1bad72

Since I'm the king of over planning I'm looking for your opinion. I pulled my engine apart and found #2, 6, & 8 rods spun and #4 main spun. My engine builder said I might consider older stock rods with more meat on the big end. All and all for the damage nothing spun really bad. Jegs has a Eagle 355 cast kit for 680.00. I know not many on this site like eagle but don't know why. (I have a 600+ hp 355 in my 72 camaro with a eagle kit and it has 200+ mid 10sec passes on it.) If you've had a bad experiance let me know. The cars a daily driver of sorts and moneys a little snug (as it is for most of us).

I plan on puting a hot cam in the engine and I'm getting ready to do some head work which brings me to the bigger question. How much head work should I do to the stock heads? Is there too much? I have done head work in the past and dont have the money to ship this out right now, but I do have time and patients. My plan was to do Bowl blending, Gasket matching, and clean/smooth the intake and exhaust runners. what do you all think?

Thanks
Danny

Any sugestions are appreciated, and pictures would be great too.

97Z28SS

iTrader: (5)

I say go for it, I ported my own heads and I'm happy with the results. As far as the Eagle stuff it's only their cranks which are suspect ( usually need to be ground because the journals are out of round) their rods are fine. Lastly is your stock crank ok, if not then why not get a stroker kit with the Scat 9000 crank, Scat Pro Comp I beam rods and a good forged ft piston and build a 383?

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

Your whole reply tells me your knowledge base is stuck decades in the past as well as your machinist and that this wuill prevent you from doing much right.

The Eagle cast cranks are weaker than stock, and Eagles QC seems to have gone downhill over the years, so what worked sometime in the past might not today.

"older rods" are going to be weaker if they are OEM, if he means "pink" then they might be close to the strenght of the PM rods a 95 should have had, but are no stronger and my understanding is that when they fail they come apart as opposed to deforming like the PM rods.

Stock heads can be worked well enough to take 3400lbs to 9.88 NA, or they can be screwed up by someone not knowing what they are doing. Gasket matching without proper port work makes a wide spot in the middle of the combine intake manifold/head port and will screw up airflow more than help it.

The stock pistons are reasonably light for what they are and hypereutectic with thin rings so it is easy to buy aftermarket stuff that is a step backwards there too.

When I was in your position I went and bought a junkyard motor for $500 and that is what I would do again. I would not start a shortblock build without at least $4K to put towards the shortblock not including topend.

1bad72

Considering my engine guys one of the most well respected in the northwest your reply dosen't hold much water, and if I were going to sell the car a junkyard engine would be a good route but I'm not. My stock crank isn't horrible so if the eagle kits are not up to par then I'll reuse my old one. The only concern I had on the rods were the fact it spun 3 rods the first time I really beat on the car, but after pulling the oil pan off It dosen't suprise me.
How much work did you do to your heads 97Z28SS?

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

Being respected does NOT mean being up to date. Lots of guys get to a certain level and stop learning.

The powdered metal rods your car should have come with are better than what came before them. 94 and earlier LT1 often have "pink" rods which WERE the OEM best from the early 70s on up.

GMPP sells the PM rods as good for 500hp without any additional work.

monster81

imo there isnt much to shave off the stock heads, just clean the ruff surface of the intake and exhaust ports, gasket match them and then finally polish the ports..thats all

Bersaglieri

iTrader: (13)

Wow, I'm going to take a step in a new direction and agree with most of what 96capricemgr has to say. 1bad72, your going to have to swallow your pride and start listening to people who have been there. Your engine guy might be the "cats meow" of older motors but I heard similar suggestions from local shops in my area. Thank Alla that I know enough not to take their suggestions. Guy 2 days ago argued with me that I had an aluminum block, another one said I should upgrade to aluminum heads

Listen, your right about one thing, the stock crank is pretty good. The stock rods are some of the best GM made, but if you want the bottom end to hold you need to look into quality Rods and Pistons or else just have everything re-sized, checked, and put back in. Head work I would leave to professionals. I had a buddy of mine get red in the face for a week because I did a cam swap without home porting my heads.

Take some advice from this site, some guys actually know what they are talking about.

-Dustin-

1bad72

My only question about the Eagle products were due to the fact I found a complete balanced rotating assembly with rings and bearings for around $700. I'm happy with my other engine which is 9 years old so wasn't clear why everyone was stearing clear of them. I do agree a new guy could raise hell with there moter by taking a dremal to it, I was on the same page with monster81 and just want to "clean" everything up. My engine guy was refering to the pink rods GM offered in the 70's and I was the one who wanted to change them due to the 3 spun rods. Though a 383 would be nice I don't really think its a good route for me. I dont plan on racing the car much its just a fun street car. If a want to go real fast I have other options. Thanks for the info.

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

GM started building the LT1s with pink rods and changed to the powdered metal. Then tweaked the PM rod for the LT4. They are good but "different" and therefore not liked by old school guys.

1bad72

I've never seen a engine spin rods and mains and not knock, or loose oil presure. Reguardless I dont want to have to pull this engine out agian.