A good friend of mine was very attached to an 68 Chevy farm truck he had owned since 1971.The truck had rusted away in all areas and had became unsafe.The 307 motor was untouched and still ran decent and was offered to me for free.I know the 307 doesnt get much respect but I wanted to do something with it because my friend had reached out to help me several times through a very bitter divorce. I tried to think of a way to build something different on a very limited budget.I bored the block 30 over,had a 305 crank ground down to clear the block and used 400 rods.I balanced the motor externally because of the cost of heavy metal that needed to be added to the crankshaft.I did have to deck the block to get some compression but could have used high dollar pistons to save on machining cost.I spent $64.00 on some NOS Badger pistons instead.I am not an engine builder and had not built an engine for 25 years.I had a few snags and some delays but it is done and it runs.I now have a 333 small block Chevy.I could have bought a new GM crate motor for what I have spent but where is the fun in that.I only have a couple miles on the engine because I cant afford exhaust yet but my first impressions are very good.It seems very crisp and lit the tires with ease in a non Hamb friendly 78 Chevy shortbed lowrider.My truck doesnt belong in here but the engine could be used in anything.Sorry the post is so long but after 2 years of scrimping I am just a little proud of myself.Thanks for letting me post and for enjoying all the cool shit that goes on here.Chris
Thats what hot rodding is really all about isnt it - using what you got and making the best of it? 333 inches just sounds cool too!
Not to rain on your parade, but if you bored it .125 you would have wound up with an externally balanced, short rod, 350. I don't think a 307 block would go .125 over however. A 305+.030 with a 400 crank makes a 334, and the kits are cheap. Or, a 327+.40 makes a 333 also. You say you've spent as much as a crate motor would have cost, and it took 2 years of "scrimping", but also you say you, "tried to think of a way to build something different on a very limited budget". And, now you have a cast crank, short rods with poor geometry, that side load the cylinder walls, and cast pistons. I'm sorry, but the end just does'nt justify the means here. It's true, that almost anything's possible, especially with the SBC, but I think there are better ways to spend your money, on tried and true setups, instead of an oddball collage of parts. Sorry, but that's my opinion. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Sounds pretty good to me. 56sedand you just don't get it. Go back and read the post slowly and be sure you understand what he said.
I give the guy credit, and I guess it's a testamonial to his friendship, but I just can't see, "taking the road less traveled by" in this case. If something major breaks, he probably would'nt do it all over again. I guess you're right, I don't "get it". Butch/56sedandelivery.
I have a 305 vortex roller from a99 truck with a scat 400 crank with the counter weights cut off and the assembly balanced. With molly plugs the cam bearings cut out for roller needle bearings and a vortech blower running 5 psi 331 cu in. Ish 450 hp at the chassis dyno
What actually made me read this post, was that I too have a stroker 305, AKA 334. I bought the kit like 12-15 years ago from California Discount Warehouse. Turned out I had a bad 305 block; had spun main bearings BAD. So, it went on the back burner for many years; then I came across another 305 block for free and started over. It was going to go into my 56' Sedan Delivery with a B & M Hydro Stick trans; I had to have the hydro flywheel balanced to the "400" flexplate. But, my truck dumped a valve, and I put the stroker in my truck, and GAVE away all my hydro stuff. The truck never seemed to run right, had a dullness to it, and shook badly. I finally traced it down to a goof Cal. Discount Warehouse had made, they sent a "454" flexplate with my stroker kit. It was also overcammed, so now it has an RV type grind also. Now, it's finally back together, right, and runs fine, but I think I'll stick to the base engines from now on. Mixing parts, and spending a load of money on ODDBALL combinations, with all the block grinding, clearencing, balancing, reasearching, and then trying to find out why something does'nt run right, has tainted my view of things. Same thing with the 350 to 383 stroker; everyone has one, and they're good engines,but it's still alot of work, unless you have eveything done for you. So, I'll stick with my small journal 327+.040 with 461X heads and BW ST-10 for my Delivery; the 350+.030 with Vortec heads; and my large journal 327 using a 350 4 bolt block, that will be a virtual copy of my small journal 327. And the truck, it still sits most of the time, even though the stroker runs fine now. My next project, a 51' Business coupe, is getting a later style 194-215-230-250-292 coupled to the stock 3 speed/enclosed driveline using a Speed Gems adapter I have. Butch/56sedandelivery.
glad you enjoy it, ive had some odd stuff that that wasnt what others would have used but i got it to work and learned stuff and thats always cool!!!!!
No need to be sorry Butch.Everything you said is true.The parts were affordable but I got killed at the machine shop.I am very happy that is runs,(lol)and cant wait to drive it to the farm where it came from and show my friend.Would I do it again.NOPE.(lol)It was fun and I learned a lot,mostly about myself.Thank you for your replies and your honesty,thats what brings me here every day.
I think this would work a little better if you used an AMC 4.0L piston with the 350 rods. The silvolite 2229 shows a bore of 3.875, compression height of 1.581, and a pin diameter of 0.931. It would require resizing the small end of the rod to .931, but it gets the deck height back into a resonable range without a heavy cut on the block and allows you to use the longer 350 rods. Any of you experts know if this will work? Scott M.
It looks like silvolite 2228 is the same piston, but is packaged in sets of four for the 2.5L Jeep four. Scott M.
Long rod engines have a combustion advantage short stroke engines have lower piston speed which is better for more rpm's A long stroke short rod engine has more mechanical advantage but less rpm capability. The difference they call the rod/stroke ratio Long rod engines draw the piston away from tdc slower than a short rod does due to the lesser rod angle change the long rod has. It has an effect on engine breathing. the short rod/stroke accelerates the piston faster. it creates a stronger initial intake pulse that tapers off sooner than the long rod/stroke. short rod/stroke engines breath better with larger intake ports. Or a better way to look at it is long rod/stroke engines take a steadier breath, the vaccum signal is spread out more over the degrees of intake stroke so the long rod/stroke engine does better with a narrow intake port than the short rod/stroke engine does. That's why a pontiac 400 can breath as good through it's intake ports as a 396/402 with larger ports and valves, and the 396 has more snap to the vacuum signal so the larger port doesn't hurt the bottom end power as much as it would if you overported the long rod engine It's not a big deal but it's something racers discovered diesels run a shorter rod than a gas engine to get the piston off TDC asap because they have extreme cylinder pressures at tdc
56 when the 383 stroker we first built the made less hp than a 350 after talking to some cam people they all said it was because we were putting the same cam as a 350 and the stroke was different now some the cams didn't match,that would be true for your 334.
i know this thread is 2 years old, but im working on a 307 (.030 over), 400 cranks cut down to std 350 mains. 5.565 rods, amc pistons, 305 vortec heads, gonna run it in a restricted oval track class, 500 cfm holley carb, i figure i'll be under the 360 cube rule and be able to out pull them with the longer stroke, i hope its not a waste of time, but gramp's always said "use what ya got" and im using what i got. any other thoughts on a combo like this?
yeah, the thread is old, but I'd like to just be happy for the guy's happiness - he built an engine, no need to knock him down or tell him how he COULD have done it.
I'm rebuilding a old stroker right now that defies logic, I didn't think you could this but.... Its a 307 block, 400 crank, 6" rod, 4.0 piston, 400 SBC heads, so a 383 from a 307!
I'm all for mixing and matching, bit like others had said the machine work will kill your budget. I just never spent any money on a sbc block with less than 4" bore. I mix and match with old circle track parts, you can get really nice odd stroke cranks for cheap. Just look for the older stuff before the Honda journals came out. The 4.0L piston is a new one to me, interesting.
Which would explain why they CAN be bored .125 over. Check out my odd ball Chevy De stroker combo. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/cheap-301-combo.965243/
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