A few questions about stroker small blocks

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harrisonm said:
For quite a while, I have been seriously considering putting a stroked small block in my 69 340 4 speed Barracuda. The current 340 is built to about 375 HP now, and it is a blast to drive. I have even rat holed some money away for one. But the other day, I was cruising FABO and came across the video where the Engine Master guys tested a 360 and a stroked 360 with the same cam and heads. The stroker made a few more HP and more torque, but I'm not sure if the numbers were good enough to offset the extra cost of building a stroker. I was thinking that the stroker in this test probably did not perform the way I expected due to the heads. I assume that if yo are going to add 70 cubes, the heads better flow really well. Got me to wondering if a lightly built 440 (450 or so HP) might not be the way to go.
Click to expand...

Yes, the engine masters motor needed ported heads (and a bigger cam too).

Some food for thought on what good heads can do for a stroker (my previous engine combo):
  • 410 stroker, 10.8:1 compression, ported Edelbrocks by Ryan J @ Shadydell
  • Small "street" roller cam (Comp XR286R)
  • Victor intake, 750dp carb (built by me) drinking e85
This pushed my Barracuda to 10.5's @ 126mph in street trim, through the mufflers. That is somewhere in the mid 500's for horsepower....mostly due to good port work.
 
The way I see it and I am no professional.

Get those w2 heads.
1)most people buy new rockers so what's the difference?
2) stock headers bolt up to w2 heads. May not flow as much but they do work (dual flange)
3) intake. Yes they are limited for w2s but if your hunting for an airgap or single plane. The price is near the same for w2 singles.

Now we have that out of the way.

I started with a stock built 340 that came with my dart. (Unknown build)
It lasted a month till I spun a rod bearing.
She loved to rev and spin tires.

I debated 440 bb build as I had a 440 in storage, but I had all the parts for a small block build. So I chose sb.
Stumbled on to a set of w2 heads....

Next I built that 340 block to a 418 w2 headed monster. With the single plane intake it felt like the car was lazy off the line.

So i Swapped to a w2 dual plane and it was OH MY SHORTS... I felt like I swallowed my face and sucked it out of my ***.

Now the 418 w2 monster never sealed right and would burn oil. Could not fix it after 3 attempts.

So back to the drawing board.
New machine shop.
New 340 block using my stroker rotating assembly for 418
New indy 360-1 heads that I was not planning to get but I got an awesome deal. So i dragged them home and had them pro ported.
We will be testing this summer if they SPIT my face out of my rear.
 
dodgedifferent2 said:
The way I see it and I am no professional.

Get those w2 heads.
1)most people buy new rockers so what's the difference?
2) stock headers bolt up to w2 heads. May not flow as much but they do work (dual flange)
3) intake. Yes they are limited for w2s but if your hunting for an airgap or single plane. The price is near the same for w2 singles.

Now we have that out of the way.

I started with a stock built 340 that came with my dart. (Unknown build)
It lasted a month till I spun a rod bearing.
She loved to rev and spin tires.

I debated 440 bb build as I had a 440 in storage, but I had all the parts for a small block build. So I chose sb.
Stumbled on to a set of w2 heads....

Next I built that 340 block to a 418 w2 headed monster. With the single plane intake it felt like the car was lazy off the line.

So i Swapped to a w2 dual plane and it was OH MY SHORTS... I felt like I swallowed my face and sucked it out of my ***.

Now the 418 w2 monster never sealed right and would burn oil. Could not fix it after 3 attempts.

So back to the drawing board.
New machine shop.
New 340 block using my stroker rotating assembly for 418
New indy 360-1 heads that I was not planning to get but I got an awesome deal. So i dragged them home and had them pro ported.
We will be testing this summer if they SPIT my face out of my rear.
Click to expand...
What W2 dual plane was that? Do you still have it?
 
flyfish said:
Yes, the engine masters motor needed ported heads (and a bigger cam too).

Some food for thought on what good heads can do for a stroker (my previous engine combo):
  • 410 stroker, 10.8:1 compression, ported Edelbrocks by Ryan J @ Shadydell
  • Small "street" roller cam (Comp XR286R)
  • Victor intake, 750dp carb (built by me) drinking e85
This pushed my Barracuda to 10.5's @ 126mph in street trim, through the mufflers. That is somewhere in the mid 500's for horsepower....mostly due to good port work.
Click to expand...
NICE!

I’ll go out on a limb here and say the engine masters engine didn’t need more cam because it was just a case of look what happens with better heads.

While most of us here are looking for bigger & better hp numbers from a given combo, there’s was just what it was.

A cam has to fit in a certain rpm range to suite the driver. Not what could be from the combo. Getting the most out of a combo doesn’t necessarily mean the biggest cam that would work with the given components of the engine at what ever displacement it is.

Even with a smaller cam, I believe the box stock Edelbrock heads are insufficient. I thought this even before the later EM video showing the 410 Ford engine with the tiny cam and there testing of various heads. 165 - 195 - 220/225 cc heads.
Here is that video Incase your interested in the cylinder head shoot out the did.
 
dodgedifferent2 said:
The way I see it and I am no professional.

Get those w2 heads.
1)most people buy new rockers so what's the difference?
2) stock headers bolt up to w2 heads. May not flow as much but they do work (dual flange)
3) intake. Yes they are limited for w2s but if your hunting for an airgap or single plane. The price is near the same for w2 singles.
Click to expand...
1: W2 rockers are twice the price of LA head rockers... or close last time I checked. Regardless, they’re expensive.

2: You have to be careful with that. Not all W-2 hedge have a duel bolt pattern exhaust face. Headers are expensive no matter where you get them from. W2 headers or just plain pricey.

3: mopar has the only dog playing for the W-2 head. Reworking eight RPM from Edelbrock is a lot of work in a little costly. Probably cheaper than buying a brand new W-2 and take manifold though!!!!
The best intake manifold for a more sedate and completely street able W-2 engine would be the Holly Street dominator. It’s exactly the same as the strip dominator except, the runners or smaller. Otherwise you would have a hard time identifying but to intake manifold.
New indy 360-1 heads that I was not planning to get but I got an awesome deal. So i dragged them home and had them pro ported.
We will be testing this summer if they SPIT my face out of my rear.
Click to expand...
Laughing my *** off at that description, I look very forward to seeing that build. Please keep us informed!
 
rumblefish360 said:
NICE!

I’ll go out on a limb here and say the engine masters engine didn’t need more cam because it was just a case of look what happens with better heads.

While most of us here are looking for bigger & better hp numbers from a given combo, there’s was just what it was.

A cam has to fit in a certain rpm range to suite the driver. Not what could be from the combo. Getting the most out of a combo doesn’t necessarily mean the biggest cam that would work with the given components of the engine at what ever displacement it is.

Even with a smaller cam, I believe the box stock Edelbrock heads are insufficient. I thought this even before the later EM video showing the 410 Ford engine with the tiny cam and there testing of various heads. 165 - 195 - 220/225 cc heads.
Here is that video Incase your interested in the cylinder head shoot out the did.
Click to expand...

Reminds you of iron mikes woes with big lazily misshapen ports.
 
You can still find w2 dual planes at summit racing or Jegs. They are not cheap at 400 bucks.

I sold my dual plane and kicked myself for selling it because I was planning to use the indy intake.
I have another one on its way for the indy heads.

I mainly street drive and I WANT TORQUE BABY!!
 
My 360, 30 over, 10 to 1... 3.55 gear. I first had a single plane intake on my W2 engine as well. It was a total dog until it hit about 3 grand then holy ****. I ordered a dual plane intake from Mopar performance. That was the only change and man what a difference. It was so much more driveable. That engine pulls like no other small block I've had and I've had a lot. It did take away some top end but I'm too old for that crazy stuff. Leave the single plane intakes for the drag strip.
 
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I do think the Eddy heads are the best bang for the buck. I only built the W2 engine because it was my back up race engine and it was just sitting there wanting me to do something with it sense I don't race anymore. W2 stuff cost is crazy anymore and very hard to find. Glad I had what I needed.
 
Another supporter here of the W2 head. They were on the car when I got it but when I had the engine rebuilt, had them ported and went through. Ended up with custom intake valves (couldn’t find what we needed off shelf) but that’s about it other than some push rod clearancing. After seeing every part that is so specific for these heads, I’m glad they were already there! It has a Victor up top with a 950HP, TTi 1-7/8 headers, 11:1 CR, has propelled the car 10.4s and 128.5 mph. Needless to say I’ve been pretty happy with the performance of the W2’s considering I can fill her up at the pump as well.
 
Hey Mike my opinion stay small block and build that stroker. If you want dm me and I'll share my experience with going stroker. I have some leads on a couple w2 set ups, eddy or Indy la x heads if want to build a new engine.
 
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