Starting with a fully functional 96 LT1 350 still in a car (ie, bone stock, and if I walked out right now with the keys, it's smooth running and driving), what needs to be done to make a smooth, reliable 383 stroker? Spending as little as possible, what are the parts I need to put together? The car will NEVER see nitrous, and may one day see boost, but doubtful any more than 6-8 PSI. I'm looking to build it into a motor that will be good for 100,000 miles easily.

 

Soild internals (i.e forged if you can afford it). A good rotating assembly, a good oil/lubrication systen, a lack of a lead-foot, strong gaskets, well built seals, a good block (re-sleave it?). Thats a good start hehe. Although, since you won't nitrious, some of the internals might not need to be forged.

-Todd

 

so how much of my original motor would I be looking at getting to keep?

 

Your goals are really unrealistic, I dont think you have a good grasp about how much its going to cost. To build a 383 out of scratch for what you want to do is going to cost some were between 4-6K depends on internals and what heads. The only thing from your stock motor will be the block, which will eb sent to a machine shop to be clearnced for the 3.75 stroke crank and bored .030 over. If you kept the heads, then the bare casting will be sent to a head porter and you'll get thos eback. Then your intake manifolds going to get ported. 100K out of a stroker blower motor is a tall order espically since your putting a blower on it. The more you skimp out on parts, shittier the motors going to be. I can tell you may just be starting out, but to turn a stock car in to what you trying to do, with blower, with the motor built, with the suspension, with a rear and so on, your easily going to spend close to 20K doing all this stuff. Theres no one day see boost, either it is or it isnt, if you build it for a blower its going to need to be low compresion, if you dont have a blower on a low compresion motor its going to run like dog **** just on motor. I cant see the motor lasting 100K miles either, **** breaks. I could go on more, but you really need to just go to one of these shoot outs they, or even our local drag strip and see how much time and work it takes. You go the cheap route, your going to have a cheap motor. Setting up a car costs money.

 

I actually am totally familiar with the kinds of costs it involves. My previous car was another Cadillac with the Northstar motor, and about 7k in it. Pushing about 350 horse on motor, 430 on nitrous. That car ended because of major wreck, and the motor was damaged too.
The car isn't a dedicated drag car, or race car, or anything specific. It's not going to be raced everytime it's run. It's a daily driver, and actually pretty gently driven no less. Now, if a 383 stroker motor can't be built to last under gentle driving conditions, there's a problem. Yes, I know things break. I expect minor things to break. But if I snap a rod, launch a piston, lift a head, etc, every 10,000 miles, it's not going to be worth my time.
As for the blower, part of the reason I was looking at low boost is to put less strain on it. If you design something to tolerate 10 lbs of boost, but only run 6 lbs, you've managed to give yourself a bit of breathing space by building it right.
Since I figured on basing this from an LT1, and the motor is similar in a lot of ways to an LT1, I was hoping to get one of the perks of the LT1, which is long life. That's part of why the cops were running LT1's for years. I know things like the optispark will go, and alternators, pumps of all sorts, etc will quit now and again. I'm looking to build a motor that's not going to need to be rebuilt every year.
As for cheap, I don't want to buy a blown and built motor at 15-20k. I'd like to build one as far as I can for under 5k. If it's blown, I can expect more, yes I'm aware.
Rear end and suspension? Ok, rear end I know, but the suspension isn't going to be needed anytime soon. The car isn't here to be a drag car, so not looking for specialty suspension to hold the back tires down. Nor am I looking to handle well. The car's a boat, and I know it.
I just want more power to get it moving quicker. Because of the size of the car, I need to get up to 400+ horses, and manage to keep the low end torque of the LT1.
As for why am I here asking about a 383 stroker? I havent gotten to build with a pushrod motor, so I'm getting information before I get into the project. My previous project was a DOHC V8. A major pain in the a$$ if anyone has plans. The things I know about the permformance of a pushrod is among the more general things, such as great low end normally, but typically panting up top. A lot of internal mass to deal with, robbing a lot of power. And bleh, 3:30 am is not the time to go into it all. Bizz, my point is, don't assume I have no idea what I'm getting into. I may be new to working on my own LT1, but doesnt mean I've never been under a hood before.

 

your goals are perfectly resonable. will it last a 100k i dont know, but to build a motor with reliability in mind is perfectly fine. get some good ported LT1 heads. dont bother porting the intake thats a waste for you. it will handle a 52mm TB in stock form. if you want it port matched to the heads and can have it done cheap do it. aside from that just leave it. get a good crank preferrebly forged. get some hypereutetic pistons or forged if the price is right. if you think at all that a blower will be on it get forged. your stock rods will work. so will the two bolt mains. but getting better rods isnt a bad idea. over building never is a bad idea, but it is often not necessary. headers will be needed. a TC will prolly be needed. the cam will have to be custom and you will have to talk with either a very good shop or the head porter. youll want to maximize torque more so than horsepower. the horsepower will be there, but for instance you wouldnt want 400+ hp and only 350 ftlbs of torque. youve got a barge to get moving. this should work well for you and not cost an arm and a leg and last if put together right. dont forget to have everything balanced and a new harmonic put on.

 

Doing a 383 over a 355 isn't going to be that big of a difference unless you run GOOD heads. Power isn't made in the bottem end, its made mostly in the head selection and cam selection. There are plenty of places for a 383 shortblock to be purchased then you can have your heads ported and get a cam matched to them. I highly recommend Lloyd Elliot for a heads/cam package. Do a search on cz28.com for more info on the heads/cam/shortblock, its been discussed many times.