Available parts big block winter build.

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Miszny

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Hi

I just had an idea looking around at parts that I collected over time, that it could be good to plan some winter time project so here it goes..

What I have is:
- 400 block that is bored .030" over and will clean up at .040"
- Forged flat top pistons (dont remember the brand but good) 4.375 with scratches on skirts and some slight marks from valves touching.
- LY rods with ARP bolts
- 440 forged crank with mains for 400 block.
-used solid flat tappet cam with .650" lift and some decent duration.
- used lifters that worked with this cam
- used nice condition timing set (Crane I think)
- Mopar performance adjustable rockers (they look like crane gold but are blue and have Mopar logos on them
- 440 source ported heads (one seat was replaced after failure)
- Edelbrock victor intake
- 950 cfm holley double pumper

I was thinking to build 650ish + hp engine using all that should be easy.
Wanted to test line 2 line coating very much and these pistons seem like a perfect choice for ceramic coating. They can grow them to the bore size I end up with...
LY rods can be controversial idea, but pistons I have are much lighter than stock and it would be street setup that wont see more than 6500rpm, should I use them or upgrade?

What would you replace? Where should I spend some money not to make this experiment a stupid idea? Should I get aftermarket caps and put griddle? Get some new rods?

Thanks in advance for all the feedback!
 
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Compression height of pistons mentioned above is 1.300".

If I was to build nice and sturdy big block out of all this stuff I guess it would make sense tu upgrade LY rods to some nice new H beam rods for like 600$...

Regarding ceramic coating to make the pistons "fit"new bore, it would be around 250$ but I really am very curious about this part. Seems like a perfect thing to do. My only concern here is how long does this stuff stay on the pistons. I have doubts after looking at ceramic coated frying pans at home ;-)

What kind of piston rings would you recommend?

Perhaps last thing im thinking about would be aluminium caps and gridle. When is this upgrade really needed? What about cross bolted caps? Frankly I dont see how the gridle helps? It seems to me that it would have to be much thicker than 1/4" to do the job...
Are aluminium caps an idea to dampen the hit? Do they crack from time to time?
I am not sure if upgrading this part aside of nice arp bolts makes sense. On the other hand doing it later means a lot of work so I may just do it now if really justified. Instead of building something for cheap out of parts available for free I should put some money in this build and have a nice future proof setup for some extra $$$... Just thinking out loud...

Machining is not that expensive where I am so this makes me want to go ahead with this project. Lets say its 'free' for me to avoid calculating it in.

Would be good to stay within 1500$ of extra expenses, but lets say 2000$ is within reach.
Where should this extra money go?

In the beginning I want to focus on the bottom end.
 
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My 470 b block stroker has a pretty thick girdle. Factory main caps. It was together from 1998 till 2013. Was taken apart for inspection. Only things replaced was the valve springs and solid roller lifters. Was driven on the street probably 300-400 miles per year and raced at the track 10-15 times per year. Still runs the same time as when it was built. Oh ya, it is half filled with hard block. Kim
 
Pics. Best pass 9.03 with nos. Kim

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D8A92C7D-639B-40CF-9252-D9490CF04106.jpeg


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My 470 b block stroker has a pretty thick girdle. Factory main caps. It was together from 1998 till 2013. Was taken apart for inspection. Only things replaced was the valve springs and solid roller lifters. Was driven on the street probably 300-400 miles per year and raced at the track 10-15 times per year. Still runs the same time as when it was built. Oh ya, it is half filled with hard block. Kim

What do you mean by pretty thick gridle? How thick? I was thinking that cross bolted caps actually do the same thing as gridle and this idea seems cleaner to me.
Can you recommend gridle? I was sure that I need to change caps if I decide to install gridle. I guess I need to look into this a bit more.
Great duster! Thanks for sharing photos, tunnel ram is what I always wanted but ended up with Victor intake and 1050 Dominator on 470 in my Duster.
 
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Girdles primary task is to prevent the caps/fasteners from "flag-poling", which contributes to fretting. Think of it as a vibration issue. Aluminum caps help due to their vibration absorption properties.

Since conventional wedge blocks are not reinforced at the cross bolt locations like hemi blocks were/are, cross bolting is less effective, although something like what Dvorak does seems to be useful.

The Line2Line stuff stays on, except where it "wears in" from what they were saying at PRI and from the one case I've seen.

I agree that the stock rods are the weak point, I'd get a set of Molnars, or even Eagle/Scat and it'd be a significant step up in strength.

A girdle and aluminum caps with Molnar rods and a short fill should live forever with the 3.75" crank and Source heads. Unless you spray it. S/F....Ken M
 
Girdles primary task is to prevent the caps/fasteners from "flag-poling", which contributes to fretting. Think of it as a vibration issue. Aluminum caps help due to their vibration absorption properties.

Since conventional wedge blocks are not reinforced at the cross bolt locations like hemi blocks were/are, cross bolting is less effective, although something like what Dvorak does seems to be useful.

The Line2Line stuff stays on, except where it "wears in" from what they were saying at PRI and from the one case I've seen.

I agree that the stock rods are the weak point, I'd get a set of Molnars, or even Eagle/Scat and it'd be a significant step up in strength.

A girdle and aluminum caps with Molnar rods and a short fill should live forever with the 3.75" crank and Source heads. Unless you spray it. S/F....Ken M


Its just 150 shot, nothing crazy and on rare occasion...

Looking at Molnar website I see that they have 6.760" rods with 2.200" journals... Perhaps crank offset grind would be a good idea?
Around 3.90 stroke gets me 470ci with 6.760 rod and 1.300" compression height pistons. Is offset grinding reducing crank life? Is the extra ci worth it?

I will go with gridle, but probably keep main caps stock om this case.
Looking at what oldkimmers Duster does it seems like a good idea.
 
A 470 would be nicer simply from easier rod bearing access, but IME, rod bearings were never a big deal for BBM, it's always finding decent low deck main bearings that's hard. More cubes is usually better, but I thought you had pistons? If (quality) crank grinding is not expensive, as it is locally for me, then an offset 3.900 crank is "better", especially if the crank needs to be ground anyways. S/F....Ken M
 
I should clarify, that is the duster my motor came from not my car. I think it’s a BRC girdle. Not sure how thick as I didn’t measure it. I have heard that u just can’t put a girdle in. It takes a lot of precision measuring to make it fit and do its job. Kim
 
i'd do a stroker kit and remove worries about rods and crank

I know it makes sense, but also creates much bigger cost which was not planned. Plan was to build something with parts that are mostly free because I have them. With stroker kit purchase its another story, also I would expect much more from it.
 
Its just 150 shot, nothing crazy and on rare occasion...

Looking at Molnar website I see that they have 6.760" rods with 2.200" journals... Perhaps crank offset grind would be a good idea?
Around 3.90 stroke gets me 470ci with 6.760 rod and 1.300" compression height pistons. Is offset grinding reducing crank life? Is the extra ci worth it?

I will go with gridle, but probably keep main caps stock om this case.
Looking at what oldkimmers Duster does it seems like a good idea.

i'm calculating that 3.90" stroke, 6.76" rod and 1.30CH puts the piston .030" above deck...

edit, well, i guess grind the crank for a 3.85" stroke and you are .005" below deck..
 
i'm calculating that 3.90" stroke, 6.76" rod and 1.30CH puts the piston .030" above deck...

edit, well, i guess grind the crank for a 3.85" stroke and you are .005" below deck..
Wow you sure surprised me with this info... I must have screwed something up because I was sure its like .035" below deck or close to that.
 
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