im 16 and new to this. later today im going to go look at a 383 stroker engine, the guy had all the machine work done and has all recipts but after 500 miles it spun a bearing and he has it torn apart again and wants $150 for it, it is complete except for carb and cam. i was wondering what i should look for when i go and see it to make sure im not getting riped off.

 

Bring someone experienced with building Chevy smallblocks with you along with some measuring tools like micrometers.
Too much to go over via internet forum.
Hard to go wrong for $150 though.

 

Good price but
I would be asking why it spun a bearing ?

 

Sounds to me like you're going to get burned. I've seen used 383 stroker rotating assemblies go for much more than that. Hell, even the block is worth that much assuming it's usable.

If I were you, I'd stay away unless you know the person you're buying it from really well.

 

thanks for info
helps a lot

 

Probably in too late on this, but if my 383 spun a bearing, I might pull the heads and sell the short block condition unknown, but if I tore it all the way down and still didn't feel like rebuilding, I could get more than $150 for it unless I wrecked a TON of parts.

But by all means, if everything mic's out and all you need is a line bore or a new rod, and a .01" grind on the crank, go for it. Just know you'll still need $500+ in machine work, even in the best case.

 

Here's what you need to look at.

Don't bother checking out the parts, right at first; check out THE OWNER.

If s/he's a crackhead or has meth mouth or something, then it could be a good deal. If he's getting a divorce and his wife is taking him to the cleaners, good deal. If it seems like s/he's a level-headed clear-thinking individual under no particular duress at the moment, LOOK OUT.

No sane logical reasonable person in his right mind would give away $2000 worth of parts for $150 to a stranger.

Would you?

Then why would anybody else?

Got the picture?

OK, now that you've figured out whether the owner is just trying to come up with a little cash QUICK, it's time to start looking at the parts themselves.

And that can be REALLY TOUGH to diagnose over the Internet. When a motor blows up it can destroy everything in it to the point that it would cost more to fix it than it would to go to the junkyard, get a whole other core, and start over.

First thing you need to do is determine whether you're dealing with AN OWNER in distress, or AN ENGINE in distress. If it's the former, then if your ethics are sufficiently pliable, go ahead and take advantage of him/her if s/he lets you. If it's the latter, steer clear.

 

i just got done looking at engine told him id get back to him thurs looks good, he said he bought the crank new its pre machined aftermarket crank, its a gm goodwrench crate 350 has crank but not bored isnt a 383 a 350 block bored .30 over with machined 400 crank
what would this engine be considerd
he also said he couldnt get rpms up to 8k which he said thats what it was supposed to get too

 

those pics and these are engine it al so comes with edelbrock alluminum 4bbl intake

 

That's a 383.
Can't tell about damage to the crank from just picture, but new Scat cranks are pretty cheap. You can also get a good set of rods pretty cheap too.

Any damage to the block?

 

if the blocks not damaged $150 is a good price,if you look it over and don,t see any cracks in the block or any damage but the spun bearing, buy it and take all components to a local machine-shop for detailed inspection,and a writen bid on correct reassembly it might cost your a couple hundred dollars, for the inspection and $400-$900 to have rebuilt correctly but youll know what your dealing with, but remember a new 350 basic crate engines only about $1400

http://www.jegs.com/i/GM+Performance...67353/10002/-1

 

The crank looks pretty much smoked... the #1 rod and #1 main journals are ate up. YOu can see the copper in the #1 main in the one pic.

The block needs to have all the plugs removed, and then get a rifle brush run through all the oil passages to remove the metal chips before it is reassembled. I personally prefer to do that myself, at the quarter car wash, with a couple of cans of diesel fuel in a spray can (Gunk Engine Bright or the store brand equivalent) with an assortment of rifle, pistol, and shotgun sized bore brushes. If this is not done, it will surely eat the next crank in the first few seconds of running, too. Just dropping it in the tank isn't enough: the vat doesn't dissolve metal.

If it had the "goodwrench 350" heads on it, that's why it "wouldn't get up to 8000 RPM". They are among the worst of the worst possible smogger heads there are. That whole motor didn't start out life as a "performance" piece; instead, think of the cheeeeeeeepest possible replacement for a phone company van, to just get it back on the street earning revenue. While that's completely irrelevant to the block ("performance" doesn't originate there), it's CRITICAL to the heads. Myself, I do not even accept those heads as a gift, let alone pay for them; that is, "free" is too high a price to pay, because then I still have to dispose of them somehow. They actually have NEGATIVE value to me. Somebody basically ruined a bunch of what might otherwise have been perfectly good cast iron, by pouring it into that mold. I've paid people to come haul off piles of that garbage just to dejunkify my property. So don't expect much out of any engine built with them on it.

 

i will have a proffesional check it out before i have it rebuilt, thanks sofakingdom for the heads info other wise i would of probaly left them on