Crank is shot, do I stroke it or not?

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crackedback said:
A 360 Brian built for my friends got 20 mpg at 60 MPH. Car was running an OOTB 4779 750DP, auto/2500 hughes converter, 2.94 gears, 245/60/14 tires (maybe 26" tall).

Running a taller tire, getting the cruise tune better and the mpg would have been higher.

Strokers make a ton of torque down low! Run that 2.94 gear/stroker and acceleration won't be an issue.
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Wow! That's pretty good. That's better than my '03 Ford Ranger and way more power I bet! I get about 18 MPH on average (city & street) with the 3.Slow, but I'm usually cruising around 75 MPH on the freeway.

I actually have a 4779 sitting in a box in the garage. That's what the car came with when I bought it. I had trouble with it so I swapped it for an Edelbrock with a fuel pressure guage.

That's when I realized that my Holley pressure regulator had a hole in the diaphragm so the pressure was way too high (I used to have a Holley electric fuel pump). I fixed that and it ran a little better. Still noisy though.

I'm planning to run a mechanical fuel pump this time around. That Holley pump was way too freaking loud. It's for sale by the way.

I've already decided that I'll leave that carb with him too. He can use whatever works best. The other choice I have is an Edelbrock 650 AVS, which he already has.
 
I built both last year. A 360 with 222 duration voodoo cam, stock heads 9.1:1 compression, wiend stealth intake, headers, qjet carb, adjustable rockers 273, adjustable rockers, tunable distributor. This engine is in my 5200# R/C 4x4 auto trans 4.56 gears 37 inch tires.
The 408 took me two years nine months to complete long gestation period.
408 9.7:1 IMM 2.02 Indy heads, 228-234 roller cam 1.6 Hughes rockers, RPM intake, 750 dbl pumper, headers.tunable distributor.
The truck it's in , 5300# W200 4x4, 4 speed, 4.56:1 gears, 35" tires.
The 408 is far and above and beyond the 360 in every way!!
Granted it's not apples to apples what you are doing BUT maybe it is and here is why.
You have the opportunity to build the 408 so build it for the possible future heads and mild roller cam upgrade that gives you the complete package.
Build the short block for zero deck 9.5:1 to 10.5:1 compression. Keeping in mind upgrading to the 78 cc Eddie heads or what I consider to be the better head the IMM Indy 2.02 cylinder head. Then upgrade to a roller cam and lifters.
This in my opinion gets you running now with out much waste and room for growth and not having to go way back for more power.
I have dealt with Brian and Fred at IMM with two engines. Your in good hands.

Clutches I like the Center force dual frictions. I used one of them for ten years in a truck used it like you would a dirt bike slipped it until I had ground speed or wheel speed. I suppose there are other good ones out there. I weeded through the bad ones fifteen years ago not going to start over learning what does and does not work now. I'll stick with the three dual frictions that are in use in my rigs currently.
 
Dezduster said:
I built both last year. A 360 with 222 duration voodoo cam, stock heads 9.1:1 compression, wiend stealth intake, headers, qjet carb, adjustable rockers 273, adjustable rockers, tunable distributor. This engine is in my 5200# R/C 4x4 auto trans 4.56 gears 37 inch tires.
The 408 took me two years nine months to complete long gestation period.
408 9.7:1 IMM 2.02 Indy heads, 228-234 roller cam 1.6 Hughes rockers, RPM intake, 750 dbl pumper, headers.tunable distributor.
The truck it's in , 5300# W200 4x4, 4 speed, 4.56:1 gears, 35" tires.
The 408 is far and above and beyond the 360 in every way!!
Granted it's not apples to apples what you are doing BUT maybe it is and here is why.
You have the opportunity to build the 408 so build it for the possible future heads and mild roller cam upgrade that gives you the complete package.
Build the short block for zero deck 9.5:1 to 10.5:1 compression. Keeping in mind upgrading to the 78 cc Eddie heads or what I consider to be the better head the IMM Indy 2.02 cylinder head. Then upgrade to a roller cam and lifters.
This in my opinion gets you running now with out much waste and room for growth and not having to go way back for more power.
I have dealt with Brian and Fred at IMM with two engines. Your in good hands.

Clutches I like the Center force dual frictions. I used one of them for ten years in a truck used it like you would a dirt bike slipped it until I had ground speed or wheel speed. I suppose there are other good ones out there. I weeded through the bad ones fifteen years ago not going to start over learning what does and does not work now. I'll stick with the three dual frictions that are in use in my rigs currently.
Click to expand...

Apparently it's not so easy to build a short block that is "upgrade-able". The problem lies with the compression. The way it was explained to me involved compression, head cc's, quench, deck height, etc.

Basically, when it's all setup for one set it heads then slapping on a different set of heads changes all the equations to the point where I may end up with way too much compression on California's crappy gasoline.

At least, that's how I understood it all.

So, I might as well build it right the first time around whether it's a basic 360 or stroker. Either way, I still have time to decide. I'm going to MATS this weekend so I get a better idea of what would be ideal for the overall vehicle build.

b168cuda said:
put a stroker in or go to a big block i'd go big block
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Yeah I would love a big block. Simply, because I wanted a sideways distributor. LOL I almost bought a junkyard 400 out of a station wagon, but it was gone by the time I came back for it.

Anyway, I'm trying to keep everything around 4 grand or so, give or take 500 bucks. A big block would totally break the bank because then I'd need motor mounts, bell housing, fly wheel, distributor, intake, headers, etc. A 383 or 400 would have been nice though. Sure, a 440 would be bigger but since I'm trying to build it to be a performance oriented daily driver, I don't know how piratical that would be.

Brian is going to crunch the numbers to see what it would be to build a better 360 with new RHS heads instead of stock castings, and then see if I can do it within budget.

If I hit it big at the tables in Vegas, then maybe I wont' have to worry about a budget. Wish me luck!! LOL
 
I figured I'd update this.

Long story short... I didn't go with the stroker, but I blew my budget anyway.

We came to the conclusion that for an engine what will potentially see plenty of service it would be wiser to put the money into new heads and stay a stock stroke crank.

We tossed around the idea of using the EQ heads in order to inherently get the Magnum engine's 1.6:1 ratio rocker arms while flowing about as much air as the Indy heads.

In the end, I decided to keep the LA block with LA heads and use the Indy heads with new PRW rockers, which in my mind would get the most out of the XE268H cam.

The outcome should hopefully be an engine that pulls plenty of vacuum for power disc brakes, has a nice idle for daily use, provides plenty of torque and horsepower, and see 10's of thousands of miles because eventually this will probably be my son's daily driver for awhile.

The car is still in the body shop, engine is still at IMM, a set of Doug's Headers have been ordered, 4 speed transmission has already been rebuilt, and now I'm just trying to pick up remaining odds and ends.

One of the next major components is trying to decide on a clutch. From the research I've doe, diaphragm clutches last longer than the Borg and Beck clutches, so I'm not sure if I want to go with a Centerforce II or a Centerforce Dual Friction.

That's where I'm at today. Thanks guys for the advise and help.
 
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