383 stroker kits

[phat46]

I'm about to pull the trigger and a stroker kit. I am hearing all kinds of difference opinions on them locally, both pro and con. It seems like Scat and Eagle are the common, affordable go to's. What's your opinion on these? And what are the pros and cons on rod lengths? This is just going to be a nice street engine, not radical, I already have the aluminum heads and cam.

[chimp koose]

I have seen better from scat than eagle . I once bought a new eagle crank for a 350 ,and the balancer just pushed on . Also the counterweights did not quite clear the piston skirts . I had to do rework of a stock motor to fit a stock replacement crank . We had scat components in a stroker big block ford that were rated for 900HP . we put well over 1000HP to the ground with that stuff going 8's ET@ 155+MPH with a 3700lb race weight ....on nitrous. We once split a block cam to mains at the big end with no damage to the rotator . That combo ran for years .

[chimp koose]

For the rod length there is actually an advantage to the shorter rods in something that does not see higher revs . A short rod motor has the piston moving away from TDC sooner/faster than a long rod motor. Less dwell at TDC also means less chance of detonation. The 5.565" (stock 400)rod will have no rod to cam clearance issues ,the 5.7" will on 3 or 4 rods . A short rod motor tends to make similar torque at a lower rpm than a long rod , all else being the same . If this was a street duty motor I would not get too concerned about sticking a long rod in it . My question , why not just build a 400?

[phat46]

For the rod length there is actually an advantage to the shorter rods in something that does not see higher revs . A short rod motor has the piston moving away from TDC sooner/faster than a long rod motor. Less dwell at TDC also means less chance of detonation. The 5.565" (stock 400)rod will have no rod to cam clearance issues ,the 5.7" will on 3 or 4 rods . A short rod motor tends to make similar torque at a lower rpm than a long rod , all else being the same . If this was a street duty motor I would not get too concerned about sticking a long rod in it . My question , why not just build a 400?

Always wanted to build the 383, and...I got a four bolt main block for free.

[kb426]

I'm a Scat fan. I've been involved with 3 of them. The tolerances were good and the overall machining is nice. I agree with C. K. on the shorter rod deal. Unless there is a rod angle situation, I would use the rod the offers the most benefits for the price. The Scat rods were always in size, also. I had h and I beams, both. Anymore, I would use hypereutectic pistons but I'd open up the top and 2nd ring end gap some. I like the tighter clearances they allow. I have read that one of the causes of failure of them is too tight of ring end gap. When hot rodded, the rings butt and cause the piston to fail.

[chimp koose]

Hyperukranian pistons and nitrous is not so good , especially when the rings are not gapped for it  .