It's 383 time!!!!!

[swb85]

It's finally done!! Time to drag you guys through the journey to get here with lots of pictures. It's taken 9 months for the whole process. Without further adieu, let’s go!

Here's what I started with: 1969 L48 block, completely original, bores BARELY had a ridge in them. It still had the original cam and nylon timing gear. I bought the complete motor for $300 and parted the rest of it out.





Here's the growing pile of parts.








I didn’t have access to a digi cam during the week that I got the block back from the machine shop and painted/assembled the shortblock, so I didn't get any pics until the very end of assembly, but here's the finished product. The block was tanked & magnafluxed, everything looked great! It was bored .030" oversize, zero decked, squared, line bored with new ARP main cap bolts, and honed with torque plates. The bottom of the cylinders and oil pan rail were clearanced for the longer crank stroke. New cam bearings, oil galley plugs and freeze plugs were also installed. The rotating assembly was balanced externally. The bottom end consists of a Scat 9000 3.75" cast crank, forged 4130 I-beam bushed 5.7" rods, Speed Pro hypereutectic 12cc dished pistons and 5/64, 5/64, 3/16 moly ringpack. The oil pump is a standard volume/standard pressure Melling Select #10553. The cam is a Comp retro-fit hyd roller XR282HR, and the timing set is a pro comp billet adjustable double roller.







Main bearing clearances are set at .0027”-.0030”, rod bearings are .0025”-.0027”, rod side clearance is .018”-.020”, thrust clearance is .006”-.007”. Cam endplay is set at .006”.

One piece pan gasket, only way to fly!

[swb85]

Same "Super Duper" Ebay 5 qt oil pan rag'nrat used on his build, thanks for the idea Mark!




Shortblock is done!!







Time for cylinder heads. I used 906 casting Vortecs. They got a 3 angle valve job, new guides and new stainless valves (1.94/1.50), along with a cleanup mill. They cc'd at 62-63cc. The studs were pulled and screw-in studs and guideplates were installed. I had to enlarge the pushrod holes with a dremel to clear the pushrods.




Checking for pushrod length and piston-to-valve clearance. Pushrods ended up being 7.266" (you can see the wipe pattern on the valvestem, perfect!) and I had almost a half inch of ptv clearance on both int/exh, so no worries there. The head gasket is a Mr. Gasket ultra seal, .038" compressed thickness.

[swb85]

The heads were torqued to 65ft lbs, and the retro-fit roller lifters & pushrods are installed. I had to sneak a header test-fit in there too!






Now comes the stainless 1.6 roller rockers and poly locks. The valves were adjusted to zero lash + 1/2 turn.





New GM vortec intake gaskets.

[swb85]

Ultra Gray on the intake ends, throw those rubber gaskets away!!! lol




Edelbrock RPM Air Gap Vortec intake fresh from the media blaster. I ended up painting it ceramic silver before installing.




MSD Streetfire HEI distributor & curve kit (test fit before sealing intake).




Timing cover, balancer, pulley, ARP balancer bolt, Holley 110gph fuel pump all installed.



We're getting closer! Intake, water neck and valve covers are on!

[swb85]

Time to make some plug wires.



Home stretch! On goes the Edelbrock 750cfm carb and fuel line.



High flow polished water pump is next.



Here she is guys! Air cleaner, alternator & water pump pulley and mini starter installed.







Getting ready to drop in. Here’s the flywheel and centerforce dual friction clutch & pressure plate installed.

[swb85]

No more Flinstone power for this swb!



Here’s the install, luckily my old man stopped by to help, it took some persuasion to get the motor in the mounts. The energy suspension poly inserts made for a VERY tight fit.




Here are the specs of the motor/drivetrain now:
-'69 L48 block, .030" over, zero decked, align honed
-Scat 9000 crank, 4130 forged 5.7" I-beam rods, speed pro 12cc dished pistons and moly ring pack
-ARP main cap bolts
-Comp XR282HR retro-fit hyd roller cam & lifters (cam doctored at 232/238 .544”/.555” with 1.6 rockers, 109 LSA)
-Pro Comp adjustable double roller timing set, billet gears
-10.4:1 static compression, 8.2:1 dynamic compression, .038” quench height
-906 Vortec iron heads, 3 angle valve job, 1.94/1.5 stainless valves, comp 918 beehive springs, ARP screw in studs and guideplates
-stainless 1.6 full roller rockers
-Comp magnum pushrods (7.266”)
-Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intake, port matched
-Edelbrock 1407 performer carb (750cfm)
-MSD streetfire HEI distributor & curve kit
-Taylor pro race 8mm wires
-Pro Comp high flow polished water pump
-ARP fasteners used wherever possible
-Wysco stainless longtubes, 1 5/8” primaries, 3” collectors
-3” custom mandrel bent dual exhaust (no crossover), flowmaster super 44 mufflers
-Centerforce 11” dual friction clutch
-M21 close ratio muncie 4 speed, hurst shifter
-3.42 rearend

I know some will ask---For those that are interested in what it costs to do something like this, the total for parts & machine work was $6300, but I parted out the original L48 on ebay and sold the old 355 in my truck, making the final tab right at $4500. The only parts reused from the 355 were the motor mounts, and I only re-used 1 bolt from the L48 (it’s holding the flywheel dust shield on, lol). Everything else is brand new.

And here's what you've all been waiting for......she's alive!!!!



Hope y’all enjoyed! I’ve got 175 miles on her now….still have 300 miles of breaking in the clutch before I can see what she’s really got, but lemme tell ya---it pulls HARD. On paper it should be over 450hp and creeping up on 500ft lbs. Less than half throttle up to 3k rpm is smoking that poor right rear tire already. Traction bars, better tires and hopefully a posi are next on the list!!
As soon as everything is broken in, I’ll post a clip of me bangin’ through the gears!

[benoit454]

Very nice, i'd like to build one or have one myself.

What headers are thoose and what coating is on them, look great.

Sounds great too, I love the cam lope, it aint a motort without the cam lope to me.

What exhaust you running? sounds like flowmasters what series are they original 40? how about the rest? Duals, cats? x pipe?

[82c10]

[QUOTE=benoit454;2241562]
What headers are thoose and what coating is on them, look great.

QUOTE]

-Wysco stainless longtubes, 1 5/8” primaries, 3” collectors

[sighlurr]

The motor looks great, what's even cooler is seeing you and your ole man working on something together. Pops is key!!

[bigblock79]

very nice bulid and go looking motor and truck you will have fun with them 5.0

[shortbed70]

Sounds good congrats and lets get an in truck ride once broke in...

[knightlife]

damn bro...that is sick....you have my envy

[70c10]

Beautiful motor!. What brand of intake paint did you use???. Looks really cool.

[faribran]

i like....
i have a question.... i see you used "bee hive" springs... did you have to machine the valve spring seats at all? lots of lift u have there with the 1.6 rockers

[swb85]

Originally Posted by faribran

i like....
i have a question.... i see you used "bee hive" springs... did you have to machine the valve spring seats at all? lots of lift u have there with the 1.6 rockers

No machine work necessary, other than cutting the guides down for the increased lift. The beehive springs fit right inside the stock seats.

Originally Posted by Benoit454

What exhaust you running? sounds like flowmasters what series are they original 40? how about the rest? Duals, cats? x pipe?

The exhaust is 3" mandrel bent duals made by me. No x or h, just straight back into Flowmaster's new Super 44 mufflers dumped before the axle.

Originally Posted by 70c10

Beautiful motor!. What brand of intake paint did you use???. Looks really cool.

It's actually header paint---Duplicolor 1200*F high temp silver with ceramic. Bought it at Autozone, I've painted several exhaust systems with it and it's the best stuff I've used.

Thanks for the kind words!

[68Stepbed]

LOVE IT!!!!!

[68GMC454]

man thats one nice engine..looks good...good to see your pops working with you...i envy you that..

[boatpuller]

looks like a job well done.good looking motor.well,i gotta ask,any plans on lowering that truck?

[swb85]

Originally Posted by boatpuller

looks like a job well done.good looking motor.well,i gotta ask,any plans on lowering that truck?

Thanks! Plans are for a 2/4ish drop, maybe 3/5 and bolt-in traction bars eventually.

Good catch there bobs86silv, that was a typo on my part----they're I-beams, not h-beams. Fixed it!

[bobs86silv]

You said you have H beam rods, I was just wondering if that is what they are. My rods look just like that, and I thought I had Eagle SIR I beam rods. Do I actually have H beam rods??

Robert

[Yukon Jack]

Great job documenting the assembly of your 383 - sounds great and looks great!

[benoit454]

so where did you buy thoose headers at they are beautiful.

As for the super 44's sound great, I considered ordering them for my car, makes me think I want to now for sure.

Didn't you have reg. 40's before? Whats the difference in comparison between sound outside and in at idle and driving?

[swb85]

I bought the headers off ebay from seller skipwhite last fall.

Yep, had regular 2.5" 40's on the old motor.

Since my exhaust is now dumped under the bed, it's pretty much loud all the time...inside & out.

[Pyrotechnic]

Are those 5.7 or 6 inch rods ?

Thats a sweet looking motor, sweet truck, and the Muncie just completes the deal. Thats gotta be a fun ride.

[benoit454]

yea thoose are the 3/4 car headers aren't they? I know what headers I'm buying if I ever get another set, they look great, and I think you might have made my mind up on what flowmasters to buy too.