Tell me about your 383 Stroker engines

[djmachinist]

Originally Posted by Super73

Glad it's running better..


Did they give you a grind number or tell you what comp cam they put in it?
Did you go with that XR269?

I'm also very curious where the original DCR number of 9.3 came from. Here is a link to Summits web page with the spec for the edelbrock 2204 cam you had in it. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/EDL-2204/ It has a total al 296* of duration. With a higher 11-1 CR this is what the DCR would look like based on different intake center lines.

102 ICL = 8.46dcr
104 ICL = 8.31dcr
106 ICL = 8.16dcr
108 ICL = 8.01dcr

I can almost garuntee the cam was not installed on a 102 icl, but even if it was DCR was never higher than 8.46. For it to have been 9.3dcr with 11-1 CR your intake would have had to closed at 57* ABDC. In order to do that, a cam with 296* total duration would have had to been installed at an intake center of 89*. No timing set go that far.

My point, you were never at 9.3dcr..

Now for the new set up. If you went with the Comp cams XR269HR you mentioned earlier in the thread, even with less SCR you DCR is higher if installed on the 108 icl it is advertised on.

106 ICL = 8.65dcr
108 ICL = 8.52dcr (installed straight up with the 108icl)
110 ICL = 8.40dcr

Now with that, I hate to be the one that says I told you so, but I believe in the begining of this thread, I advised you to assemble the motor yourself and actually check everything out. Who knows what else is not right in that motor. Hopefully nothing else is wrong with it, but it makes you wonder. I would even wonder if the parts they told you are in it are really in it. Guess you will never know for sure.

Yes, the cam is a XE-269-HR. I ordered the cam myself from Summit. Now, I do not for sure they installed it in my engine. Who Knows.

Now, for the latest, I went home at noon and drove the truck back to work to let a fellow worker look at the truck. When I pulled into the parking garage at work, I opened the hood and immediately smelled Coolant. Nothing coming from the water pump or radiator or hoses. Than I looked at the engine on the drivers side and coolant is weeping out around the head gasket between the two middle cylinders.

So....The saga continues....

[Super73]

Do you have a temp guage in the truck? If so what was the temp at?

What style gasket did the shop use? MLS, coper, stadrad?

Sounds to me you need to go find a compitant shop...

[djmachinist]

Originally Posted by Super73

Do you have a temp guage in the truck? If so what was the temp at?

What style gasket did the shop use? MLS, coper, stadrad?

Sounds to me you need to go find a compitant shop...

A Fel Pro MLS was used .041 thick. The coolant level was ok.
The temp was 180 deg. No water in the the oil that I can detect looking at the dip stick.

Yes, I agree, DCP Performance will not see my truck again.

Dale

[djmachinist]

Ok.....I now have an engine I can live with. I tore down the engine myself with help from a buddy of mine who is in the process of buiding a 62 chevy stepside. The head gasket looks like it was leaking where there was a indention or defect in the head gasket around the no. 5 cylinder. The leak path went to the outside of the gasket. While I had the heads off, I used a dial indicator to check the piston depth in the block. 7 of the eight came out 0.017 in the hole. The other one came in at 0.018 in the hole. This is pretty close to what the machine shop told me. There was no water in the oil I could detect.

So...Since I did not want to live with a street engine on the edge as far as compression ratio and I could not lower the CR without either changing to dished pistons or buying new heads with larger combution chambers. I felt like the short block was a pretty solid piece with the forged Eagle rotating assembly with flat top forged je pistons. I decided to purchase new AFR 180 alum. heads from Summit. I got them in thursday, and my buddy and I installed them friday with new Fel Pro head gaskets. We set the valves and we set the timing 10 deg. initial, 34 deg. total advance. I also bought a MSD Streetfire HEI and a new Edlebrock Air Gap manifold. I reused the QuickFuels
SS-680-Vac carb. I then took it to Bumbera Performance who did most of the work on the truck during the Restoration stage. Kenny Bumbera rejetted my carb and after a few test drives he set the timing at 36 deg. total. We also put fresh oil in the engine.

The engine is running very smooth with a nice idle and good low speed manners. If its lost any power from the High CR engine it was before, I can't tell it. It will still shread the tires. The Final Static CR ended up at 9.45 to 1.
I filled up Saturday with 89 octane gas to see what would happen. No pinging and no difference that I can tell.

I believe I finally have the performance street engine that I asked for when I started this process. The lesson learned here is be very careful who you let work on your truck. Some people talk a good game, but beware!!!

Dale

[swb85]

Glad to hear you're finally happy, that's all that matters! Good choice on the heads.

[djmachinist]

Originally Posted by swb85

Glad to hear you're finally happy, that's all that matters! Good choice on the heads.

Thanks, I think I'm there now, Its been a hard lesson, but in the end I think I now have a reliable engine that will serve me well.

Dale