383..vs..396
TECH Resident
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 814
Likes: 0
From: Champaign IL
Probably cuz he doesnt have the money to spend! LoL....j/k. Definitely not a waste of money. its more power and torque no matter how you look at it. even with stock heads, cam, intake, and exhaust it will STILL add a LITTLE more power...not much, but a little. With heads, cam, and intake....Its MORE POWER!...Never a waste....Bigger is better unless u have a vagina....Then sometimes too big hurts.LOL.
do your research when building the 396.i was gonna(still might) build one.when you talk to SCAT or who else makes the crank..they have a radiused fillet to the crank and require a chamfered bearing. that can be ordered or done by yourself. but they are not off the shelf bearings. also a stock GM production block might not work so well. heres why....
1) a 3970010,0014,0016 block doesnt have a lotta material around the pan rail before you hit the water jacket. doing the clearance for a 383 is close to hitting it. and all blocks are not created equal. the sandcast production leaves a wide variation in material deposited along the bottom of the water jacket. some blocks might be okay..some might not. its russian roulette.an after market block has more material here for strength in the webbing area, thus being better and makes it available to clearance for big strokes.
2) cam to rod clearance...this is extremely critical. a scat or equivalent rod is needed with ARP cap screw rod bolt. and even then require a fair amount of grinding to make the clearance.
be sure of what your buying and have a VERY GOOD machinist do the work. best of luck my friend. let us know how it goes.
1) a 3970010,0014,0016 block doesnt have a lotta material around the pan rail before you hit the water jacket. doing the clearance for a 383 is close to hitting it. and all blocks are not created equal. the sandcast production leaves a wide variation in material deposited along the bottom of the water jacket. some blocks might be okay..some might not. its russian roulette.an after market block has more material here for strength in the webbing area, thus being better and makes it available to clearance for big strokes.
2) cam to rod clearance...this is extremely critical. a scat or equivalent rod is needed with ARP cap screw rod bolt. and even then require a fair amount of grinding to make the clearance.
be sure of what your buying and have a VERY GOOD machinist do the work. best of luck my friend. let us know how it goes.
Like others have said the only real issue is hitting the water jacket, cost shouldn't be a deterrent. I've read in to this on camaroz28.com extensively and the cost is roughly the same. It more or less depends if you want those extra 13 cubes. If you want an assembled short block check out Victory Racing Engines and Golen Engine Service, they both make 396's and have very good reputations. I'm going with Victory, but I can't decide 383 or 396 
Last edited by zjt; Mar 24, 2008 at 02:20 PM. Reason: forgot something
My heads definitely flow very well. As far as cam, its a custom grind with a lift over .600 that Im winding up to 6500 now. The car is getting dyno tuned soon but it should put down between 380-410(a4 car so I really don't care). It's definitely a strong car as is. I was thinking of a power adder next and was tossing around the ideas of S/C, turbo, and N20. Of course nitrous would be the best for my setup, But I was going to be willing to change some things when a buddy told me he could get some good wholesale turbo parts. I'm still perplexed but I came to one conclusion: you can never go wrong with bigger cubes in any setup. I'm also on stock tranny, 10-bolt, and bottom end, and I realize Im at the limit with 400+/- whp. As far as a 383/396, I've been reading that some kits aren't forged? I'd like to knock out two birds with one stone with bigger cubes while beefing my bottom end. Is there something I'm missing? Sorry if that's a stupid question, never understood stroker kits well though.
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Verdad Gallardo 1) very heavy
2) huge counter weights( making it impossible to clearance the block with out hitting the water jacket, even though they say"it will work")
3) hard to balance(goes with item #2, direct cause.)
4) poor finish, i.e. tolerances on all journalscan vary by as much as .002
5) weak, due to poor refinery work, high carbon content making the steel brittle. just like the titanic.(thus being cheap in the first place)
6) requires matching parts from same company to work right.
7) customer support sucks. dont expect them to help you once you machine the hell outta it and 400 bucks in to balancing ,and its still wobbling like a bent pushrod.
there is a grain to steel, just like a piece of wood. it breaks easier going with the grain as opposed to against it. thats where the strength of a forged unit comes in. better quality steel+ forged unit= easier machining,balancing and assembly. giving a higher quality, longer lasting unit.
The 383 and the 396 both use the same exact bore (4.030). The difference is in the stroke.
Niether one will leave any more room than the other.