Engine Rebuild...

[1971Chevelle]

My engine is being rebuilt right now. It lost oil pressure, because the builder did not secure the oil pump pickup to the oil pump via welding or a bracket. So, I am having it bored .030 over, and adding a new camshaft. The over bore will make it an actual 383 (it was a 377). Coupled with my existing cylinder heads, the engine should be just north of 500 horsepower. I know, not impressive in today's automotive world, but I am eager to see how it runs. My new engine builder has some shiny new parts in his possession to start assembly with (he picked up the block from the machine shop yesterday).

Once he gets the cylinder heads bolted on, then he can measure for the correct push rod length (we have to get them from the place that I purchased the cam, lifters, rocker arms, and rocker studs from - already paid for, but they need to know the length before they can ship them). The camshaft is a semi-custom grind that on paper does not appear to be more powerful than my existing camshaft, but it is all in the design of the lobes (the camshaft guy is very well respected on Team Chevelle - his approach to camshafts is unconventional, but his results speak for themselves).

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[nvshooter]

It lost oil pressure, because the builder did not secure the oil pump pickup to the oil pump via welding or a bracket.

Cripes A'Mighty! That level of incompetence is what we find at Jiffy Lube!! Do you have any legal recourse for such negligence? If you can't sue the shop, I'd try suing the alleged mechanic who assembled it. What they failed to do is inexcusable...

 

[1971Chevelle]

Cripes A'Mighty! That level of incompetence is what we find at Jiffy Lube!! Do you have any legal recourse for such negligence? If you can't sue the shop, I'd try suing the alleged mechanic who assembled it. What they failed to do is inexcusable...

The engine was purchased back in 2007 - I have no recourse at this point. I have had numerous problems with this engine - the day it arrived it had two different cylinder heads on it. I found coolant around the center head bolt on the driver side after running the engine for about a month. 6 months out of warranty, but less than 8,000 miles on the engine, I had not one, but two blown head gaskets (he used some garbage Engine Master brand, instead of Fel Pro). A couple of year later I ended up with a couple of broken valve springs. A few years after that, the threads in 4 of the spark plug holes pulled when removing the spark plugs (the heads were not machine properly from the factory - no way for me to know this until after the fact - so half of the spark plug threads were exposed in the combustion chambers). When I went to pull the heads off of the engine, I discovered two more broken valve springs.

So, it will be good to have an engine that is assembled properly. The new builder guarantees his work for life - he says I will not have any oil leaks (and I am going to hold him to that).

 

[Havasutom]

Good luck with the new engine. You should not have to worry about oil leaks if the engine is properly built. The products available today are easily able to seal a SBC. What compression ratio are you trying to achieve ?Those are some nice looking pistons. I would advise you use Fel-Pro Performance MLS head gaskets. Since going to them on the SBC in my race car , I have not had a problem in 7 years.

 

[CAMPMEAT]

I gotta brag about the only hotrod I ever owned. It was a 1977 CJ5 with the old 304/with the 3 on the floor. in it. We used to mud race/hill climb and barrel race at Playdays.

I wanted a cool jeep. I found a 1970 AMC that came w/a 390 hp stock motor. We figured I was over 400hp. I had it bored .30 over, Sig Erson High Flow Cam put in it. .500 lift w/a .272 duration, Heddman headers with Corvair turbo mufflers. Put a 350 auto in it. We cut down a Blazer front end to fit the front of my Jeep. Put a 1974 rear end in the back because that year had flanged axles. Trussed up both ends and double shocked in the front. 4 point Rollcage. It had a B&M Turbo Slapstick shifter......

That was my only hotrod in my entire life. Sold it and bought a house....

 

[1971Chevelle]

Good luck with the new engine. You should not have to worry about oil leaks if the engine is properly built. The products available today are easily able to seal a SBC. What compression ratio are you trying to achieve ?Those are some nice looking pistons. I would advise you use Fel-Pro Performance MLS head gaskets. Since going to them on the SBC in my race car , I have not had a problem in 7 years.

Not using MLS gaskets - using the Fel Pro 1010, which was designed for aluminum heads on an iron block. They are an excellent head gasket (I was running the 1003 previously with zero issues).

 

[Belevolk]

Please post the name of the buffoon that did the motor, so we can all AVOID him

 

[1971Chevelle]

Please post the name of the buffoon that did the motor, so we can all AVOID him

I have to be careful doing that. I believe that he is no longer doing business under the company name that I purchased from (but may be in business under a new name). Here is an article about him building one of these engines (some of the parts are different than what was in my engine): http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/engine/0708tr-chevy-383ci-motor For some reason, the majority of the pictures in that article are broken. Too bad, I would have liked to see if he did the oil pump pickup differently for the article.

 

[Belevolk]

After I wrote that, I thought better of the idea. Still believe that if you do good your songs should be sung, just like if you do bad, how else do you know your not doing the job.

I wrenched for a guy that drag raced. When you started a motor you and you alone were responsible for it. Every night we covered the engines and parts with plastic. This was back in the days before clean rooms, hell we were lucky to have a concrete floor and heat.

 

[nvshooter]

That was my only hotrod in my entire life. Sold it and bought a house....

The best use for the money that came from the sale of something that only loses its value...

 

[Ura-Ki]

All to often, i hear of some so called engine pro who screws up something super easy and costs some one a pile of cash!
Im super picky on my engine work, ( see my Avatar) I have to be, so im my own engine builder!
Outside the Aircraft engines ( 3 were/are hot rods, and a Turbine) I have built some bruisers, my 70 Dodge Challenger R/T has a 540 bored and stroked rocket with 10-1 compression, a pretty stout street roller grind, Indy heads and custom short ram intake with port injection! Its not a big horse power motor, its all about the killer torque and power begind the curve, that makes it a wicked motor on the street!
My Alfa Romeo GTV-8 has a 4.4L V-8 that started life as a 3.5L and got sleeved and stroked and has a set of custom 2 valve twin cam hemi heads with 11-1 compression, that little beasty makes 425 HP on pump gas and gets 24 MPG while revving to just under 9000 RPM ans it chews up Jap imports rockets all day long, and Porches for desert! Lol

Keep up with the posts, love to see a build progress and the first runs after!

 

[nvshooter]

It's not a big horsepower motor. It's all about the killer torque and power behind the curve that makes it a wicked motor on the street.

That's the entire secret, right there. We who do not take our rods to the track want something that will pull really hard away from a stoplight, so as to make the dingbat drivin' the Porsche next to us feel like sewage solids. Speed is fun, but that kick in the pants from a massive thrust of torque is always a blast-- and we get the chance to do it at any stoplight.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Yup! Im "only" making around 630 HP, but just a fuzz over 700 Foot pounds of tire shredding torque, and in street trim ( set up for cornering) i can still rip off 10 second flat quarters! My little Brother is making over 1000 HP in his 68 Chevelle, and I can beat him almost every time because I hit "under the curve" while he has to rev it to the moon to get all that power to the ground! Lots of guys love to bash on old school Big Blocks, but the old sayin of "nothing beats cubic inches" is absolutely true today as it ever was! All the really powerful small blocks are bored and stroked to get into the Big Block realm, so..........
Why not start out with a big inch monster in the first place, especially with aluminum blocks, there is no excuse not to!

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

no replacement for displacement!

 

[1971Chevelle]

I figure it is time for an update. Unfortunately, I still do not have my engine back - over 7 months later. The builder told me about some health issues he has been having (mainly mental). I had to order a different rear main seal adapter, as the one that is on the block does not have any alignment dowels in it, so he could not get it to align properly to ensure a good seal. The new adapter arrived, but they forgot to install the alignment dowels in it - the dowels are supposedly on the way to him.

He contacted me yesterday to tell me that my heads need to be redone now (bad valve guides, missing some spring seats - required on aluminum heads, some of the spring seats that were installed are broken). So, that is going to be another $500+ that I was not counting on. It is also going to delay my getting the engine back even longer - it may very well be 115° before I get it back (and that sucks, because I have NO shade at my house).

To say that I am livid is a massive understatement. Bad words are preparing to come forth from my mouth...

 

[Belevolk]

I feel your pain. I have only had 2 engines built for me. One went without a hitch. Put that one in my 78 Jaguar XJS. I believe I was the first order the guy had when he opened his shop. Could not let the wife drive it. The car would get away from ya if you did not pay attention.
The second, when we started approaching the second year of the build I quit returning his calls. I had about 2500 in the motor and everytime he called it was another 3-500 bucks. He showed up in my yard with the motor completed and almost 3 years later. I told him to keep it as I did not even own the vehicle that it was to go in. He said he was going to sue, I said bring it on. I have the orginal receipt that says 6 weeks. Never heard from him again. It was an semi expensive mistake.
There does seem to be a whole generation of people that think their problems are more important than the customer.

I got a bid to rake my front yard, in an HOA. Do some trimming and haul away, $860 bucks for less than a day's work. Great work if you can get it.

 

[nvshooter]

It is also going to delay my getting the engine back even longer-- it may very well be 115° before I get it back (and that sucks, because I have NO shade at my house)

I had the same problem with heading out to the desert to shoot. Ain't no shade out there. I happened to be in Walmart just when they had patio umbrellas marked-down for an end-of-season sale. I got a seven-foot OD umbrella at half its original $70 price. I ordered a heavy base for it from ebay for something like $20 (or less). To make sure it wouldn't blow over, I place two each half-block CMU over the vertical tube for the umbrella's staff. The two CMU weigh a total of thirty-five pounds, added to which is the heaviness of the base. I figger I'm pushin' close to fifty pounds on the ground. If it's so windy that fifty pounds won't keep a patio umbrella stabilized, it's too dam-ned windy to even be out there.

 

[billdeserthill]

I feel your pain. I have only had 2 engines built for me. One went without a hitch. Put that one in my 78 Jaguar XJS. I believe I was the first order the guy had when he opened his shop. Could not let the wife drive it. The car would get away from ya if you did not pay attention.
The second, when we started approaching the second year of the build I quit returning his calls. I had about 2500 in the motor and everytime he called it was another 3-500 bucks. He showed up in my yard with the motor completed and almost 3 years later. I told him to keep it as I did not even own the vehicle that it was to go in. He said he was going to sue, I said bring it on. I have the orginal receipt that says 6 weeks. Never heard from him again. It was an semi expensive mistake.
There does seem to be a whole generation of people that think their problems are more important than the customer.

I got a bid to rake my front yard, in an HOA. Do some trimming and haul away, $860 bucks for less than a day's work. Great work if you can get it.

How to pick out a day laborer

Get ya a fresh one!