Help me build the perfect 383

[Hudson Hornet !]

I am tearing down a very good used 383 to do a quality rebuild. I do not want to make a stroker, and I will NOT put chinese parts into my engine. That being said, can anyone suggest some products to get me started? I can tell you I would like aluminum heads, a hydraulic roller cam, forged crank , rods, pistons, etc. This will be installed in a 68 4-speed charger for street/strip use so nothing too wild, just a stout 383. Fire away!

[lisiecki1]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/board,30.0.html

this should help to get you started...

if you want to reliably run pump gas i would suggest keeping the compression under 11:1

my 383 is .030 over 10.76:1 with dome tops, 2.04/1.96 valves (cast iron heads), 69 hemi cam (.556 lift, 304 duration, 108 degree centerline, solid lift), 1.5:1 roller rockers, m1 intake, edelbrock 750 (flows 817) mechanical secondaries/electric choke, high volume oil pump, 1-7/8 to 3" block hugger headers, and a mopar performance distributor (when i have the money)....if that doesn't do it i'll move to a billet msd unit...

don't skimp on good ignition!

haven't had it dynoed, but have been told it should be around 490....if i could find a dyno shop near here i'd get it done already because i'd really like to know....

[Hudson Hornet !]

thanks for the help. what do you think of hydraulic roller cams?

[lisiecki1]

i've never used a roller, but heard good things about them, it's my understanding that a roller cam changes a number of things about your valve train and it gets expensive, however it's supposed to make it run smooth as silk...

also, the lighter the components inside the engine the faster it should wind up....i would suggest forged aluminum h-beam rods and quality forged pistons, and don't forget a high quality balance and blueprint....

[Hudson Hornet !]

I have heard that aluminum rods will not last long on the street, but I could be wrong. I would like to go with edelbrock heads, and good quality forged pistons, but like I said I am unsure of which brands and part numbers to use. also, what about the bottom end? Do I need to shore things up or can I get away without a block stiffener?

[lisiecki1]

how much power would you like to make roughly, and what year is the block?

also, if you're going to be streeting it often then yes you probably want to stay away from aluminum rods.........

you can find your heads through jegs, or summit 

and i'll find my build book tonight when i get home so i can give you some more detailed information.....

[Hudson Hornet !]

Thanks,  500 hp is my magic number! I don't want to get too greedy with my power numbers, but I thought 500 for a streetable motor is not asking too much with today's head and cam technology.

[Rolling_Thunder]

not exactly very difficult...         

Edelbrock RPM heads, high flow dual plane intake, 870 holley, TTI headers, K58/K60 110 LSA Engle cam...     get compression to 10.5:1 and you'll be around the 500hp mark or just above     

[aifilaw]

I am currently building my 14th 383 block.
This is the 4th of my personnal builds for my own car. It is a 383 block stroked to 3.75" crank (440 size). I have done this in the past on a budget and expensive both for myself and others.

I am currently applying a hydraulic roller cam and lifters, I have never done this before on a MOPAR but several times on bowtie blocks. The goal with this is to have a stout freely moving valvetrain with zero-maintenance. you can't do better in that regard than a hydraulic roller.
The lifters get expensive... crane sells their lifter set for $600. There are some no-name china brands out there for mid $500's. I am installing 440source.com 's new set of hydraulic roller lifters in my build, they were 2/3 of that price and I don't know anyone else who has used them yet, so I am the guinea pig.

Always use high quality forged pistons... more are available on the market today, but it used to be when I needed good 383 pistons in different pin-deck heights I would go with diamond brand, because they made good custom pistons... they are expensive though.
maintaining the 6.8's rod ratios is paramount in my opinion, into the 7's negates the gains you achieve from torque and bob weight and you lose it with skirt-to-bore damage.
H-beams are more than sufficient depending on the mfr. up to 600+ hp.

The 383 in standard form without a stroker will handle 700+ hp just fine, I have taken one to 13.5:1 static CR and run a 150 shot of nitrous and then used it as a daily driver for 3 years before I spun a crank bearing due to gasoline spilling onto the bearings and cleaning them of oil.

If you want to attain 500 HP on a 383 then you need two things, a well designed cam, and a cylinder head that will flow it. At the very least you will need to get your hands on some new heads as iron heads will not do that job unless you increase the CR, or spin it much higher in RPM than you should.

That being said, the 383 is my favorite block, although you should never really bore the block out because the gains are minimal, the 383 can easily be taken out 0.1" without coming close to the water jacket, which is 6x the amount of a lot of bowtie and ford blocks. That is why it has achieve a name as the "bulletproof" block.

[Hudson Hornet !]

Thank you all for the replies. Can anyone suggest a specific hydraulic roller cam and aluminum heads? Will the Edelbrock heads do the job out of the box, or will I have to hog them out? Also, Should I step up to a new crank and if so, which one? As far as rods, I know what I like but I want this motor to stay together even after some "roughousing" ! Any suggestions are appreciated.

[aifilaw]

Thank you all for the replies. Can anyone suggest a specific hydraulic roller cam and aluminum heads? Will the Edelbrock heads do the job out of the box, or will I have to hog them out? Also, Should I step up to a new crank and if so, which one? As far as rods, I know what I like but I want this motor to stay together even after some "roughousing" ! Any suggestions are appreciated.

Specific hydraulic roller...There are a few manufacturers, crane cams has 4 or 5 grinds I believe, I'm not overly thrilled with any of them, but they do come close (within 5%) of what they could/should. I have my cams custom ground, reedcams has a good reputation with me. Also, I don't know of anyone that has the core for a hydraulic roller with the mechanical fuel pump capability, so you may want to keep that in mind and choose to either look at possibilities, or go electric fuel pump.

Edelbrock and 440source stealth heads will do what you are asking for out of the box. The edelbricks are within 5-10% of their peak out of the box, you can't "hog them out" any more. The stealth have about 25%-30% room to grow from what I hear, but I will find out for myself as soon as I can sonic check them this winter.

The standard 383 crank will be just fine... but the fact is, if you are going to replace the crank, you will spend the exact same money by making it into a stroker, I prefer not to take a 383 out beyond 3.75" stroke (426 base cubic inches), but it is quite viable and there are more than a few people doing just that. The only USE I have had for a 383 kept at stock stroke, but beefed up performance, is a circle-track or road race application where the engine will be seeing continuous high RPM use and needs that bore-stroke ratio (4000-7000 RPM typical range).

H-beam rods are more than sufficient for the power you are asking, I-beams are overkill... really as long as the crank is forged steel, the rods can handle the power you are wanting, and the pistons are forged, you will be just fine. The pistons are key. I recommend staying in 6.8" range on your rod length, any more and you sacrifice your cylinder walls from the piston skirts, some piston meat, and I've heard it from one or two folks that build Chrysler big blocks for a living for the past 10-20 years, it diminishes your overall power and sets you up for component failure.

If you want something that is capable of handling "rough-housing" and requires minimal maintainance, overkill it.
In other words, if you are seeking 500HP... build it to handle 700, if you want it to handle 400, build it to handle 600...