stroker life span?

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slimjim

slimjim

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Hey how many miles would a properly built 416 stroker( all forged bottom end) last? It seems like a lot of money for an engine that may not last that long. Anyone have any high mileage strokers?
 
what makes it any different from any other low compression motor except the lenght of stroke? It's not like You're running 14 to 1 compression and a 10 to 1 stroker should give enough fun for most any street cruiser. Running with reasonable gears and the lifetime is depending on everything else other motors are...driver and maintenance,,,has a 498 stroker for over 6 years and as far as I know,it's still going after I sold it two seasons ago...ran 355 gears...4 speed and automatic and averaged over 4000 miles a season in sunny Buffalo NY
 
Ive just heard from alot of people that the long stroke causes the cylinder walls to wear faster. Thats why I asked about the life span. Assuming that the motor is well maintained and not driven too crazy would 50k miles be expected? at least?
 
I just had my 383-496 stroker apart.
3 years old
It had done about 5000 miles and you could still see the cross hatch in the bores
It's had a hard life, mainley at the drags turning to 7000rpm.

Through in some different pistons for bigger compression, now 11.2 -1

Cheers
Dave

:burnout:
 
A lot of people who build strokers build them to go fast, and they get abused. A regular 360 subjected to the same abuse would wear out just as fast, or almost as fast. If you're building a stroker just to be a cruiser with an extra kick here and there, it should last just as long as a non-stroker (but I'm sure you won't want to keep your foot out of it)
 
Well the BBM might handle more stroke better than the SBM since the deck is taller.

Problem with stroking is the pistons are very short and can rock easier in the bore. Compounded with the increase stroke which has to wear the bore out quicker than a stock stroke 3.31 and it can turn in to an oil burner before its time.

Think back to when the LA engines were coming out in the 1960's. What did deep pocket Mopar to to increase the power of the 273 engines? Did they increase the stroke--well not till 1971 and then it just went up to 3.58 and all those engines were stuff in cars and trucks with 2.94/3.23 gears.

The 3.55--3.91, 4.10 cars got the 340 which has the same stroke as the 273 but much larger pistons.

I can't believe if a 4 inch stroke would last as long why Mopar didn't ever use it? Heck around 1980 MP sold a crank with more stroke then the 340 but less then the 360. It gave 355 CI in a 340 standard bore block, was for circle class racing.

Sure keeping the rpm's under 5,500 would help a stroker but then your giving up rpm for what? Nothing wrong with rev's if the stroke isn't too much, why Mopar used 3.31 for the 340 and GM used 3.25 stroke for the 327 and Ford used only 3 inch stroke for its boss 302. For the 340 de stroker cranks were sold to limit the engines CI to 305...no winning racer keep the 3.31 stroke and sleeved the bore for smaller pistons. No need, want more torque, increasing the gearing was the winning way to do it.

Those stock 340, 327, 302 engines lasted a long time if maintain, they mostly still around in the late 70's--and not pouring blue smoke out the tail pipes. The front end might have been hit a few times, LOL. Those old cars look tougher the more they got hit in front. Ah good old days before the bs air bags came around..

Strokers are like air bags, some new gimmick that some people swear by and some don't. I fall in the don't like it camp. Too easy, doesn't make sense. You want more stroke get a BBM with a taller deck hight to allow a longer skirt piston...you want more protection install a roll bar and wear a helmet, like NASCAR does.
 
dodge freak said:
Well the BBM might handle more stroke better than the SBM since the deck is taller.

Problem with stroking is the pistons are very short and can rock easier in the bore. Compounded with the increase stroke which has to wear the bore out quicker than a stock stroke 3.31 and it can turn in to an oil burner before its time.

Think back to when the LA engines were coming out in the 1960's. What did deep pocket Mopar to to increase the power of the 273 engines? Did they increase the stroke--well not till 1971 and then it just went up to 3.58 and all those engines were stuff in cars and trucks with 2.94/3.23 gears.

The 3.55--3.91, 4.10 cars got the 340 which has the same stroke as the 273 but much larger pistons.

I can't believe if a 4 inch stroke would last as long why Mopar didn't ever use it? Heck around 1980 MP sold a crank with more stroke then the 340 but less then the 360. It gave 355 CI in a 340 standard bore block, was for circle class racing.

Sure keeping the rpm's under 5,500 would help a stroker but then your giving up rpm for what? Nothing wrong with rev's if the stroke isn't too much, why Mopar used 3.31 for the 340 and GM used 3.25 stroke for the 327 and Ford used only 3 inch stroke for its boss 302. For the 340 de stroker cranks were sold to limit the engines CI to 305...no winning racer keep the 3.31 stroke and sleeved the bore for smaller pistons. No need, want more torque, increasing the gearing was the winning way to do it.

Those stock 340, 327, 302 engines lasted a long time if maintain, they mostly still around in the late 70's--and not pouring blue smoke out the tail pipes. The front end might have been hit a few times, LOL. Those old cars look tougher the more they got hit in front. Ah good old days before the bs air bags came around..

Strokers are like air bags, some new gimmick that some people swear by and some don't. I fall in the don't like it camp. Too easy, doesn't make sense. You want more stroke get a BBM with a taller deck hight to allow a longer skirt piston...you want more protection install a roll bar and wear a helmet, like NASCAR does.
Click to expand...

A good example that blows smoke up your underwear is a 454 Big Block Chevy..

it has a deck height of 9.800 just .200 more then a sbm...its stock rod length is 6.125...just .002 longer then a sbm...and IT COMES FROM THE FACTORY WITH A 4.00 inch stroke...and chevy started building those back in the good old days of 1970......

so with your theory every BBC was needed to be overhauled after say...20k miles???

3.55 mopar crank was to fit the 358 " rules of nascar.....2.96 mopar crank was to fit the 305 rules of Trans Am circuit...they were specific crank strokes to fit existing blocks for racing...pretty simple..
 
Build a 4" stroke small block with some good heads and good cam drop it in your a-body then tell me what you think about small block strokers. Power of a big block without the size and weight its the best of both worlds.
 
Realstically, a lot has to do with the machine work, and the life style of the engine but the point of this type of build is not longevity. A street/strip 4" stroke, properly built, should last upwards of 30-40K miles before it will start showing signs of issues. If things like bore finish are off, thinner ring stacks are used, or high rpm or heavy abuse is experienced that drops to about 15-20K at most. I've seen some of these start showing signs of ring seal going away after a few thousand miles drag engines, but that's several seasons and hundreds and hundreds of passes. A friend also has a 496 RB, mild solid roller, runs low 11s in a portly E body. He drove that car everywhere and it's got 50K miles on it. It also smokes a little now, especially when he's racing, and it's overdue for freshening. We build them for power, and with the expectation that they are not racking up the miles like a commuter car does.
The 454 example is a big block adn the side load is spread out over a large area in terms of both the ring sealing edge and the piston skirt. My experience has been whenever I tore one down with anything over 70K miles, the pistons were worn out and the bores had a lot of taper and rigde. Not a prime example of apples to apples.
 
What mechanical engineers call a square engine has equal bore and stroke.
Historicly, those engines have been the longest lived. Those would not produce 1 horse power per cubic inch displacemnt though. Their avaerage was closer to 3/4 hp per cid.
 
RedFish said:
What mechanical engineers call a square engine has equal bore and stroke.
Historicly, those engines have been the longest lived. Those would not produce 1 horse power per cubic inch displacemnt though. Their avaerage was closer to 3/4 hp per cid.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that suggest that a stroker 360 (4 inch bore with a 4 inch stroke) would last longer than a non stroker? And dont most stroker 360 make around 400 hp, more than 3/4 hp per cubic inch, closer to 1hp per cubic inch. Not trying to be a smart alek but I am curious
 
6 years and over 30,000 miles with drag strip time. Still going strong .
 
72dart_swinger said:
Wouldn't that suggest that a stroker 360 (4 inch bore with a 4 inch stroke) would last longer than a non stroker? And dont most stroker 360 make around 400 hp, more than 3/4 hp per cubic inch, closer to 1hp per cubic inch. Not trying to be a smart alek but I am curious
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Having a stroked motor does not ensure HP. HP is going to come from cam, timing, ignition, intake/head flow and fuel supplied. Torque numbers will be alot higher from the start. I could build a 408 stroker and put all the factory 360 gear back on top and HP will still suck.

Like mentioned before,,,length of motor life = quality of build & amount of abuse it sees.
 
My 416 has dyno time only (maybe 2-3 hours) and I pulled the heads to see how things looked. I was disappointed with cylinder wall wear from the short piston skirts. The KB pistones were not coated and I wish they were. The guy who built it said the sidewalls will look normal once the rings wear away the cross hatch. I dunno - it's a toy and will be flogged as bad or worse than my 340 was.

You can always sleeve a cylinder and this 73 block had one sleeved already. I have a 360 -1 block waiting in the wings of this stroker gets too worn out. All forged BTW. Dyno sheets only go to 6000 RPM with the ported eddy heads and hyd flat tappet purple 508 cam.
 
Ok someone correct me IF I am wrong here, the understanding I had Before I built my stroker was that stroker's make thier power and torque much lower in the rpm range so you get more HP/TQ at less rpm than a non-stroked engine, so if that theroy is correct you would not be reving them as high so they should last almost as long as a similar NOT stroked engine that would have to rev higher to get similar HP/TQ figures. Does that make sense of am I way off here??
 
I have a friend that races a 340 stroker... His experience mirrors others here...That the thrust loads really accelerate bore wear.
I work on motorcycles for a living, and most bores today are Nikasil (NickelSiliconCarbide) similar to hard chrome... My thoughts are, has anyone ever considered having the bores of a block hardcoated or plated as such? Bore wear is almost non-existant, cylinders that get replaced are usually because of non-maintenance such as replacing pistons/rings at realistic intervals, or broken rings. This is something I thought might be good for a stroker. Not cheap but if you're already spending a buttload of money, why not? You might end up spending $1500, but would be rewarded with much longer cylinder life...Instead of engine being tired in relatively low miles you may only need to re-ring... Of course you would need appropriate rings for said bore ...
Anybody out there with mo'better knowledge than me, please, school me!
 
I understand everyone's points here, but another thing to think about is that a stroker kit can make your whole assembly up to 7 lbs lighter on a BB, this in turn makes your engine work less and rev faster... I dont understand why a good stroker wouldn't be just as reliable
 
this topic comes up maybe once a month. IF YOUR BUILDING A STROKER ITS TO GO FAST AND THRASH ON IT. YOU GOTTA PAY TO PLAY!!!! otherwise build a stock stroke motor and quit whineing
 
The full length of the cylinder verus the length of the piston is figured into the totally engineering of the oder engines I refered to early
Modern matials may compensate for some of the loss of slug control in bore but what do I know. I'm no engineer. Cheers
 
Hmm, so will a stroked engine have a shorter life span than a boosted one? consider good driving habbits and routine maintence.
 
I'm going to build my stroker becouse it is cheaper then rebuilding my 340.
Why? becouse i'm hoping for a full sec quicker with my rebuild.

stroker = stroker aka motor and thats all.....well to begine with, that is:mrgreen:

340 build = ditching my $100 stall converter that stalls t 2800 for a minimal 3500 stall converter $$$$ higher compression. Now im spending more on racing fuel. Much much better rocker arms. stronger pushrod double valve springs, machine work for that. and a hole lot better flowing head then my stock X head (yes this should apply to my stroker build as well)

Forced induction, well at my altitude i should be considering that first! But i'm not.
 
Forced induction will last longer than the side load stresses caused by a short stroker piston with more rod angle. FI uses original engineered mechanical movements. Build a strong bottom end and you should be good to go if you can keep the pistons rich. you can build a 451 with 383 or 440 rods, and a tall and short piston . short rod has more side load, but the short piston has more rock potential.
 
hmm if a forced induction setup will produce more hp and tq AND last longer than a stroker thennn.... twin turbo it is. ive only got to worry about tuning that freakin blow-thru carb. thats better than fearing for piston slap i guess
 
read an article about rod ratio and it said that small block mopars were great for building strokers, because the factory rod length gave them a great rod ratio to start with. too long or too short a rod your piston will rock at top and bottom of cylinder and cause premature ring wear, piston breakage, many other things can go wrong. look up (rod ratio) it was pretty interesting
 
slimjim said:
hmm if a forced induction setup will produce more hp and tq AND last longer than a stroker thennn.... twin turbo it is. ive only got to worry about tuning that freakin blow-thru carb. thats better than fearing for piston slap i guess
Click to expand...


So you're going to go through all the expense of building an ultra-stong top of the line lower end (meaning new block, by the way because two turbos can easilly exceed four figures in the horsepower dept with the right matched parts), twin turbos, the exh headers/manifolding, and not spend on tuneable EFI? Just my opinion but I think you're already looking at heading in the wrong direction.
 
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