Got some work done tonight on my project (pics inside)

If you want to spend the bucks however..Just get a complete 331 stroker kit prebalanced and have your machine shop do the machining. That way you save machining costs associated with reworking your stock parts. You can get a decent setup for not all that much cash

Thats funny that you mention that Damon because one of my friends has a 331 stroker kit for sale that he was taunting me with last night. He originally baught the 331 kit for this motor that I have (I had sold it to him at one point then ended up buying it back).

Heres a good question, what if I took advantage of this situation and upped the cubic inches much more then just say 331ci, but to maybe 351ci :D I called around today and I can get out of a complete 351w out of a '96 F250 with 74k miles on it for $700. I'd prefer something with less miles tipically but I could just freshen this one up just like I was with the 5.0L. What do you guys think?

Shane
 
Thats funny that you mention that Damon because one of my friends has a 331 stroker kit for sale that he was taunting me with last night. He originally baught the 331 kit for this motor that I have (I had sold it to him at one point then ended up buying it back).

Heres a good question, what if I took advantage of this situation and upped the cubic inches much more then just say 331ci, but to maybe 351ci :D I called around today and I can get out of a complete 351w out of a '96 F250 with 74k miles on it for $700. I'd prefer something with less miles tipically but I could just freshen this one up just like I was with the 5.0L. What do you guys think?

Shane

Since you already bought all that 302 based stuff, I would stick to the original plan and get a 331 or 347 stroker kit.

BTW, What's your static compression ratio going to be with the heads you have and the 331 stroker kit your friend is looking to sell ?

David
 
Since you already bought all that 302 based stuff, I would stick to the original plan and get a 331 or 347 stroker kit.

BTW, What's your static compression ratio going to be with the heads you have and the 331 stroker kit your friend is looking to sell ?

David

See the nice thing is all the stuff for the 302 that wont transfer over to the 351w is all returnable in exchange for parts that will work on the 351w. But most of the parts that I have bought will work on either of the engines.

I dont remember off the top of my head what the static compression ratio of the 331ci stroker kit my friend is selling. It might be 9.5.1 but again I am not sure.

Shane
 
302 is much lighter. i would also hazzard a guess putting a 351 in may limit certain classes you will want to enter. I;d stick 302 based stroker.
 
Damon,

For autocross there is no limit on how much HP or displacement that I can run so a 351w would be ok in that respect. Now if I were to ever want to run NASA American Iron I am limited to 315rwhp at 3000lbs of car weight so a 5.0L based stroker and 351w will make more power then that.

Bottom line in what I want in a motor is simplicity and reliability. I dont want to over complicate things. I know that with my current budget and financial position I cant build a high winding reliable road race engine for the car right at this moment. Road racing is to expensive and until I get a career oriented job that pays more then what I make now so I wont be doing any road racing. So with autocross only in mind I can get away with using a lot of stock production parts and the motor will last a very long time.

Whether it be a 5.0L or 351W the motor is going to serve as a learning tool in both how to build engines and to learn how to drive my car well. Once I have the driving part done and I have more money I can go out and build some 4 bolt main dart block motor and go road racing. So really I feel all I really need is a production motor with new bearings, oil pump, rings, my TFS heads, and carb setup and I'll have a very reliable learning tool for what I want to do.

Shane
 
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Does anyone else find this ironic?

-Steve


Ironic that shane was going to just piece that motor back together until he found something wrong with it. Kind of ironic how people were flaming him, and there actually was something wrong with this low mileage engine.

I think that is what biker is getting at??

I really don't have an opinion on the matter of shane throwing that engine back together. One way was a lot cheaper and most, (and I mean most) likely would have been alright, the other way was pretty well fail proofed.
 
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Ironic that shane was going to just slam that motor back together until he found something wrong with it, now he seems to be taking the apporach that many people have suggested he do in the first place.

I think that is what biker is getting at??

What's more ironic is that Shane had a 351 cleveland (I think) and sold it. :eek: That was back in his undecided days. He much more sure now about what he wants to do. ;)
 
What's more ironic is that Shane had a 351 cleveland (I think) and sold it. :eek: That was back in his undecided days. He much more sure now about what he wants to do. ;)

I'd want a windsor over a cleveland because of part interchangability and the windsor is MUCH cheaper to build. Headers would have to be completely custom with a cleveland as well.

The main problem I am facing right now is that I am running out of TIME. The guys that are supposed to be putting the finishing touches on my SC are coming out this Saturday to give me a quote on the work that they are going to do. Well they told me they might be able to get the car in this next week but I need to have the motor in the car so that they car modify the driverside header to clear the steering shaft. I dont want to sound like I am in a rush but I kinda am to a certain extent. This shop thats going to do it is usually backed up 2 months at a time so this might be my only chance to get it in for a while. I called around to some machine shops today and I am looking at a 2-3 week turnaround time to have the block check for cracks and the crank done. I kinda like the idea of getting a low milage 351w for the added HP and just freshing it up then stick it in there. If I can get it in the shop next week it'll run within a week or two after that :D :D :D :D :D

Shane
 
Its generally not an extra 50rwhp thats for sure.

And with a road race car you want less weight up front..And with a 331 stroker...Well Id go 302

As for being ironic...

faillproof=$$$ that isnt in the budget
Slapping together= a good learning experience and alot less $$$

And chances are the motor would have help up for awhile even in that condition....However I have never had that much sludge on a motor with alledgedly that many miles. Also as Jason has alluded to in the past it is not uncommon in the race engine world to slap something together with WHATEVER is lying around...

I used to run a 302 on nitrous back in the early 90's. Mid ten second car. When I blew something up I;d peice it together with whatever was lying around...My time was free back then so it was worth it. Not everyone can afford $$$$$ for special machine work or even balancing.

Shane took it apart....Saw a problem...Sad hey guys look I found a problem..And is now taking care of it. Thats what we do. How he goes from here will surely be $$ driven as well.
 
shane do what damon said bolt block/heads in the car let them modify the header for the 5.0 do the 331 stroker and be done with it
you can deal with sending the block out as soon as their done
 
I don't understand why you'd want to spend $700 on a different motor with a completely unknown history when you could end up running into the same problems you're having now with the motor you already have. You always gave me the impression that you wanted to run NASA, so you can't have that much power anyway (that is, unless this problem has completely made you change your mind about how you want to race the car.) Throw the heads on the block, put the POS back in the car and let whoever do whatever they need to do to it while you collect parts for a 331 and arrange for someone to machine the block. This isn't hard. You aren't allowed to race in the class you want to race in with the power the 351 would give you, so why bother with the extra hassle and expense?
 
Kevin,

Just to reexplain my previous post, I no longer want to road race the car....... yet. Again road racing requires a lot more money then autocross does of which I dont have. Me knowing this I dont want to build a motor thats high dollar or requires boat loads of machine work. Damon hit the hammer on the nail with how I want to go about building an engine. All I want to do is slap some engine together and go racing. Since I had the 5.0L laying around I wanted to do it with that motor but since its going to require all new pistons, crank turning, and all sorts of block work on top of possibly a set of rods, it would be cheaper for me to scrap what I have now and to buy a very low milage 351w and just freshen it up like I was doing with the 5.0L. The good thing with the 351w is I'll make a good deal of more power with it then I would have with the 5.0L and since I am not going to road race the car it wont matter how much power I make. Also everything I have bought for the 5.0L can be taken back to Jegs and exchanged for parts for a 351w so I wont be loosing any money in this either.

Again, once I get some sort of career going where I am making a good amount of money I'll yank the engine out of this car and put a more aproapriate engine in it to conform to class rules.

Shane
 
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