Continuation of the topic I started here (http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=71738). Summary: - Building a 302 out of a 91 T-bird. - Have a good set of GT40 heads (not P) - Probably staying with the carburetor for now. I just took the block and crank into the machine shop. Got some preliminary assessment. Wanted to get some input from all of you before I make any decisions. Basically it looks like the block probably needs to be bored. The crank has some scarring on two rod bearings and a main bearing. The regrind would run about $120. I'll need pistons and rings. The question at hand is do I regrind the crank or should I start looking at stroker kits?
really depends on your budget, if u go stroker u should consider some better heads. a stock late model bottom end with a great head/cam/intake combo will walk all over a 347 with stock heads/cam/intake...
Well fi your getting pistons... thats 120 for crank turned 160 for the bore 100 for hottank 300 for pistons 200 for balanced motor 40 to press the pistons on Thats 920 bucks + extras. or.... 800 to 1000 for a stroker kit + 160 to bore. I would just go stroker but thats just me. Eather way your spending some money.
Stroker kit still needs balancing, block needs notching. The crank polish and bore mentioned inthe first post are just part of building the engie right, the first time.
Why not source out another crank? Im sure you can find them cheap. As a last resort you can get a junkyard one for 40 or less.
The cranks can be safely turned to .030" undersize and still be dependable in a street machine. Have the one you have turned and polished. Then protect it against the same kind of damage in the future with shceduled oil changes and a high volume pump - not high pressure - just high volume - from Melling. It is cheap insurance.
Maybe there is more to doing a stoker than I was initially led to believe. I thought you only had to do notching and things like that with extreme builds. What exactly is involved in balancing with the stoker kit? If it comes with the whole rotating assembly including flex plate and harmonic balancer, what's left to balance? Sorry I'm new to all this. As far as the crank goes, I'm not talking a polish. One of the rod bearing had a decent groove down the middle. I don't have a measurement yet on what they'd have to grind it to get the groove out, but it certainly looked over .030 to me. I'd probably replace the crank either way. I just figured if I'm buying pistons and all, why not spend a little extra on the bottom end now while I have it apart. I know I won't get the full potential out of the stroker with these heads but I can always put the GT40 heads on the motor that's in the Mav now and save up for a new set for this engine.
I guess I didn't really mention the intake side of things. I just assumed I'd be upgrading the intake and carb in this whole process as well as installing headers of some sort... that is after I figure out what to do about the automatic column linkage.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CMB-08-0035/ Summit kit shows that it costs $1391. Has Hypereutectic pistons , Does not list it as a balanced unit, does not come with flexplate and balancer (which are needed to correctly balance). So $1391 stroker kit $100 hot tank $200 to balance assembly $?? to notch bottom of cylinder walls to clear rod bolts Not such a deal now is it?
We're not talking $1700 vs $0 either. The block is getting hot tanked and potentially bored. If it gets bored I need pistons and rings. Gaskets all round and other wear and tear items like the oil pump, pushrods etc. If I go 331 are there kits that don't require skirt clearance? What's the difference between forged aluminum pistons and Hypereutectic pistons? $120 grind crank $100 hot tank $400-500 master rebuild kit with .030" pistons $200 to re-balance assembly with new pistons and ground crank
When an engine is balanced all the reciprocating parts are statically balanced and the weights used to calculate the bob-weights when they balance all the rotating parts dynamically. There are different tollerances used depending on what kind of balance you want. I always tell the machine shop that I am going to be spinning the engine to the maximum rpm - even if it is just a 5000 rpm street machine. Yep, it cost a bit more but it sure makes a happy engine. You know what they say - If your engines happy, you are happy. er, I may have that confused but it is true!
Check Flatlander Racing out, I have purchased a lot of parts from them over the years and have gotten great deals...........and you can get a complete kit that includes flexplate and balancer which is part of the rotating assembly.................and they are balanced as a unit with rings and bearings................which also need to be placed in the balancing equation when you balance a motor along with pistons and pins. And cast will be a lot cheaper than forged...............if you are going to racing a lot then forged would be the way to go, but the forged will mean you have to have more skirt clearance by .001 to .002. http://www.flatlanderracing.com/scatsr-fordsbcast.html IMHO
