Im considering going with a 416 or 427 ls3 stroker for my next motor very soon. My car is a true daily driver, around 300-500 miles a week. Any problems with longevity with strokers? oil changes are done at 3k.

 

A well built motor is a well built motor. A stroker done right like any good motor will run 100k miles or more. A motor raced all day at every stop light will not last as long(seen dumb *** do that) you will be fine.

 

Thank the heavens above......finally someone that knows how a motor lasts a very long time.

3,000 mile oil changes. All I've been using on my 427ci is the cheapest crap non-synthetic oil available off the shelf. Its all an engine needs.

My T/A has been my daily driver since April 1998. Got the 427ci put in in 2002. It now has over 130,000 miles on it and its running perfect, never had a repair of any kind internally. Just basic crap.

If its built right.....it'll last 150,000 miles.....easily.

The only thing to expect after about 80,000 miles with a stroker engine....like I started to experience....is you will start to burn a little more oil because of ring wear and possibly depending on your stroke the cylinders will come out of round. Other than that, it should keep running strong and perfectly.

.

 

That's good to hear, since i heard somewhere that strokers last alot less time then normal motors and that worried me. I put 32k miles on my car this year as it is driven all year around including winter. And i would hope after shelling out change for a forged 416/427 stroker i wouldnt have to be doing a rebuild in 2-3 years.

 

strokers are great because radical setups are soaked up by the cubes and you don't need to rev them which reduces wear! although the different rod length to stroke ratio increases the lateral forces on the cylinder walls causing ovulation. typical situation with pontiac 455ci and are good for about 150,000miles but their long rods helps. im sure you will have many years before running into this problem. but again not having to rev it will reduce wear.

 

IMHO: I'd stay with a 4 inch stroke. Longer strokes mean the pistons have less support at BDC. My "off the shelf" 403 showed considerable piston and cylinder wear at 15k street miles and had a pretty bad leak-down test. I'm having VA Speed build a Darton sleeved LS2 block 427 right now. Still with a 4 insh stroke. The Darton sleeves are much stronger than stock and will hold their shape many times longer than the stock sleeves.

Lesson here - use a really good engine builder. There are a "few" of them around and Shawn at VA Speed is one of the best.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...us-plan-b.html

 

The way I see it, if you build a forged engine, and of course by a VERY GOOD builder, look what you'll be doing with it. Daily driving. You'll be doing what I'm doing......street driving. Street driving is so easy on a built motor, its very tough to stress out an engine on the street. Tires will blow off before anything else. I'm VERY hard on my car too, it sees 170mph a couple times every week and a ton of hard accelerations. People that buy forged engines and take them to the track and launch them on slicks/drags every week at 5,000 rpm, well there's no way their engines will last as long as a guy with the identical engine that is just driven on the street. I've seen it dozens of times with friends and people from car shows over the years....I know NOBODY that drag races that has had a 402,408, 416, 427, etc...with an engine that has lasted more than about 30,000-50,000 miles where signs of trouble didn't start. A daily driver engine built properly should literally outlast your car. IF you take care of it with close interval oil changes.

Also, do what the last two guys above said....do a short stroke, then you might never see the oil burning I had at around 80,000 miles. Its not bad, but it sucks to have to add a qrt sometimes.

4" stroke is best, because today with the new sleeves you can make up the cubes with bore. You can easily go to 4.185" bore (N/A only) with a 4" stroke and you'll have a nasty 440ci. Or, what I would recommend, 4" stroke x 4.155" bore for a 434ci and have room for a rebuild and some nitrous if you please. Or if all you want is a 427ci, 4" x 4.125" and have room for a few rebuilds.

And don't go beating yourself up about oil....unless you're having a high-revving, specific tolerance, purpose built race engine built...it DOES NOT matter what oil you use. 3,000 mile changes, especially for a daily driver is the KEY to longevity.

Just get it built by a good builder. And another thing you really should do...get it built, installed and tuned by the same shop so you can get a warranty. Some shops, if everything is done by them...will give you a 2 yr/24,000 mile full warranty...N/A. If you get a warranty, use whatever oil they tell you to use.

.