OK, so the car had been injured and sitting up for a few weeks and I finally built up the energy and time to pull the motor out this past weekend. Well, turns out I had 3 broken pushrods (the ball end broke off rocker side), and a few that looked like they weren't far away from breaking. My builder thinks this is caused from valve float from revving too high (at one point I was shifting at 5800, but my rev limiter was never set higher than 6200). He is recommending since I don't have a ton of cash right now, just to get new pushrods and shift no higher than 5000 rpm.

You can see my basic mods in my sig, but what you don't see and what's hard to admit is that this was a budget 383 build. My uncle/buider ported my heads, but as far as valvetrain goes, we didn't spend a whole lot of money. The springs were like $40 with his discount. He said "don't let the price fool you, it's the same springs the stock eliminater guys are running 10s and 11s with", but I'm skeptical cuz it looks like a decent set should run close to $200. And he wouldn't let me go with 1.6rr and still doesn't suggest it for some reason, even though I see everyone on this forum runs 1.6rr. Why would 1.6rr cause damage? What's the disadvantage? The CC305 is only .510 lift with 1.5rr. It's not like we're near the .600s is we go 1.6rr. Anything special needed to run 1.6?

I'm just looking for other advice on where to go from here. Should I just get some hardened pushrods and throw the motor back in and try to keep the rpms' down or should I invest in the valvetrain? The CC305 cam is designed for a 350 and we really can't get any info on anybody running it on a 383, but it's supposed to make power to 5500. What do I need to spin to 6000, and not have to tear the motor back down every 3 months?

Leak down and compression tests were good and he's checking the bottom end bearings today, so everything should be good with the bottom end.

 

You need to burn that combo. Its no faster than a MILD bolt on only car.

My suggestion is to throw the heads cam and valve train away, get some heads from a reputable source, and let them recommend the accompanying cam and valve train.

What kind if pistons, brand, valve relief, material?

 

It was never a happy motor, I hadn't had it tuned professionally the 1st time at the track and it was knocking when I ran it the 2nd time, so I think the combo has more potential than my numbers are showing. We calculated it to be about 60-80hp shy of where it should be. I agree, I wish I could start over and one day I will but for now I'd rather have it running 13's than sitting in the garage.

As far as the pistons, they are the Sealed Power, nothing special, not forged. I don't know the info on them, but I have the receipt with the part number. I just know they're designed to run on 383 w/ stock heads and retain about 10:1CR.

Original intentions were just street cruising, but you know how it is, once you get the motor in you gotta take it to the track. That's why he recommended we stay around stock CR, run pump gas, mild cam, etc etc. Now I'm just wanting more, but I don't have the coin.

Why throw the heads away? I've see a lot of pictures of port jobs, and tho it's not CNC, it's about as good as it gets with hand porting stock heads.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-1417-16/?rtype=10 <-My Rocker Arms.

I'd still like some opinions on why the pushrods broke. Will hardened pushrods fix this, or do I need better springs too?

 

The push rods broke because of an inadequate valvetrain. Simple as that.

Get some good springs and rockers, and verify all the valvetrain geometry is correct.

 

Whats the part number on the springs?

Even though your cam is not very aggressive, you can never skimp on the springs. Your rocker arms are fine, just make sure everything is healthy and get some new PRs and springs to go from there.

 

I have all the part numbers at home, I can post this evening. Another thing my uncle said when I wanted to upgrade springs is that the stock heads can only handle so much and he told me why, but I can't interpret that language. I know the basics, but when he starts talking about why you can't do this or why you have to do that, it goes over my head.

The shittiest part is that if I argue with him too much on this stuff, he won't help me and he does all my machine work for free, so all my suggestions and everything I've learned from listening to you guys on here gets thrown out the window. In his defense, he's been running a machine shop for over 20 years and has several repeat customers and could stay busy 7 days a week if he wanted to, so he must be doing something right. He doesn't race anymore, but he sure is a part of winning races and helping his customers.

 

Sounds like your uncle is old school and not up on current tech. Hell your machining is done Start building it the way you want it now.

 

Any suggestions on what springs to get?

I was looking at patriot gold 8401, but it says for LS series. The 8401-BSBC is for LTX, but Summit can't ship them until May 13.

 

You need to take your uncles opinions and toss them out; I have a uncle that is the same way. My uncle is telling me my le1 heads are no good for the street and I cant run 11:7:1 compression and my car will have a hard time running 12s with the new motor. These old guys know some stuff but not half as much as they think they do about the lt1s in our cars. PAC 1218 or 1220 springs will work. Buy some NSA comp promag 1.6rr and a set of Trick Flow Chromemoly Pushrods; you need to measure the pushrod length.

 

There's no denying he's old school, but he works on a lot of late model stuff too, but just the machine work. He just did some work on a Gen 5 with a Hennessey blower that put down close to 1000rwhp. But then again, he's not choosing what components that go into it.

Here's my pistons - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/STL-H859CP30/

I can't find any info on the valve springs but here's what the receipt says:

FAL VS9005-16 - VLV Springs 1.260 OD 13091.800, 35091.200 $38.25

FAL is the manufacturer, anyone have an idea on the full name?

 

I suggest getting a parts list from here, purchase parts. If he is doing the install just take them to him and get it done. Then go to the track, bring him back a slip proving stuff works!

 

Falcon VS9005 springs, 130#@1.8", 350#@1.2"

 

I can't find any company named Falcon that make valve springs. So what do you guys think of these springs based on the specs?

 

I had a stock lt1 with the hot cam and weak lt4 springs, I never floated my valves shifting at 6200rpms; something is not right. Did you measure the pushrod length? Was the block decked, were the heads milled and what head gasket are you using? And change that darn converter as soon as you save up some cash. http://www.biggrizzly.com/Lloyd_words.html

 

The block was decked and the heads were milled, but no more than .008" each. The cam is a small base circle cam. I personally didn't measure the pushrods, my uncle assembled everything. I remember him saying during the build that he had to find the right size push rods, but I didn't have to buy any, so he probably found some he had laying around. I know that sounds bad, but he has customers that throw money away when they build they're motors and they don't reuse anything when the motor gets broken down. I didn't have to buy connecting rods either because he had a nice set of Lunati's that looked like they were never used. He knows how to set up a motor, so I doubt he just threw in pushrods without measuring.

Trust me, I have a want list and converter is near the top, but it's not required with this small of a cam and I don't want to get a cheap one, so I'm gonna have to wait til I have $1k to spend. I wish I could just sell it all and start over, but it's not really an option for me right now.

 

A good converter is not 1k, and a shelf CC305 is not small base circle.

 

I haven't seen any under $850. I searched yesterday and looked at Yank, Circle D and a couple others.

My cam part number is 07-000-8, Spcl Grind Crankshaft, according to the receipt. It's the exact specs of a CC305 though so I don't claim to have a "custom grind". I had to wait several weeks for that cam, because between my Uncle and the Engine Parts Warehouse, someone decided I needed a small base circle cam. I didn't question it.

 

Yes the better converters are not cheap; I went with a edge racing converter $550, but he supposedly did a few upgrades to it. I do not have the car running yet, but a lot of guys have told me they are good converters and mine is supposed to be better than the base street edge converter. But for a extra couple hundred you will get a nice yank converter. I would personally check the pushrod length to be sure it is correct; ask him what size pushrods were in the motor.

 

Easier said than done!

Anybody know anything about these? Do the specs look good?

I'm going to make sure the pushrods are correct this time, now that I know how to test for the right length. My uncle does this all day everyday for many years and I think after you measure pushrods for the 1000th time, you probably start feeling confident that you can eyeball it. That's where experience can sometime hurt you when you get over confident. Let me know how that Edge converter works out, I saw your thread in the auto tranny section where you had some install problems.

 

I will let you know how I like or dislike the stall; I should have it up and running this weekend. I just wanted to be 100% sure the stall was in correctly; If you do pick up a stall, be sure to take your time and measure everything during your install. Yes sometimes too much experience can cause problems; especially in the electricity field, its always the guys with the most experience that get zapped.