Joined
·
361 Posts
Thought I'd share my tale of woe and ask for a bit more guidance. You'll note from my previous thread 86 cam and head advice that I started with cleaning my engine bay to an engine freshen up to a stroker rebuild using my '86 block. I really wanted to keep my Pace Car block original, but there really isn't a wealth of nice blocks to choose from here in England. I'd been turned on to a machine shop local to me that was said to be one of the best in England for American V8 race motors. I thought this would be my chance for that stroker I'd been lusting after for years. Tore down my motor, cleaned it up, ordered my forged stroker rotating assembly and retro-roller cam and lifters and thought I was ready to rock and roll. Packed everything up and brought it to the machine shop. Turns out the machinist is an expert in aftermarket race blocks, but is somewhat less familiar with OEM blocks. As I was concerned about going into a water jacket with my ham fisted use of my grinder, I wanted to have a pro do it. The machinist has a CNC program to clearance Dart blocks for 4.00" strokes, but has never done an OEM block. This added to the fact that zero decking my block would wipe the original numbers, led me to rethink the block issue. In a perfect world I'd have cleaned up my original Pace Car motor and wrapped it in plastic on a stand in a corner of my garage and built a 4 bolt, one piece rear main roller block 383. Since I figured my chances of finding a good core here were about the same as winning the lottery, I thought I'd build my block. I've now given up on building my block and will get it back from the machinist with a nice align hone done and I'll put it back together with the stock parts, new gaskets, seals, bearings rings to save for the day I return to the US and go NCRS. For now I decided on the 383 block from Summit. I got a few responses about this block and none were negative, so I ordered the block and will pay almost as much to ship as for the block itself, but I should finally have a good starting point.
Now my questions; I paid a chunk of change for these Crane 11532 Retro Roller Lifters. Are these going to be unusable on the roller block? Since I'll now be able to use a cam retainer without having to do any machining, should I dump the retro roller cam and go with a standard roller cam to do away with the need for Torrington and button. Of course this will require a new timing set too, but is it worth it. What are your thoughts? Those that are still awake!:laughing:
Now my questions; I paid a chunk of change for these Crane 11532 Retro Roller Lifters. Are these going to be unusable on the roller block? Since I'll now be able to use a cam retainer without having to do any machining, should I dump the retro roller cam and go with a standard roller cam to do away with the need for Torrington and button. Of course this will require a new timing set too, but is it worth it. What are your thoughts? Those that are still awake!:laughing: