Getting ready to build up a 400 with a 4" stroke. How does this sound to everyone, suggestions welcome. Also has any one built one that could give some input on the block prep and oil pan issues. It is going in a 87 for street and strip use. Thanks for the input.

4340 eagel/srp 10.5:1
215/220 alu heads AFR/ELDB/TFS/DART??
600ish solid roll
victor intake
850 Demon

 

If it is a production block you should pour about an inch or so of block fill. If you crack thru without it you will be screwed. We used a 75 dollar hamberger knock off pan and had no clearance issues. Many pans are available. Canton has a nice one for 200 bucks. You will like the 434. They run strong.

 

Any other clearance issues with the 4" stroke other than the oil pan? Also how does block filler work?

 

The block fill is like smooth, thin concrete. You pour it in the block and let it harden. When grinding the rod notches for such a heavy stroke, certain core shifted blocks can crack thru. The fill keeps this from scrapping block. The other place to watch is the usual cam to rod clearance. Oil pan is the third issue.

 

So gettin the 4" cleared rods and oil pan that clears. There should be no problems with the crank hitting any part of the block or the rods hitting any part of the block?

 

You'll have to grind substantially on the block. That's what the block fill is all about.... people frequently grind completely through the water jacket at the base of the cyls, trying to get enough clearance.

You won't find an off-the-shelf oil pan that you can guarantee will work. A bunch of your block grinding will be at the oil pan rail. If you have to cut the block back where the pan meets it, odds are, you'll have to "adjust" the pan an equal amount.

It's better to do all your grinding on the block, and pay a couple of coins extra for a small base circle cam, than it is to even so much as TOUCH the rods with a grinder.

You can minimize this with a careful choice of rods. In general, cap screw rods will give more clearance everywhere, and require less grinding or massaging, than any bolt-and-nut rods.

 

too much work for me, how bout the 3.8" stroke cranks or also 3.875? Basically whats the biggest i can go with out worrying about any block clearing.

 

3.75"

There's no such thing as a free lunch. We all want magical stuff to happen for us without us having to work for it; however, the world isn't built that way.

 

I have used a Hamburger pan on my 436, and had no clearance issues. The pan is advertised to clear 3.800 strokes, but it actually cleared a 4.00. The only thing is you cant use normal oil pan fasteners. I had to use small allen head fasteners, because of the large pan. You can check the pans out at the Trans Dapt website.

 

You're gonna find out you need to do some block grinding even when using a 3.75" stroke crank too.

 

406 it is lol thanx fellas appreciate it.