The shop where I'm getting my 383 installed sent me a couple of pictures of the progress. Out with the old: Preparation of the new: . Just waiting for the Edelbrock Vortech RPM intake to arrive. We decided to send the TH400 out for an overhaul to handle the extra torque including installing a Transgo 400 1-2 shift reprogrammer and fix my kickdown solenoid that hasn't worked in years. Also installing a TCI Breakaway 2400 stall converter.

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They're doin it with the hood ON?!? Daaaang!

Hope yer into swapping u-joints....if they install the complete T-Go kit, you'll be geting LOTTSA u-joint practice!
Seriously....that particular  kit CAN get brutal on the shifts, so make sure that's what ya want. Once it's in, it hard to go back without a lot of hassle. Ask them to keep it on the "Street" level. It can be installed in different "levels" of performance, and trust me....the "Strip" level on a street car will make you come up with words you never thought you would....words like "", and ""...
One particular car I remember from way back, with some real torque from the engine, and decent tires, actually broke the windshield on a 1-2 shift.....ooops....

Hope they get it runnin for ya quick....before it's too late to put any miles on it this year!


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

No worries Joel. I'm just going for the street level with the Transgo kit. No need to loosen any fillings or break any windshields!!! The main reason for the install is to dual feed the direct clutches and to firm up the 1-2 shift a bit. I had another friend comment on the shops ability to pull the engine with the hood still on; they do excellent work there I can attest to. Doesn't look like I'll get any seat time this year; weather here is already changing. We had our first snow last week. It has melted since but cooler weather is here.

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Looking good, Greg! Can't wait to see more pics and maybe a sound clip or two once they get further along!

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Thanks Dave. Looking forward to seeing it finished. Talking to the shop today, said they got the transmission back today. All new bands, frictions and steels in it and ready to go.

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I was at the shop today to bring the old engine home and snapped a couple of more pics. . Should be done in another week.

|UPDATED|11/7/2013 4:01:54 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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Good Morning All,

Guess I'm just too claustrophobic...I need the hood off. Granted, I've never tried pulling the engine with the hood on, so.....


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

Greg, what fuel pump is that?  Does it have provisions for return line?  If not, how does one deal with that?  I've thought about upgrading, but not sure what to do about the return line.  Also seems like many aftermarket pumps have too much pressure for a q-jet.  What carb are you going to use?  

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Good Afternoon All,    Good to great choice on carb,however you might consider a 1406/7 (750 CFM stock Chevy Q-Jets are 750's) electric choke or without choke.

 Next before you place onto intake have someone who rebuilds carb's to check out the settings of floats,cleanliness,etc.,there is not enough room on this forum for me to relate the problems I have found in the last few years to the point that the Edelbrock engineers and I are on first name basis.The old selling statement of "take it out of the box and put onto the engine and fire it up and go",is no longer true,however they are the greatest performance carb when set up,and you will be changing rods and jets for your area and desired performance.

As far as Edelbrock  fuel pump,  you will not like trying to fit it for fuel inlet for a Vette unless you are familiar with rotating the bottom of the pump or have a drawer full of expensive fittings. The quick fix is to use either a BBC OEM pump or a '72 Chevy 1/2 ton truck OEM fuel pump with all the lines in and out you would need..

I have been down this road too many times.I have built many(14 todate) 383 strokers and one for a fellow C3VR  member VETTER BOB..Save the money for the Edelbrock pump and send it back for the money.If you just have to have one I have one or two here that were taken off and changed to the big BOTTOM BBC/'72 truck pump and no need of a pressure regulator as the Edelbrock operate at same pressure as a Q-Jet

. Have a great day today and a better one tomorrow..

Sal C                                nosal1 

Case, I tried to see if there is a number on your heads to no avail. I think they are Patriots,however can not tell by photo of the CC value of intake runners(look like 200 cc) or the exhaust cc value.Another question is what size intake/exhaust valves (assuming 2.02/1.60/1.65)and if so would support a very high lift cam. What,if you don't mind saying, is the total lift of the cam and manufacture..I use a special grind for my 383's which is made for me by Melling..It is a matter of curiosity,also if your valves are big enough and the intake runners are at least 180 cc,you will have more than enough flow for a 750 cfm carb and would be at the precipice of 650 cfm carb,in other word starve the engine with a 650 cfm.

Wow Sal, that's a lot of questions! But that's OK. The engine was bought used (just broken in really) with a few unknowns such as compression ratio, I have recently found out who built the engine and will hopefully be able to fill in the blanks. I've heard it running on a test stand before I bought it and would estimate about 10:1 compression from doing the math. Cam is a Comp 279TH7 with 227/241 @.050 and .479/.465 lift on a 107 LSA.  This will be a real torquer and not a high rpm screamer so the 650CFM will be plenty. Heads are Patriot 190 cc intake runners with 64cc chambers. 2.02/1/60 valves with 1.254 springs. 1.5 ratio roller tip rockers. The bottom end is an Eagle cast steel crank with SIR rods and ARP bolts. Exhaust is Hedman 1 5/8 long tube headers into 2.5 inch pipes with crossover and Magnaflow mufflers. Hope that answers all your questions. Engine and tranny were just dropped into the car today.




|UPDATED|11/26/2013 8:20:41 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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Some more progress.

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Awesome!  So they got it in there with both the fuel pump and the P/S pump installed?  I'm amazed - didn't even try mine with the P/S and we ended up pulling the fuel pump when it was hanging there in mid-air over the car.  Your shop is a master in finesse with the hoist!

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You should see some of the work they've done in that shop over the years. It'd make your head spin. That's why I went there.

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No thanx....my head spins enough as it is....

 

They're doin a fine job!! Should be up and runnin in no time!


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

Good news! The car is done. Just have to arrange to pick it up some time next week.

|UPDATED|11/27/2013 5:49:17 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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Case you have the patience of Job and great sense as it would not be a fun drive in bad weather.We are encountering high winds of 25-40 mph here in Florida and I wouldn't want to trailer my BBQue pit!!

Hi Sal,
Here's the cam card: http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/cam-specs/Details.aspx?csid=107&sb=2


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 Holy Cow!! That's a pretty healthy cam!! It oughta sound great!! 

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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
My Link


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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

Sal, your numbers are very close to what Comp predicts on the Camquest software within 15 hp and 10 lbs/tq either way depending on how much credit I give the port quality of the heads. No doubt this thing will move. Need some 355:1 gears now.



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Greg   My calculations were on the conservative side and will be higher in performance of the car.    You are right about the 3:55 rear gears,however you will need to go to a 700 R4 overdrive trans as you will work the engine to death and not go by many gas stations.   I have a friend who I built a 383 for and he had a 400 turbo in there with 3:55 gears and almost went deaf and poor until he got a 700 and is now running the freeways in CA. at a comfortablely,economically at top speeds..

If you do change to a 700(strongly recommended) try to stay below a 1986 700R4 as it will be mechanical and not electric as they require a commuter..

Have a great day and luck be with you in all your endeavors..Sal c 

Actually the 700R4 was used with the TV cable up until 1993 , The one I have actually came out of a 1993 Buick road master  .. The later the year you find the better it is so 89 and up are ideal as the internals have most of the needed up grades you will want like a 10 vane pump ect ect ect ...

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1980 , ZZ430 , 3.92 rear , 700R4 2400 stall NEW EZ EFI 

So it looks like December 13th is when I will be trailering the car home and into my garage for the winter. I'll have to be satisfied with sitting in it once in a while until spring arrives.

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I have a couple of pictures of the finished install.

|UPDATED|12/3/2013 5:55:52 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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I think ya need some bigger plug wires....
Looks NICE!! Congrats!


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

Thanks Joel! Yeah, those are "Livewires" from Performance Distributors. They are an 8mm core but are wrapped with a heavy jacket that is good to 1400*F.



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Didn't get the car home in December like I thought. Had to order some rods and jets for the carb and they were back ordered everywhere in Canada. Parts came in after New Year's and shop finished tuning the car today on the chassis dyno. Final numbers are 267 RWHP and 310 RWTQ. When you account for driveline losses I am very happy for an A/C equipped car with cats through a TH400.

|UPDATED|1/14/2014 8:45:06 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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Very respectable numbers!


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

Thanks Joel. Car is coming home on Sunday!!

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Greg sent me a video of his car running on the dyno.Since we can't post vids here, I put it up on my youtube page, so HERE it is!!!   Nice!

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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
My Link


(click for Texas-sized view!)             NCRS

"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

Car sounded incredible!

But I really liked "Why Africa is not a military power."  Where in the world did you find THAT? 


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"Let them that don't want none have memories of not gettin' any."
- Brother Dave Gardner

Thanks Darryl! Should pull pretty hard by the looks of the front end lifting up in the video. Can't wait for spring!



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So your hitting 266hp , 310tq ? ? That seams pretty low for a 383 . .  You would hope with a 20% loss to be up another 100hp and have 40 to 60 more tq .. 

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1980 , ZZ430 , 3.92 rear , 700R4 2400 stall NEW EZ EFI 

I think it make sense. I read a chassis dyno test of a similar 383 in Super Chevy last month with the same heads and a cam with a bit more intake duration and more lift and they were getting 285 rwhp and 335 rwtq. I running cats on mine that they weren't so I'm not that far off what they were getting. And their engine made 426 hp on the engine dyno. That's a 33% loss. That puts my 383 at about 399 hp. Quite a bit of driveline losses in these old cars. I've read other tests of some Mustangs that were seeing 35% driveline loss compared to the engine dyno.

http://www.superchevy.com/technical/engines_drivetrain/cams_heads_valvetrain/1311_383_stroker_upgrades_project_homewrecker/

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The amount of power loss is dyno dependent , what dyno was used ? 

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1980 , ZZ430 , 3.92 rear , 700R4 2400 stall NEW EZ EFI 

It's a fresh engine, and probably has not been fine tuned yet for max output. A little tweeking here/there will prolly wake it up even more. Running thru cats will also keep max output down somewhat. 300+ lbs/ft of torque on the street ain't nothin to sneeze at....

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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
My Link


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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

It was a Dynojet. The torque curve is about as flat as the plains.


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