Okay I bought a 383 Rotating assembly today...

Eagle ESP Cast/Steel 3.750" Crank, 1 pc seal, external balance
5.7" 5140 Steel SIR rods with ARP Bolts, Clearanced for .600 cam
SRP Forged Pistons, .040 overbore, 10.5:1 CR
Moly Rings from Perfect Circle
Clevite 77 Main and Rod Bearings
Pioneer 8" External Balancer
Pioneer 153 tooth Flex Plate

Completely balanced, all new parts, no undercut journals or oversized bearings. All for under 1000 shipped... Does that sound like a good deal?

This setup should handle 350 horsepower/475 Torque NA, without any problems right? What about a 200 shot of Nitrous on top of that... providing there's no ping or anything... that should be fine also correct?

 

i think the crank and rods are good to about 500 or so (according to Eagle, IIRC). Not sure about the nitrous. You should be ok though...I've never personally used Eagle products myself.

 

After you recieve the rotating assembly, take it to a shop and have it balanced. I know you bought a balanced assembly, but while you have time now, call local trusted machine shops and see what they have to say about "out of the box balanced assemblies" then it's just a matter of finding a shop you trust that is reasonably priced to have your new assembly balanced correctly. Within tighter tolerances.

There is a reason good shops do the work in house instead of letting the companies do it for them. While your talking to the shops, again, ask when they are building a serious motor for a customer if they buy assembled heads from their vendors or just the raw castings and assemble themselves. Even most heads have much to be desired out of the box. I've seen a few sets of heads that required a lap job to get a good seal-on brand new heads!!

 

Well if it makes any difference, this guy is picking all the parts from his inventory and balancing it in house on a hines balancing system, he said he will include the balance card for it.

As for heads, I'm still planning on AFR heads... Should those be a problem from the factory?

 

If he has an actual speed shop and carries parts on hand that he can put together his own "package" and is doing the work himself you'll be better off doing it this way than just ordering up a balanced assembly from Summit, Jegs, Comp Products, etc...and trusting the factory they get their parts from to take care of the detail work. Is this guy local or out of state? I'm not trying to sound like Mr. Optimist, but I've heard from many of our local racers and personally been on the short end of the stick dealing with out of state companies that can sell you great ideas and specail pricing only to have it bite you in the butt later.

As much as I am impressed with AFR's performance blowing everybodies elses heads outta the water...or should we say AFR's actual flow/performance is actual and not hyped-when I recieved mine I had them doubled checked by a local shop, luckily they were good to go and the flow sheet from our local head shop mimiced AFR's catalog so in my book they are legit. I have heard stories on some racing forums I goto from engine builders that AFR is just as prone to valves not sealing as the other brands. AFR is just not as advertised as the heads most of us hear about so naturally we hear more problems with the Darts, Brodix, World Products than the AFR since more guys are willing to lay down money for heads they see in magazines everywhere instead of a company that's less exposed.

If you have a local shop that is honest with heads and know what they're doing, the $50-80 it costs to have your new heads "double checked" is a drop in the bucket considering that they are 80% of the motor. It never hurts to double check before everything is bolted together, otherwise you might be chasing demons that you could've headed off in the first place.

For a cam recommendation, I know literally everybody in the world is running Comp. If you want a real cam that makes serious power with alot less valevtrain stress, call Bullet cams. They are a small company comprised of many of the gurus's that worked and got Crane, Comp, Lunati to the staus they are at now. These guys now their stuff, and are priced just like everybody else, but the cam you get has more bang for the buck period. Given the fact my unlce and brother in law also have 383 like mine but they're in the 12.5:1 & 13.5:1 compression range, .680/.720 lift range, with the LSA being the same as well as duration as mine. I'm running right with them time/power wise in a car that's 700lbs heavier WITH exhaust to their open headers. And I drive mine on the street whenever possible on pump gas. Just something to think about I should mention they're both running Dart Pro 1 230 heads that dont flow nearly what my AFR 210's did only 70% CNC'd.

Following the sheep can sometimes hurt you, I went a different way than everybody else at the track after alot of reserach and have been rewarded well!!

 

IF its balenced it should be good to go. But if it isnt I wouldnt consider a better name brand rotaing assembly. Somtimes the money saved on a cheaper assembly ends up costing more in the long run when you have to use a lot of mallory to get the thing balenced. IHI seems to know his stuff to say the least. Im not to crazy about Eagle and Scat for that matter anymore, sometimes a few bucks saved will bite you in the rear later on. For not that much more you could get a name brand crank, such as Cola. Anyway for what you are paying for that assembly you can get the parts if you bought them seperate. I think the Eagle crank is only $200 or something like that. If I was you I would get the right parts once, I would get a 4340 cola crank and good set of rods and Then you would know without a doubt the crank wont snap in 2 when you hit the bottle or bury your foot to the floor, well taken in account all the machining and assembly was done correctly. Something to think about.

 

If buying locally and having the work done locally, dont be afraid of the eagle stuff and even Scat brand parts. Just dont look at Cat brand parts.

Believe it or not there are many high hp BBC out there running Scat bottom ends. The chinese parts are not going to be as good as say a dragonslayer crank from cola, or Oliver rods, but as long as the machine shop you deal with has experience and are good you can make alot of parts most scoff at, run like a champ for a long time. The shop I got my shortblock from is highly recommended from many around our area and in my budget to change everything I could'nt afford to go bullet proof shortblock like I would've liked. So what I got was an all stock sbc cast crank turned 10/10, R&R'd stock X rods with ARP bolts, and KB hyperutectics slugs. Not my ideal choice for a race motor, but shop owner assured me it was originally built to stay at 7200rpm in a mud packer so me short shifting at 6K would'nt even faze it. Many rounds and enough street miles to finally make me feel comfortable, even though a better mill is in the future now the blunt of the stuff is taken care of

Machine shops are even more critical than the brand name stamped on the parts box. Either way, good luck with your project and I'm sure once it's tuned and the headaches of building are forgotten you'll be happy no matter which route you take.

 

I agree with you, Id rather go with stock chevy parts than with some aftermarket stuff. If you havent read in the power adder section ,Willie the moderator there is in an ongoing class action suit against Scat. This kind of talk easily deters me from a company. Plus I had always heard godds and bads about the Scat, Eagle parts for a while.But like IHI said you should be fine with what ever you go with.

 

Just curious about the class action suit against Scat.
Did a couple searches, found nothing.

 

Email Willie for more info.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=256875