I have a spare L98 short block on a stand in the garage. It has been calling my name all winter to do something to it. I also have a pair of Pro Topline Vortecs and a Scat 383 crank not doing anything in particular as well.

I want to see how much HP I can make with this combo and some other junk lying around my garage for the absolute least amount of $$$. This sounds like fun....if it breaks, it breaks...not significant $$$ in this stuff.

The SB has 30,xxx miles on it...no ridge, or any noticeable bore wear. I have done many 'serious' engine projects, but, I want to experiment a little with this one.

My idea is to install the Scat crank, some scrounged rods, new rod bolts, and a set of Hyper pistons. I do not want to spend any $$$ on machine work for the block.

Question...Could I get away with just lightly hand honing the block and installing some cheap Hyper pistons??

I might spend a little and get the rotating assembly balanced, but, that would be the only $$$ spent on machine work.

Any opinions????

People do it all the time. However it will be impossible to garauntee results, you just never know. If your piston to bore clearance is within spec you could take a chance on it.

At home clearancing the block for the stroker assembley is gonna be a biiitch, but doable.

Machine work is a tuff call for alot of folks. However for me: TQ plate hone, sqaure deck to 9.005, stroker clearancing if needed. Thats my minimum.............

If you know that the block is solid and in good shape (deck straight, no cracks, journals in good order, etc) then yes, i suppose a simple rehone would work. However, a 383 like you said is a 350 block that has been bored .030" over making it a final bore size of 4.030". Doing that with a common hone would be very very tedious. if you through in that stroker stuff into a simple 350, you would end up with a 377ci. If a 383 is really what you want, take it to a machine shop. They charged me $8 per cylinder (plus tax).