My questions are concerning the parts that im gathering for my 383 buildup. So far I have a cast 383 specific crank. I have some bushed 6" rods that I bought at an auction for $40. Im having new rod bolts put in and having them reconditioned. I bought a 4 bolt 76' 350 block. The following items are were I dont know if im going wrong. Im tryin to keep this engine somewhat inexpensive. I know, I know this a relative term. Anyway. I plan on running vortec heads a scoggins dickey intake for my tuned port. I was thinking of trying either a zz4 cam or a lt4 hotcam. I can get both these items used on-line for pennies almost (some new take outs even). I plan on retrofiting roller lifters (gm stock) to the older block. I plan to also use full roller rockers and screw in studs. All this stuff on-line from perhaps ebay. Do you guys think that some of these are a bad idea? This is my first motor build. I have someone helping me assemble but they have no experience with newer style parts. ( power combos and such) I would like to use a accel type "box plenum" but will wait if I cant find one cheap enough. Tell me what ya think? Does this sound good? What am I forgeting?

 

You never mentioned anything about pistons. You will need specific pistons for a 383 for 6 inch rods and get the block bored 0.030 over. You need an externally balanced dampener as well as a flywheel or flexplate and get it all balanced. The block will need to be clearanced and I have a feeling you will need a small base circle cam. I used 5.7 inch rods and had no problems with normal cam but not sure if it will cut it with 6 inch rods.

 

The rods will fit. As far as pistons just .03" over and sized for the rods. As far as balancing I plan to have it all internally balanced.

 

If thats what you want I dont see why it wont work. Make sure to take everything to the machine shop for balancing and boreing. They can bore the block more effectively if they have the matching pistons or so im told. Also be sure you take it to a machinist thats familiar with building 383 strokers as mine was and new what he was doing. My machinist has built hundreds of these style engines and knew exactly where the clearances are.

 

i wouldn't trust a shop that couldn't bore a block without the pistons, but i know a lot of them do it that way. the length of the rod has nothing to do with how much or how little clearance it has between the rod and cam. the stroke reamains the same reguardless of rod length so a 5.7 or 6 rod gets no closer to the cam than the other. the type of rod and fastener does make a big differance.

 

I wasnt sure exactly if he would have rod to cam problems as i didnt but was told its a possibilty. I wasnt sure if he would have this problem and wanted him to be aware of it not really stating anything about length coming into play. Just have seen that different rods will require different clearancing. I may have used stroker rods but not sure since he is useing stock rods from what i can tell. Does the lift of the cam affect the clearance of the rod at all? My machinist never asked for the pistons just something I did anyhow as its wise for the machinist to see what hes working with. Thats the way it was explained to me.

Here is a good article on the subject.

Here

 

You also stated that you want to retrofit new roller lifters (GM Stock) to teh older block. You are going to encounter some difficulty since the bosses for teh "spider" that hold the anti-rotation clips are not in a 76 block. I also believe that the roller lifters need taller lifter bosses as the lifters are longer......

You might need to go with a Flat Tappet or aftermarket lifters....

 

the piston needed to bore a block came up a month or so ago and i called a lot of shops in the columbus phone book and most wanted pistons. still i wouldn't trust a shop that needed pistons. the hole is a standard size, the pistons are made to fit a standard sized hole. differant types of pistons are made differently to fit the hole. as for cams the lobe can only be made so big or it wouldn't fit in the cam bearing bores as you install the cam. big factor in rod to cam clearence is rods the use bolts instead of the nut/bolt arangement.