Hi everyone, I bought this 89 TA last year and love it. It was very fast and torque. The guy who I bought it from said it was stroked out to 383CI. It has an elderbrock intake, BBK throttle body, headers, MSN distributer and ACCEL coil. It is still a TPI controlled car. I am working through a timing issue now, however is there a way to tell if it is really stroked or not. It does have a deeper oil pan which it has to have but doesn't really mean anything?? Any ideas??
Thanks

 

The only way to tell a 305 from a 350 without taking it apart and measuring the cylinder bore, is to check the casting number on the block. You should be able to find this behind the head of the motor near the firewall.

The only way I know of to tell a 383 from a 350 is to take the heads off and measure the cylinder bore. Possibly if you take the oil pan off you can see the machine work done to clearance it for the longer stroke but not sure if you can "eyeball' that or not.

 

the best way to tell if 383 is pull off the oil pan, see if the block has been ground down for rod bolt clearance. but only if the back of the block on the left side says "5.7"

 

that is what I was afraid of??? I guess I need to get whtever is messing my timing up fixed and go burn some rubber before the snow starts to fly. It does sound bad a$$ when it idles and you smash the gas to her. Thanks guys

 

Remove a spark plug and put a rod down the cylinder. Something rigid yet flexible. Rotate the engine. The rod will go down 3.75 inches if its a stroker, and 3.48 if it's not.

 

Oh come on guys.You can do better than that!!.

Look find a oval track that has a class restricted by C.I.

Take it to them and just take out one spark plug to have them tube it.Gezzzz.

 

A casting number can determine if it's a 305 or 350 block.

Looking for an externally balanced dampener can tell you if it's using a 400 crank or not.

A 350 block with a 400 balancer means you have a 383. A 305 block with a 400 balancer means you got a 334.

If it's a basic neutrally balanced dampener, it's highly unlikely it's been made into a stroker unless a previous owner invested in an internally balanced crankshaft.

 

Thanks guys, I have a spark plug our now cause I am changing O2 sensor. Unplugged the dist. a few times and all the codes went a way and she is not running great again but much much better. I found oil on the plug side of oil sending unit. Once that is replaced I will take her for a spin. Thanks for the "How to" on the 383. I will try that tonight.