427-434 SBC Short Block

[bigsnookmaster]

Who makes a good crate 427 or 434 small block chevy? I'm looking for a short block only! Thanks,

[Ont67shortbox]

Steve Schmidt,Scott Shafiroff,Mike Lewis racing engines, or Vortecpro (on E-bay) all make excellent engines and guarantee there HP/Trq.You can google their names and get to their websites.

[72 SUPER10]

Huntsville engine, talk to todd.

[bigsnookmaster]

Thanks for the response, any others would be appreciated.

[Marv D]

If you have a local machine shop favored by the local racers,, try to give them all the business you can. In todays economy if you don't do what you can to support them, they will be gone. I can assure you in St Pete,, there is going to be PLENTY of locals. Sure you may have to pay sales tax, but you won't pay shipping. Support your local sherrif talk aside...

Pay PARTICULAR attention to the components used. If they are bulding it in a used GM production casting,, PASS. Not a platform for durability with a 4" stroke. A GM bowtie block,, well better for the purpose, but only a 'good' platform. A GM Rocket block,, yeah, well NOW your talking but pricy!!! If there building it in a early Motown (world) block, be cautious. My race motor is built in one and I have no issues., But a lot of the early Motown blocks have problems with castings that had to be sealed up with epoxy from the factory. That is history with the newer offerings being a sound platform. Dart blocks... I just finished building a friend a 434 in a Dart SHP block. Don't Go There!!! That block is not intended for a 4" stroke and they mean it! You will work your @$$ off to make it fit. There is enough grinding on the casting that things get flat SPOOKY. My 'preferance' woule be a Dart raised cam tunnel block fitted for wet sump oiling (or dry sump if you are only on the track). IDEAL platform for 1000HP and 4" stroke.

Rods: 6"+ rods is the only way you can build a 4" stroke sbc. (Well,,, you 'can' use shorter rods but things get out of hand in a heartbeat) but here is one place longer is better. The cheap and easy (as far as 'packages' and balancing and $) is Eagle ESP stroker rods. But they bring their own clearance isues to the table. If your using a cam with .7" lift (.4+ lobe) Stay the hell away from EAGLE or any H-beam rod. Use a Linati ProMod rod, or Olivers. The rod bolt location will make your life a LOT easier, and the less clearancing you do on the rod, the more reliable / dependable it is.

Cranks: I'm not going to go deep here. Let me just say you get what you pay for. Today probably 90% of the moderate aftermarket cranks are forged overseas. Some are finished over there (JUNK), some are shiped here and finished. Scat makes a full line of stroker cranks from cast steel, the ultra light trick race items (a $2000 crank) Again you get what you pay for and KNOW what they are using in your motor.

Pistons: Make sure whatever you choose supplies a piston that is going to be suitable for YOUR application. There are a lot of 13:1 434 packages out there for cheap. Very advertised 'bracket' package is Eagle crank, Eagle rods, SRP 8cc domed pistons, all stuffed in a World wet sump block with cheap rings and bearings. With a 64cc head that package is going to be 13.3:1 compression with a full 0.025" deck height,, deck the block and it will be 14.3:1 ,,, you running alcohol??? Otherwise your looking at C-16 at roughly $15 a gallon. Even if you put a big 76cc head on that, your still at 12.5:1 compression. Be CAREFULL in asking questions about what they are supplying and be SPECIFIC so you can check things out.

Heads... Well that is where the power is made you if your cheap out here, you throw HP down the drain. A 434 is a air hungry monster. No 200 or 210cc intake runner is going to be enough for a 434. I went through a lot of research before I built my last race motor, and before I built this thing for my buddy. I run a 245cc AllPro 23° casting on my Nova, a worked over AFR 220 on the backup motor,, and this one I just built for my buddy uses the new Brodix 233cc 23° cnc head. That is an OUTSTANDING head for the $'s and what your getting. And whatever you do, you might want to get a set of Crane roller rockers on order.. I hear they closed their doors yesterday and the stock on Summit and Jeggs shelf is the end of a era.

Don't be skimpy on exhaust either. A big x HUGE header tube is just right. A 'mild' 434 will like a 1-7/8" primary and a serious motor needs a 2 to 2-1/8" stepped header as a MINIMUM.

I guess all in all what this is saying is,, with a 434 you have to stop think in smallblock terms. Your dealing with bigblock inches,, think in terms of bigblock cam durations, bigblock carburaters, big blocks have 115cc chambers to keep compression down, your going to be fighting to get RID of compression with our smaller 60-76cc heads. You have 434" of compressed gasses to get rid of, use BIG headers and big flowing exhaust systems.... otherwise, you might as well stay with a 3.75" stroke 383 or something.

Just my 2cents

[nxtruck]

Well said Marv! All good info right there^...

[bigsnookmaster]

Thanks Marv, All appreciate the info.

[Wild83C10]

Where did you hear Crane closed shop?

All good and true info. nice write-up!

The Motown block are better now? What about their customer service?

[Marv D]

http://www.competitionplus.com/index...=9278&Itemid=6

It's a sad day when giants of the cam industry have to call it quits. But it sounds like Crane was 'gone' before Micronite bought them,, just prolonged the agony.

With Crane in the crapper, Holley filing for Chapter 11, Greg Weld closing the doors..... This economy is taking its toll.

BTW,,, Anything Maskins ever had a hand in will always have poor customer service But a few respected machinist I know have told me the Motown blocks thay have seen of recent are a solid piece.

[Rodms]

There is a 434 in craigslist here local not in anything but on stand to crank,Brodix top end says he has well over 13000 in it asking 5000 for it,I saw it today ,if it would have been there 3 months ago I wouldn't be waiting on parts still,Look under North Mississippi in Mississippi,Don't do like me and get fussed at all the time,This is the dining room

[Rodms]

Originally Posted by Marv D

http://www.competitionplus.com/index...=9278&Itemid=6

It's a sad day when giants of the cam industry have to call it quits. But it sounds like Crane was 'gone' before Micronite bought them,, just prolonged the agony.

With Crane in the crapper, Holley filing for Chapter 11, Greg Weld closing the doors..... This economy is taking its toll.

BTW,,, Anything Maskins ever had a hand in will always have poor customer service But a few respected machinist I know have told me the Motown blocks thay have seen of recent are a solid piece.

And your right when cam companys have to buy out other cam companys to do more buisness then your just prolonging the problem,Comp has been doing it to lately also,I just wonder whos going to take over the core end of this deal!

[kwhite4]

Man if things dont get better soon , those still able to buy parts will have to settle for overseas junk...

[vk_chevy]

if you are still in the market for a short block, check out T & L Engine Development out of Stanfield, NC. I had a chance to walk through their shop last fall and it's a first rate shop. It was impressive to see 25-30 custom engines in crates ready for shipping after being dyno tuned.