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383 Stroker with Blower????

20K views 19 replies 7 participants last post by  Junkyard Dawg 
#1 ·
About 6 years back my father purchased a beat to death corvette, that was an ex drag car. One word of advice, don't buy ex drag cars. In place of the old BBC on his 72 Vette was a GM Goodwrench 350.

Over the years he restored the car, top to bottom. It has gone from a drag car, to a street car, to a crazy street car. Unfortuntely the old Goodwrench 350 didn't hold up to well after all the top end performance work and lots of $$ spent.

Just wanted to get some opinions on what direction to go in with this project. We would like to do this project together... I feel I have the basic experience I need (2 years of college [automotive], 30K later I owe him an engine).

Currently the car is setup with:

The original Drag Racing Suspension from 6 years ago
3.73 Rear
Mad Dogg High Performance 700R4
2800 TCI Converter

The parts of the engine we would like to Reuse:

Holley 750 Double Pumper
HEI Distributor
MSD 6AL Ignition
B&M 144 Powercharger (blower) with underdrive pulley
Edelbrock water pump
Brand New Scorpion Roller Rockers
Original 4 Bolt 350 block (will be bored .30 over and cleaned up)

I'm not really sure which direction to go in with this project. It has to be somewhat Streetable. There is never too much horsepower, and never enough torque. We were considering a stroker kit of some sort topped off with the 144 blower????

Interested on hearing your opinions about the direction of the project?
Whats popular?

Dan
 
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#2 ·
I don't think that small of a blower is ideal for a stroker. It probably won't feed the air needed at high rpm. It will however make huge off idle torque. I think the limit on that blower would be about 500hp and 5000rpm. And that would be highly overdriven and need good gas. You could build a 383 to 500hp by itself. The 177 size is the smallest i would put on a 383 and thats actually what i plan to do once this motor lets go. I think it would be fine to run the 144 on a street motor but I think it would be kinda pointless on a race motor,you would be better off selling the blower and getting a real nice nitrous setup for the best power for $$$. Or upgrade to a bigger blower like a 6-71.
 
#3 ·
It will however make huge off idle torque. I think the limit on that blower would be about 500hp and 5000rpm.
You could build a 383 to 500hp by itself.
We played with the idea of possibly selling the 144, and using the $$ towards the new motor. The 671 is a consideration, but of course as always, budget would become a problem. I thought it would be nice to keep the blower because of the current setup of the vehicle. I will have to post some pictures so you can get an idea about what I am talking about.

I've heard of slow blower cars before.... cars that don't make huge performance gains based on the addition of a blower.
Correct me if I am wrong, it’s been awhile since I've been able to play with anything other then a Toyota. (I hate toyotas)

383,.... long stoke small bore..... will make bigger low end torque then the 350. Displacement is larger also, so more hp. Now your saying with good heads and cam, you can make 500 horsepower up to 5000RPM easy with just a stroker: Natrually Aspirated. Now, even though the 144 blower will not displace enough air to rev the motor past 5000 RPM, won't it still make a substantial difference when it comes to adding to bottom end torque. How is it that it will breath naturally just fine, but with the addition of the 144, its choked? Meanwhile, its a 383,.... would you even want to rev a 383 past 5500-6000RPM?
I think what I should be asking is what is better for drag racing, light to light or track... being able to rev to 7-8000RPM or having the power band closer to 3000 to 5000 RPM?

Sorry if this sounds a little distorted, it’s been a while since I have studied this stuff.

Dan
 
#4 ·
How much boost were you able to get with the blower on the old 350? On a 383 you would have proportionally less boost with the same setup.
Don't choke the inlet side of the blower with a small carb if going to 383.
If budget is a concern, I would keep the blower and add an HP main body to the carb. Port match the intake to the heads and maybe port the plenum of the intkae a bit - just radius off any sharp edges and knock off any casting flash.
Get a cam that is specifically for a blown engine and put a really good exhaust system on it.
 
#5 ·
How much boost were you able to get with the blower on the old 350? On a 383 you would have proportionally less boost with the same setup.
put a really good exhaust system on it.
How much boost.... good question,.. Ill have to give him a call and find out. As for the exhaust, its got hooker competition side pipes, which are good flowing for the application. The carb can go; I figured with the bigger displacment + blower, the carb would have to be upgraded. The 144 comes with its own blower manifold. I have yet to decided on a set of heads, I am just looking for some ideas at this point, but if I go with cast iron I will get both the intake and the heads ported and polished, with a valve job.


Dan
 
#7 ·
Motorhead,

You make a few very valid points. That’s the way I look at the 144, as a 100 shot of nitrous low end. The only thing that got me a little bit was when you said that it "won't feed the air needed at high RPM." Not to reiterate what you previously said, but you stated that a good 383 could rev to 8K. First off I personally have had the BBC in my car all my life and that revved out at 5500. Or at least that’s as far as I pushed it. I actually posted in the performance section a question about bore v. stroke and the benefits of being able to revv an engine that high (8K). I'm still not sure with the SBC if I need to build something that will rev that high,... maybe you could clarify what I need this engine to do to run good 1/4 times??? On the other hand,... the added low end toque sounds real good with the 144 blower, and considering I already own it, it’s a quick bolt on setup for me to use as "like a 100 shot of nitrous." That’s why I am looking to build the 383 for more power, think of the 144 as a nice power shot on top of the 383. Where most people build their engines around a certain feature (blower, turbo, nitrous) I am looking to build a 383.... and then add a little. What I need to to clarify is if I do decided to revv this thing to 8000RPM, will it be detrimental to the engine to have the 144 on, or will it just make no difference on top end power. I can deal with it not adding power to the upper RPM band, I just don't want it to take anything away. (air gets hotter I lose power?)

Thanks alot for all the advice,... I need a refresh on the basics I've learned,

Dan
 
#8 ·
The supercharger itself could feed the air but it wouldn't be efficiant(hot air),so it wouldn't make power,and worse would cause detonation. Compression ratio is also somthing to think about. The compression ratio on a N/A motor would be a lot higher than a engine built for boost. It really depends how fast you want to go,if you want to run pump gas,and how much money you have. If you are happy with a low 12,high 11 second car then I think you could reach that goal quite easily with the 144. If you are talkin 10's or faster,you should get a different blower,or run n20. I don't want to recomend this to anybody but I plan on running some nitrous on top of my blower if i feel i need more power,once the blower is fully rung out.:beers:
 
#10 ·
Those articles were very helpful. Seems that you know what your talking about; most of what you said was in line with what I read. We have a few things to consider. 500HP with the 144 on 93 octane possible with a octane booster is not bad all things considered, but I see that if you want to make more power, detontation will increase with higher CR, lower octane, and more psi.

Now if I decided to go with a straight up stroker, 383 or larger SBC, what RPM range would be most suitable for 1/4 drag racing. (A question this stupid comes from Small block in experience,... Everyone should own a BB)

Thanks motor,

Dan
 
#16 ·
I"ve got a 6/71 on my 383 & am not all that pleased with it.The set up is
8.5/1 static,dart pro 1 alum.heads 200/72 12% underdrive for 12-1 max comp.
forged everything,2 holley 600 blwr.carbs,1 3/4 headers.
Using my g-tech,1/4 time was 12.8,this in a 64 chevelle so only 9" tire.

Next i"ll try a boost master timer & spin the blower faster,like even.
 
#20 ·
How so?

My dad bought an ex drag car just before the previous owner was going to tub it, (previous owner ended up finding a '65 Nova to tub instead) and restored it back to original.

I think his biggest challenges were fixing all the rust holes the car had.
 
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