349 CI on the cheap

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I believe that they would, but I just would not feel comfortable doing it. I myself would use forged just for the added security. I am a big SISSY when it comes to that.
 
We used a 350 shot on a set of KB's, so it's not so much the material of the part but more getting the NOS/fuel mix right and they all will live. NOS will wipe out the best pistons, as it doesn't discriminate. Usually when it does it usually means that something else is wrong, weather it is timing or fuel or the wrong NOS pill, but something is out of cink.
 
I fully agree with you.

I know of a guy that has a totally stock small block and he throws 2 stages at it, 250 out of the hole and 400 on top.
 
Well as you all know I don't take too much time off from fixing things, The new piston has been valve reliefed and chamfered, tomorrow night I'll have It balanced and the new rod brg. and pushrod will be in hand. I'll have the rings too. Gaskets are here and then just the time to get it together and run. Hopefully it will be this week, but work dictates everything. But it won't be from lack of effert.
 
Well, here is what it looked like. And the replacement. Hopefully I can have it running again tomorrow.

344 Piston.jpg
 
Hey the way that I look at it is, if it's not made to the specs. that I need then I'll build it to what I need out of a good quality part.
 
Nice piston top. Get a picture frame for that one.
 
Well I got it back together and then the rain came, so maybe tomorrow I'll get it fired up. Unless it quits here shortly, if it does I'll here the sweet sound of music.
 
BJR Racing said:
Well I got it back together and then the rain came, so maybe tomorrow I'll get it fired up. Unless it quits here shortly, if it does I'll here the sweet sound of music.
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Dang man you dont mess around.........you made really good time on it.
Did you Pull the engine or do it in the car?? I assume you pulled it.
 
BJR Racing said:
Yep and this is just another option, and the journals will both be std. Good point Adam.
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Do you have enough clearance between the bottom of the piston and the crank throws at bottom of the stroke. I rember this done on a 360 using low compression 340 pistons, (371CI) they had to machine some material from the piston bottom below the pin boss for crank clearance. Than there is getting it all to ballance.
I've had good luck with .030 over 360 and price is low.
 
Mad Dart said:
Dang man you dont mess around.........you made really good time on it.
Did you Pull the engine or do it in the car?? I assume you pulled it.
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No I did it in the car, when it broke on Thursday we had it apart in about 45 min.. I'm using a rear sump pan so it made it easy to get the pan down. This is in my race car so it's very accessable. Everything can be had by air wrench.
 
Rcuda2 said:
Do you have enough clearance between the bottom of the piston and the crank throws at bottom of the stroke. I rember this done on a 360 using low compression 340 pistons, (371CI) they had to machine some material from the piston bottom below the pin boss for crank clearance. Than there is getting it all to ballance.
I've had good luck with .030 over 360 and price is low.
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What I did and maybe should have done it differently but, I cut the counter weights on the crank .150 to lighten the crank and this also made the pistons clear. I had to add 7 pieces of mallory metal but I also internally balanced the crank. Now on a buddy of mines we cut the crank on the counterweights the same way, but externally balanced his. His took 3 or 4 pieces of mallory, but it sure spins up quick.
 
BJR Racing said:
No I did it in the car, when it broke on Thursday we had it apart in about 45 min.. I'm using a rear sump pan so it made it easy to get the pan down. This is in my race car so it's very accessable. Everything can be had by air wrench.
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Good Job!
I remember when I was a kid doing it on a 70 318 dart. Had a rod knock with no cash to spare, did an in car repair. Took some time with the pan. Rod knock went away though 2 days labor and about 20.00 for the bearing and gaskets. That was a LONGGGGG time ago.
 
WooHoo, The rain has stopped so lets get it fired.

Hopefully Friday night I'll make some test runs, we have a 40% chance of rain as of now. But hey that means that we have a 60% chance that it won't rain.
 
Bummer, they just upped the % by 20% and they now have 60% chance on Friday. Oh well next week they are now showing 20% on Friday, maybe then.
 
Yep, it's back up and running. Sounds very strong as it did before the valve issue. With this engine and the high compression ratio that it has, you can feel the pulsations in the chassis of the car from every cylinder fireing. Very crisp sound and instantainous rpm's. Should be fun. Thats why I can't wait til race day.
 
Cool great news. Maybe you could post a video of the car running for all of us who have been following this post. That would be awsome.
 
With your paticular build how high could you spin it? It seems that it still makes a lot of power up top. Would 7k to 7500 be out of it's league? What about if it was cammed a little different?

Thanks again
 
6,500 is where the power peaks and then falls quickly, so turning it any harder is not necessary. It would go higher but the cam would have to have alot more lift and then the compression ratio would have to come down some. Or a meeting of the parts would happen. Also too the engine is cammed for the heads and the flow that they have. So adding a larger cam to this engine would be a waste. Thats whats so nice about this engine, it makes alot of HP and TQ without the high $$$$$ parts. I'm going to be doing one for a customer for the street with 10.5 compression next month.
 
Got it.
I will be calling you for some assistance on machining me some parts for this build. I have a set of stripped 360 j heads that may work for this new build. I need to have them checked for cracks etc.
 
On the 360 heads make sure that the hump where the intake valve seats is, is below the deck or the pistons will have to be cut for a 2.20 intake valve so the hump will fit into the valve relief. If above deck is desired. The other option is to cut the top of the piston to clear the chamber hump. Or 0 deck the piston. 0 deck would be the way for a street engine. You would have to know the deck height after the deck has been squared to do this.
 
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