Small block strokers

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crackedback said:
Daily driver?

IMO, you should stick with your initial range of 450hp. It's not hard to get with a stroked SB. It will run all day long without much issue. When you start making more power, things get finicky, especially when pushing the envelope. you can get where you want to go with a set of stock iron heads with a little work done to them.

You want a pretty nice build that runs great. Check this one out that Brian at IMM built. 408, ede heads, voodoo 268, air gap. The owner says it runs 7.70's at 91 in a 3500# Dart. I think they are a bit soft for et/MPH, bad converter, but the guy drives it all the time.

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=6780602

You could step up the cam to get some more rumble. Just whatever you are looking for. Want it to be a decent daily driver or a teeth rattling car. I have a teeth rattler in my Aspen and love driving the car, except for the fricken mopar 508 camshaft. I'd roll that car everyday except for the idle/manners that POS cam has. My Dart has a 528 mechanical and it's light years better to drive than that 508 "junk"stick. I tend to tolerate some pretty aggressive cams in a street car, not that one...

Don't get sucked into the dyno numbers, it's in the car that counts.
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I'm hoping that 9 sec Duster I bought hasn't spoiled the thrill of driving a quick street car too much for me. I keep telling myself that 450 horses would be more than enough. But Mike at MRL sure made it sound as though that extra 100 HP would make me smile.

Throughout the years that I've built cars I rarely saw more than modest performance gains whenever I would swap cams, intakes, carbs, or whatever. Prior to the Duster the quickest thing I'd ever owned was my first car. A 383/727 '70 Roadrunner that ran low 13s. In my teens, it seemed pretty fast. But when I see what some of these new cars are supposed to be capable of, it makes me want to forget about the worry of going overboard.
 
There will always be faster cars. Most of them are not faster because of mega-dollar engines. They are the result of hard work and endless tweaking with a reliable, repeatable engine. Street or track is irrelevant. I would advise you to worry more about the cost numbers and not the final horsepower numbers.
 
You getting any younger? I just bought another "street car" myself.

1897762_657438927655179_1305492873_n.jpg
 
moper said:
There will always be faster cars. Most of them are not faster because of mega-dollar engines. They are the result of hard work and endless tweaking with a reliable, repeatable engine. Street or track is irrelevant. I would advise you to worry more about the cost numbers and not the final horsepower numbers.
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moper, you sound like my 'good' conscience. My 'bad' conscience is still pulling me the other way.
 
rmazess said:
the company I work for OWNS ATK. SO any info you need.. I have.. you can pm me.. no worries.
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rmazess, glad to hear from you. I'll be sending you a pm after a bit. I did go to the ATK website looking for more info. That $5500 408 in Summit was what originally got me fired up on being able to drop in a stroker quickly.

The 408 I was interested in would run me $7299 from ATK if it were fully dressed. Although that's still cheaper, it's getting a lot closer to the fully dressed 408 from MRL.

One of the things I originally thought I'd do was keep my existing carb and intake. Now I'm worried that if I were to re-use them that I'd choke a lot of power out by not running well matched components. Then I'd be back to ho hum performance.

So I'm starting to look at the full crate engines now more than the short or long blocks that I'd seen.
 
I'm sorry it took so long to respond back. I've had good luck with Indy but I've only bought parts. I suggested a short block because you can check torques, end play, everything is open for you to see. Plus you can pick your cam, heads, intake and rocker train you want to run. Indy usually goes to the bigger shows and will have a show special. At Garlets in 2012 they had a 408 short block for $2800. Cast crank, I beam rods, Hyper pistons. 408's are not cheap. Do the research and figure out what you want. A forged bottom end is $2000. I thought it was worth the money. I would stay away from "balanced" kits. I've heard a lot of people on here talk about they aren't so balanced. A good machinest you can talk to is worth the wait. I drove 120 miles one way for mine.
 
ATK gets my vote as one of the good guys; had a very positive experience with them many years ago.

I've seen many reman shops come and go in almost 30 years, they're still here.
 
russhal said:
I'm sorry it took so long to respond back. I've had good luck with Indy but I've only bought parts. I suggested a short block because you can check torques, end play, everything is open for you to see. Plus you can pick your cam, heads, intake and rocker train you want to run. Indy usually goes to the bigger shows and will have a show special. At Garlets in 2012 they had a 408 short block for $2800. Cast crank, I beam rods, Hyper pistons. 408's are not cheap. Do the research and figure out what you want. A forged bottom end is $2000. I thought it was worth the money. I would stay away from "balanced" kits. I've heard a lot of people on here talk about they aren't so balanced. A good machinest you can talk to is worth the wait. I drove 120 miles one way for mine.
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Some of these things seem like magic to me. 35 years ago I wasn't a serious enough racer to know what components to choose when building a motor. Often I would ask around for advice from others but everyone seemed to have different recommendations. Back then I don't know how many of us really knew what we were doing.

So, back in the day, I used to just believe that bigger was better.With each build I'd increase cam duration and lift. - Bigger carburetors. Bigger tube headers. Taller intakes. Deeper gears. My Roadrunner slowly evolved from a mid-fifteen second car to the low thirteen seconds.

I normally saw modest performance increases each time, but the biggest power adder for me was when I first switched from a points ignition to an ACCEL BEI. So I don't trust myself now when it comes to picking what parts to use. I decided to try to find someone much more knowledgeable to put a package together on this project.
 
sure Mike at mrl is expensive of course he is

BUT right parts at the right place
one of the best service,alwais ready to help
even in mopar forum like here at fabo

he will send you back an engine that already been dynoed
ran a few hours if there is any problem it will be solve before
you receive or install the engine

belive me its frutrating getting a new engine into a car
start it and see the rear main seal is leaking
ounce again need to pull the engine from the support to get it fix

for indy I sware to god Id will love to get there heads
they are the one who flow the most for a small block
but horror story stop me even a shop here in Quebec Canada
who was selling there heads told me there customer support suck

for last find me someone (credible) who hade problem
with MRL

excuse the miss writing Im french and dont use translater


my 2 cents Bob
 
crazy 340 said:
sure Mike at mrl is expensive of course he is

BUT right parts at the right place
one of the best service,alwais ready to help
even in mopar forum like here at fabo

he will send you back an engine that already been dynoed
ran a few hours if there is any problem it will be solve before
you receive or install the engine

belive me its frutrating getting a new engine into a car
start it and see the rear main seal is leaking
ounce again need to pull the engine from the support to get it fix

for indy I sware to god Id will love to get there heads
they are the one who flow the most for a small block
but horror story stop me even a shop here in Quebec Canada
who was selling there heads told me there customer support suck

for last find me someone (credible) who hade problem
with MRL

excuse the miss writing Im french and dont use translater


my 2 cents Bob
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Thanks for the input crazy 340. So far that's 3 recommendations for MRL.

I had never known of any issues with Indy before this thread. I too had always heard great things about their heads. But apparently they must have some issues to deal with before I'd be comfortable buying an engine from them.

I spoke with Mike on the phone again today. Although we were able to whittle off a few items from the build, we were still looking at over 8K. I'm still going to look into ATK more before I make a choice. I'm glad to have been hearing positive things about them too.
 
russhal said:
I'm sorry it took so long to respond back. I've had good luck with Indy but I've only bought parts. I suggested a short block because you can check torques, end play, everything is open for you to see. Plus you can pick your cam, heads, intake and rocker train you want to run. Indy usually goes to the bigger shows and will have a show special. At Garlets in 2012 they had a 408 short block for $2800. Cast crank, I beam rods, Hyper pistons. 408's are not cheap. Do the research and figure out what you want. A forged bottom end is $2000. I thought it was worth the money. I would stay away from "balanced" kits. I've heard a lot of people on here talk about they aren't so balanced. A good machinest you can talk to is worth the wait. I drove 120 miles one way for mine.
Click to expand...

Ya, I'd heard similar reports from engine builders that had dealt with balanced kits that weren't balanced. Things like that are the reason I wanted to seek out advice.
 
JBurch said:
ATK gets my vote as one of the good guys; had a very positive experience with them many years ago.

I've seen many reman shops come and go in almost 30 years, they're still here.
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I'm really glad to see positive reports about more than one company. From the ATK website I can see that they build engines for most makes of cars. Although there seems to be less info on the site than what I'd hoped, I see that it lists itself as not an internet company and sounds as if it must be Texas based. But someone had told me that some of their machine work is done here in Nebraska. So I think there may be multiple shops involved.
 
I called ATK for more information and was sent to voicemail. After a day of waiting with no call back I went ahead and decided to pull the trigger with Mike at MRL. I do like the fact that he is one of the advertizing vendors on FABO. (I hadn't realized that until after speaking with him) So, 550 HP it is. After Mike gets it built and I get it installed, I'll post pics and probably track E.T.s.
 
1967 'cuda said:
I called ATK for more information and was sent to voicemail. After a day of waiting with no call back I went ahead and decided to pull the trigger with Mike at MRL. I do like the fact that he is one of the advertizing vendors on FABO. (I hadn't realized that until after speaking with him) So, 550 HP it is. After Mike gets it built and I get it installed, I'll post pics and probably track E.T.s.
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well done:burnout:
 
Mike says with the 4.10s and 10.5 cheater slicks, it'll probably pull the front wheels. My evil side won out.
 
If I may I suggest talking to Ryan Johnson at Shady Dell speed shop in state college pa he built my 526 which is a 730 hp 702 tq big block and the 540 in my dads truck with make 1050 hp and 1050 tq both on pump gas. He specializes in small blocks he has a turbo small block making over 1200 hp and he does a lot of 440-482 small block stuff. 550hp is no challenge for him he may actually be able to build ya a 700 + hp small block for not much more than wat it cost to go 550 on pump gas and very street able

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I wouldn't buy a blueprint stroker from summit period. With strokers you get what you pay for. If you cheap out chances are you will get an unreliable motor built with cheap parts. It also depends on your driving style and what you want out of the car. If you want some serious balls and cubic inches, 6k is going to be a start. Figure 10k for a reliable 500 horse motor that is built and machined with quality parts and craftsmanship. My 426 stroked 360 now I've got just shy of 13k into it with me doing the assembly. Good heads and C&C porting is expensive. And it's backed by a 904. Good luck on your build. Try Hensley performance and ask for Ken. Good guys that build quality reliable horsepower.
 
67 prostreet gt said:
If I may I suggest talking to Ryan Johnson at Shady Dell speed shop in state college pa he built my 526 which is a 730 hp 702 tq big block and the 540 in my dads truck with make 1050 hp and 1050 tq both on pump gas. He specializes in small blocks he has a turbo small block making over 1200 hp and he does a lot of 440-482 small block stuff. 550hp is no challenge for him he may actually be able to build ya a 700 + hp small block for not much more than wat it cost to go 550 on pump gas and very street able

Posted via Topify using iPhone/iPad
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67 prostreet gt, - Thanks for the recommendation. I wish you had sent me this sooner. I've already given a verbal commitment to MRL. But I did a quick search and found their website. http://www.shadydellspeedshop.com/index.htm - Not a lot of info there on the cost of buying a motor from them. But I'd have called and talked to them if I'd heard of them sooner.

I'm fairly confident that I'll be happy with MRL, but I was looking for as many options as I could find before I made my decision.

I really DO appreciate all of you FABO guys that offered me advice. Thanks-a-bunch!
 
gtmopar said:
I wouldn't buy a blueprint stroker from summit period. With strokers you get what you pay for. If you cheap out chances are you will get an unreliable motor built with cheap parts. It also depends on your driving style and what you want out of the car. If you want some serious balls and cubic inches, 6k is going to be a start. Figure 10k for a reliable 500 horse motor that is built and machined with quality parts and craftsmanship. My 426 stroked 360 now I've got just shy of 13k into it with me doing the assembly. Good heads and C&C porting is expensive. And it's backed by a 904. Good luck on your build. Try Hensley performance and ask for Ken. Good guys that build quality reliable horsepower.
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Thanks gtmopar. OK, I looked up Hensley Performance and found their site. http://www.hensleyperformance.com/# They definitely look like they are a viable alternative. Although I didn't see any complete engine package prices, they do show the costs of short blocks and rotating assemblies. Their prices don't sound too bad either.
 
i think you made a great choice with mrl , mike is a stand up guy, extremely smart, great people skills

indy great parts but customer service sucks

hensly good guys and very smart and they do have complete engine combos or short blocks

hughes engines smart guys , great parts, good to deal with have there complete top end

shady dell ? never had them do any work


and yes I have dealt with all these guys. call compare, and go with the one that leaves a you feeling wow this guys knows his stuff, has tried this and knows it works, and doesn't care to take time out of his day to answer my questions . find out what you are lookin for and what you are goin be content with in your build so you don't have to spend money trying something else, good luck:cheers:
 
1967 'cuda said:
I called ATK for more information and was sent to voicemail. After a day of waiting with no call back I went ahead and decided to pull the trigger with Mike at MRL. I do like the fact that he is one of the advertizing vendors on FABO. (I hadn't realized that until after speaking with him) So, 550 HP it is. After Mike gets it built and I get it installed, I'll post pics and probably track E.T.s.
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Set it up,it's done. Great Choice! That 2k,saved you unreal amounts of time,patching things..No offense to any crate engine vendors,it's not the damn same.
 
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