My buddy is wanting to build an engine using a tall deck block, and he keeps quizzing me about some stuff...so I came here! The limited knowledge I have of them comes from stealing the cranks out of the tall deack 366/427s because it's a forged unit. I'm basically looking for anyone that's built up a tall deck before, and tips on doing so.

Anyway, he's basically wanting a big cube unit, and I told him that I *thought* the tall decks were a good place to start because they could take a pretty salty bore and could take some grinding for a big crank...is that close? Also, I think most guys go with 454 pistons and a long rod to make up the height difference? How hard is it to find performance intakes for the tall decks? Anything to look out for?

Rob;

I am currently building a "tall deck" 598 cube engine. I don't have all the answers, but I do have a few.

First of all, "tall deck" comes in a number of dimensions. Let's assume (ya, ya,I know) that you are talking about a 10.200 deck. First thing is do you want a raised cam or not. you can get more stroker crank into a raised cam block.

A lot of the intakes you would want to put on this engine do come in tall deck versions, but you can also find spacers if you can't find the intake you want. I went with the spacers because I have a very expensive sheet metal tunnel ram, and don't have the bucks to replace it.

The other thing to think about is the headers. If they fit close before, they are going to fit even closer now.

Weight is another factor. If you go with an premium block, like Merlin, it will weigh more than a standard GM block, and you may need to re-scale the car.

Oh, another thing. You will need a longer distributor. And guess what. For what ever reason, things for a tall deck cost more than the standard deck versions.

Rods and Pistons you can get just about anywhere, as long as you do the math correctly.

I just OD-ed on "Dave's Ultimate Insanity" hot sauce, so my brain is a little fried, but you should read up on rod length theory. I think the longer the rod, the less lateral force on the cylinders, but you will need to check me on that.

Anyway, good luck to your buddy. Hope he builds a "killa Monstor". Hell, hope I build one.

Ken Gasbarri

Rob I've played around a bit with the 427 tall deck blocks. I put a 4.25 stroker in mine with Lunati Pro-Mod rods and there is quite a bit of grinding to do. I think it would be excessive if you went with Aluminum rods but you might get just a bit more stroke in it with steel. Watch your bob weights with those long heavy rods and make sure the crank you get can work with it without adding metal.

Hey guys,

I was reading your thoughts and was interested in them and I have some q's also if someone can answer them as well.

I am doing a 496 over the winter and have read much into this build up and what final outcome do you have for this block, high rpm's or low rpm's? Ultimetly this will determine rod type, block type and the rest will fall into place.
If you are racing it, and can afford it, make it a big bore and short stroke, look @ pro stock NHRA style, 3.76 stroke and sometimes shorter, but the bore is 4.60 plus????? Thats the size of an elaphant foot :eek:

If you want freight train torque, like me, a medium bore with lots of stroke will leverage any car to pick the front end up with the right cam & head selection also.

If your buddy has the cash to spend, get good rods and pay good cash for them, they will say him disaster in the future, also, this cu. in. likes to breath so feed it lots of head flow and restrick the carb/intakespacer/manifold air flow as to create a hugh wind storm going thru a small hole, velocity is the key to the engines, the faster to feed them the faster they run but you have to fill them up equally with fuel & air.
I would think anything above a 950 cfm would be in order as my new machinist from Waterford, Mi. said, you got to let them breath to make power, PERIOD, so I said ok smile.gif
This company by the way, cuts most if not almost all of the cams for pro stock engine builders and use cv products for valve springs to keep those 9000 rpm 500 in. motors alive. The name is LSM Motorsports. Not uncommon to walk into the back door to drop off or pickup and see 100 or more blank billet cams ready for cutting per team specs @ $3000. a pop, no that's what I call paying for power with lift from 1.200-1.300. That's over an inch of lift @ the valve :eek:

I have spacers and I plan on The Dart Pro 1's with at least 340cfm intake flow, 355 is better and about the same pricing, and they will cut a roller cam for me, I am shooting for 900hp from this company and after the cam bores get cuy for roller bearings for the cam to ride on, I am sure he has more tricks up his sleeve. Ok, enough yappin.
Thanks guys.
John G.
O/C 9900

PS don't forget to buy enough clearance in the oil pan department, a stroker pan is a must and buy the MSD distributor with the adjustable deck heioght collar for the correct cam gear contact. Everything goes higher in price, just like the deck does, 9.8 to 10.2, graemlins/hurray.gif

Hey Rob,
I built a tall-deck simply because it literally fell into my lap at a price I couldn't refuse. I bought a complete 427 running for $150. I didn't stroke mine yet, saving that for the next buildup, but I did use the 6.535" rods and standard 427, or 454 pistons. Im using a weiand team g intake built for tall decks and also allows the use of a standard distributor. I was under the belief that most of these blocks do not need clearancing for a 4.25" stroke, but some may. Watch out for chassis clearance, had to clearance my headers in a couple places to fit in my 67. Good luck with it.