Help me build a 370. Please!
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From: Crown Point, IN
my opinion also. JE piston had an article about 4 inch stroke and longer pulling the piston skirt out of the bottom of the bore and the effects thereof. Made sense to me. And for the life of me I could not find out with all these stroker kits how much skirt was dropping too far.
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If I wanted a somewhat budget oriented torquey engine for myself:
-Factory LQ4 shortblock.
-PRC 2.5 5.3 heads or similar (~300 CFM head, 58-61cc chamber).
--61cc LQ4 = 10.4:1
--58cc LQ4 = 10.85:1 (do this one lol)
-Speed Engineering 1 7/8" headers (I believe they have G-body headers)
-Gen 4 truck intake (or Dorman LS2 if you're worried about looks/clearance)
-Camshaft similar to any one of the below (ranked from most torque to most power)
--Howards 1970375-10 (224/230 .609/.604 110+4, similar to BTR Stage 4 truck cam but will make more power and torque)
--Comp 54-457-11 (223/231 .610/.617 112+5)
--Cam Motion 03-01-0075 (227/237, .595/.587, 111+4)
Should make a stout 500/500 on a budget with the right tune.
-Factory LQ4 shortblock.
-PRC 2.5 5.3 heads or similar (~300 CFM head, 58-61cc chamber).
--61cc LQ4 = 10.4:1
--58cc LQ4 = 10.85:1 (do this one lol)
-Speed Engineering 1 7/8" headers (I believe they have G-body headers)
-Gen 4 truck intake (or Dorman LS2 if you're worried about looks/clearance)
-Camshaft similar to any one of the below (ranked from most torque to most power)
--Howards 1970375-10 (224/230 .609/.604 110+4, similar to BTR Stage 4 truck cam but will make more power and torque)
--Comp 54-457-11 (223/231 .610/.617 112+5)
--Cam Motion 03-01-0075 (227/237, .595/.587, 111+4)
Should make a stout 500/500 on a budget with the right tune.
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That would be a solid street runner in anyone's book, Joe!
Though I like the Comp grind, I would see if someone else could grind it as I wouldn't let Comp grind one for my lawnmower...
Though I like the Comp grind, I would see if someone else could grind it as I wouldn't let Comp grind one for my lawnmower...
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Look into 862 heads. With a bit of cleanup, bigger intake valves they will give you better low end torque then the 317. The smaller combustion chamber will bump your compression and give you better quench. Air velocity is what's going to make you money for low end torque. Yes you will sacrafice some top end, but, realistically who drives at 6k rpm all day long. I think chp or super chevy, one of them magazines did some testing with 862, 243 and 317 heads and i was quite impressed.
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From: Central Cal.
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From: Central Cal.
CHE or Straub. CHE is nice in that no special tools are needed as it is a full floating bushing. The Straub bushing is pressed into the rocker, but can be done at home with a vise.
I thought that’s what you were getting at. I agree with you on the trunnions deal. I have a set myself in another 6 liter build in my shop. I should check those out. Cut them some slack though. They have been cutting camshafts for thirty something years, prolly ground several hundred thousand camshafts, and no telling how many sets of valve springs along the way. So a few Internet forum issues pop up, and their name turns to mud. I’ve had many, many Comp cams and springs through the years, and I’ve never had an issue. I’ll tell you this...you won’t find much better customer service should a problem arise, from anywhere.
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From: Central Cal.
Interesting you bring up customer service. Not usually brought up here unless it's negative. Good to hear that's not always true!
I guess they had a bad run of luck with metallurgy on the trunnions and cams, plus a bad batch of springs (mostly the beehives that were breaking). Plus this all happened close to within the same period of time. And it's true you don't hear all the good reports because people usually only post here when things go wrong!
Thanks for the reply!
I guess they had a bad run of luck with metallurgy on the trunnions and cams, plus a bad batch of springs (mostly the beehives that were breaking). Plus this all happened close to within the same period of time. And it's true you don't hear all the good reports because people usually only post here when things go wrong!
Thanks for the reply!
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From: Central Cal.
If you think the lifters have a bit too much time on them, the default replacement lifter nowadays IS the LS7 lifter. They're not expansive for what they are, and will get the job done in a mild setup.
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They only have 70k miles on them. I am going to clean them up and get them under a magnifier for inspection but don't know if that's the correct way to diagnose
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From: Crown Point, IN