From: hotrod@dixie.com (The Hotrod List)
Subject: Re: Chevy parts mix and match (Was: Ford vs Chevy bashing)
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 93 09:25:22 GMT
Organization: Dixie Communications Public Access.  The Mouth of the South.
To: hotrod@dixie.com
Reply-To: hotrod@dixie.com
Posted-Date: Friday, Jan 08 04:25:08
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-> : diameter, but they do that all the time for 383s.  At least one
-> company : is making their own 383 cranks now too.
>
> Do you know what company is making their own?  I am on a budget and
> want to price shop.

 I think it's either Summit or SCI.  They're advertising them in places
like Circle Track.  Frankly, I don't see any real advantage unless
they're nodular iron instead of grey iron, and since you're planning a
low RPM motor a cut down stocker would work just fine.  Let's see...
<flip, flip> PAW shows $196.50 outright for a turned 400 crank with
bearings, but that's for 400 size mains.  They don't price it separately
with 2.45 mains, which is odd since they sell it that way in kits...
arrrgh.  You might even find a better price locally.  Some rebuilders
have floors full of "gee-I-don't-know-what-it-is" stuff, and you can
pick out a Chevy crank easy enough.  Just bring a pair of calipers to
check for the 2.65 main journal size.


-> :  Now you might ask, "Where would I get pistons for such an alien
-> and : bizarre combo as a quarter-inch-stroked 305?"  Why, your
-> friendly TRW : source, just ask for good old part number L2468F.


> So what application are these pistons *really* for?

 I was having a little fun with you.  Those are standard 305 pistons.
You can even get cheap cast "rebuild" pistons from PAW for $100 or so.
The trick is using the 400 rod which brings the assembled height back
into line.  If you wanted to use a 5.7 rod you'd need a pin height of
1.25 or so, which they make, but only in 4.0 and 4.125 bore size.


-> Yes, YES!!  Thanks Dave!!  I think I will be starting to scrounge
-> parts very soon.

 Remember:  you need the crank, rods, harmonic balancer, and flexplate
for a 400, or one of the aftermarket bolt-on counterweights for a 350
flexplate.


-> I have heard/read that "square" engines have their advantages.
-> Wonder why more manufacturers don't use them?  Seems they would be
-> more efficient in general.

 A longer stroke engine is typically more efficient at using the
fuel/air charge it takes in.  A shorter stroke engine allows a larger
valve area due to the bigger bore, allowing it to take more charge in.
It so happens getting more in is more useful than making better use of
what you have, so most production gasoline engines run square to
oversquare.

 This isn't cast in stone, of course.  For example, the Ford 289 had a
bore * stroke of 4.00 x 2.89, which is short indeed.  Oldsmobile liked
loooong strokes on their motors... except for their 350 (4.09 x 3.31)
and 403 (radically oversquare at 4.37 x 3.31).  Chevy, on the other
hand, has been gravitating toward smaller bores and longer strokes, such
as the 3.73 x 3.48 305, and the 3.5 x 3.48 267.

 Longer stroke engines also have higher internal loadings relative to a
short stroke engine of the same displacement, and for a given deck
height typically have more side loading on the cylinder wall and rod
bearing load.  Nothing is free in the automotive world.
                                                                                               

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Posted by: emory!chaos.lrk.ar.us!dave.williams (Dave Williams)
Newsgroups: alt.hotrod,wiz.hotrod