

 

Well I just got done turning the motor over with a torque wrench. It feels little bit looser then I remembered it being at first. I only got a difference of about 10ft/lbs. The minimun that I could find was 25ft/lbs to turn and the maximum that I could find was 35ft/lbs...give a take a couple lbs each way though.

And Sean,
I think the only difference in the heads is the angle of the 2 center bolts in each head. I think you can elongate that 4 middle bolt holes in either manifold to me them fit either head.

Tom

 

I'm not trying to belittle you in anyway....

Are there spark plugs installed?

Edit: Nevermind. Bad joke.

 

Hmmmmm....I don't get it

 

Nobody? Five7Kid?

 

tom,

i think he means with the heads on and spark plugs in, compression would cause the motor to not spin freely.

what have you found out?

 

Pretty much all that I have found out so far is what I have posted

Tom

 

did you call wheeler back and ask about either your plastigauging the bearings or having it done by a local pro?

 

Naw..never got to ask him that.

Tom

 

tom,

what ever happened with your 383 shortblock?

 

I just got in from outside where i was dropping it in with the T56. I still have to do all the wiring and little stuff but hopefully it'll be running this weekend.


Tom

 

When i did my 383 recently I knida remeber a tight spot, minor stuff. It turned out to be the roller cam against the thrust plate.

 

Did you have to do anything to fix the cam/thrust plate problem or did you just let itself work itself out?

Tom

 

I figured it would be fine. After finding out that was the issue I noticed that the thrust plate had some wear on it from the factory cam as well, it had lasted for 70,000 miles, the motor was perfect inside when I tore it down after the original 70,000 miles. So I wasnt all that worried, plus the function of the thrust plate is to locate the cam anyway.

I flipped the thrust plate over to use the unworn side with the new cam.

 

hey tom,

did you ever get your 383 in and running?

 

Hey, it has been up and running for awhile but still have the pesky oil leak that I'm gonna go outside and look at here in a few minutes. I did get it on the dyno too...294rwhp/331rwtq. I'm not overly impressed with the numbers so far but I think there is a problem with the Y-pipe which I think is really restricting the exhaust so I think I'm gonna be switching to LT's and mess with the tune some more and see what happens.

Tom

 

Assuming an 18% drivetrain loss, you have nearly 350hp and 390 ft lbs at the motor. I don't think that's bad numbers at all for a vortec headed TB injected small block

I also wanted to add that pretty much all the motors I've worked on have a certain amount of tension in the crank as well, even with the plugs out. If I took a guess, I'd say it's close to what you measured, at 20-30 ft lbs. That's higher mileage motors as well where the rings and bearings are already broken in.

Good luck tracing your leak