The steel shim gasket makes sense and that is exactly what I would do, but there are some that won't do steel shim gasket w/ aluminum heads. Didn't know which camp you were in.

You can get cometics at .022, which is what I would use.

Actually, I would just deck it to zero and run the fel pro 8519's for my own build.

We did one like that several years ago...... Rpm heads and intake, nice solid cam.
Made about 480hp on pump gas.

Your friend is going to pull heads, so do that 1st and measure piston in hole at TDC. Check condition of bores too.
Then build ur plan.
I'd mill some cheap 516's, add the 1.74 exh valve, bowlport & mill .060 or so.

I have a .020 over 64 383, it had milled 516's, 284/484 equivalent type hydro cam, flattops w/no brows and it sounds racey, made good power......"on a budget".

Compression & port velocity rules on the street with a manual trans.

I agree, if you're patient and lucky enough to find some used, maybe previously refurbished 516's that aren't in too bad a condition for reasonable money, they would be a good choice for this type of build.

If yer still in a quandary, talk to Barton...


He's built some righteous 383's...

Not me as I do it like Dwayne said. I have an idea on some cam specs but I build the eng first (on paper) as I want to know about the head flow and comp and fuel and then last have a cam ground to work best with what you build. Thats just me as the eng in my car now I knew was going to be pump gas and Dwayne (Fast68Plymouth) made me a custom flat tappet to work great with my pump gas combo and I also bought my heads from him so he knew what they flowed. I feel you can fine tune the combo with the cam choice being last even though I may have a good idea about what I want to use. Ron

I don't know if this helps but.

Did a 383 a couple years ago. Stock bore, pistons, heads, 906s, with a little shine in the bowls. Torker intake, 750 holley, headers. It was a true 8-1 compression. Used a Comp XE274H.

It made 355 HP@ 5000 rpm
387 TQ@ 4200 RPM

There are no pistons available for a BONE STOCK rebuild unless it was rebuilt in the 70's.

That said it's got lower compression than original unless the bone stock rebuild didn't require new pistons.

Ported closed chamber heads and a cam change. The M1 dual plane is no better than the stock iron intake it replaced, other than it being lighter, switch to a performer RPM.

MP electronic conversion isn't going to be money well spent, put a Pertronics conversion in the stock distributor.

No they never did , that was the NHRA spec to allow them to get compression with the 906 head.

A stock 68/69 383 piston is .002/3 in the hole on a spec deck height, at best they were 9.2:1 when new.

The Speed pro 2315 is the tallest 383 piston at 1.920 , it's an NHRA replacement piston so it doesn't have a valve relief and weighs a ton. The next tallest is the Diamond piston at 1.916 and has valve reliefs at 5cc I believe , I'd use that piston , tweak the CH and have them put in smaller valve reliefs at zero deck ... which is what I did on the one Dan screwed together for me.

KB pistons are 1.908 , both of them, and have huge valve canyon reliefs at 6cc. The only piston that is a bigger waste of money than KB is a cast rebuilder piston that is made for all years of the 383 and is way down in the hole.

IMO, the kb162 is still a good option for a build like this.
In an uncut block it's supposedly down the hole .024, and according to the catalog has a 5cc valve pocket.
At +.030 over with a steel shim gasket and a 78cc head, it comes out to 9.5:1cr, and 9.3 with an 80cc head, and would have decent quench in that configuration.

Dwayne most blocks are tall , but how much ??

The price on the KB has gone up so they aren't they great a deal anymore...

Me , I'll never use them again ...

Lots of talk about pistons... I read "budget" in the first post and about not pulling the engine. Even if it's lower compression, I think it's hughes that sells whipflash cams for lower comp that people seem to like.

I've ran the larger summit cam in the past and it had a good sound and power... that's a low cost cam, maybe not the best, but doesn't sound like he's building a race car.

I understand you don't need pistons, I think. But there's been a few part numbers listed here withe the 2315f being the tallest.

FWIW Ross has an NHRA piston for the 383. It's listed under their custom pistons, but it can be made as tall as needed along with any mods you want.

I have a set in my stocker 383 purchased about a decade ago under $700. I don't know what they would cost today. I had them made to NHRA specs.
Part # 74233

I'm in the middle of a 383, well one turned into two, finally pulling the numbers engine. Fwiw. I'd get the heads off and measure how far in the hole you are. I talked with Dwayne about heads and frankly I think they're the heart of the build. Once you determine your static compression you can have some idea where you're heading. I considered aluminum heads but ended up for now having my 906's done over. 2.14/1.81 bowls ect ect. (I'm into them for well under a grand. I kept the smaller runners of the 906's as opposed to the aftermarket heads and after talking to Dwayne (fast68ply) and discovering that EStreets with 75cc chambers still need $$$ work well, I finally came to the conclusion this was my most economically reasonable choice. I would've used Porters without hesitation but we have a very good head guy out here on the west coast. It saves the shipping.

As for the cam? I've tossed around a few ideas (some of the other 383 posts) since I'm more street than track I'm inclined to stay at or under 230@ .050 if I was going to drag the car more I'd consider slightly bigger solid. In fact I even considered a .557 solid(what came in the second short block I purchased). Just a little too big for my auto with 3.91's even with a loose converter. I realize your 4 gear but you need to consider gearing. 383's love gears. Your cam choice is going to be influenced by your actual compression. If you're closer to 9.1 you may end up in the lower 220's &.050 it's easy to over cam a 383 if you select wrong. As was pointed out the cam should be the last selection once everything else is a known quantity. And I'd say that's also where Dwayne could maximize your build with a custom grind.

Think package, will it have headers, gears, intake, what's the goal? And what can I spend? You'll burn up $2500 in parts and heads quick doing the work yourself.

Same here, cam choice is determined by head flow numbers.

I ran the larger summit cam in a 69 383 2bbl engine that had 130k miles on it , heads never off , with a 4 speed and 3.23's. It ran ok for what it was, 97mph in the 1/4 in a 3900lb car with zero traction.

Here's one based off a rebuilder type short block, although the top end wasnt really a "budget" deal.
Motor that came in a 69 Coronet that was originally a 2bbl car, no idea if it was original to the car or not. After pulling the heads owner sees two different types of pistons in the motor.
Some flat tops, some dished.
No idea on the deck height.
I sold him some nicely redone/bowl blended 452's with 1.74/2.08 valves and a hyd roller cam & lifters.
Puts it back together with a DP4B intake, original style 383 AVS carb, hp manifolds, 10" converter and 3.91's.
13.0's @ 105 with 14" bias ply red stripe tires on it.

Here is the mild 383 build I built and ran in my Dart back in the 90's. It was a stock bottom end and I mean stock pistons and bore as I knurled the stock pistons and file fit them for .002 piston to wall clearance and used .005 over rings. Stock crank and rods. I honed the cylinders with a rigid hone a few thousanths over so thats why I knurled the pistons and used .005 over rings. Ran the old MP .484 cam in on a 104 ICL and used stock rockers I shimmed for the right lifter preload since I had decked the block and milled the 452 heads for a true 9.5 comp. 452 heads with stock valves and a little bowl blending. RPM intake and a 750 DP. CPPA headers and stock Mopar dist I curved and used the orange MP ECU. It was a 727 with a TA tight 10" converter and a manual valve body. Had 3.91's in it and used McCreary G-60's. It weighed almost 3600 lbs with my 180 in the car. Ran a best of 12.31 @ 110 on 92 pump and was a very nice driving car. My son still has it but we put a 400 in it as it runs mid 11's with the 400. Ron

Here's a similar build but with a 400 instead.
140,000 mile short block out of a 1974 Polara wagon. Lots of camper towing during it's life, big ridge at the tops of the bores.
Ridge ream it to get it apart.
PAW re-ring kit in hand, block and crank get hot tanked. Block gets a dingleberry hone, crank gets a quick polish. New freeze plugs and cam bearings.
Found some 516's, valve job done, install 1.74 exhaust valves. Very minor bowl blend, mill .030, mp933 springs.
Reassemble with new timing set, oil pump, rings, bearings, gaskets.
Mp 484 cam, Holley SD intake, new 650DP carb, recurved stock dist, 1 3/4 headers.

Installed into a 71 Charger R/T, 4.10 gears, Dynamic 10" converter......went 13.50's @ 105, 3950lbs. This was in about 1986 or 87. Owner ran it like that until 2004 when I built an E headed 446 to replace it.
He sold the 400, still running fine after all those years.

Edit: oops..... I got this build mixed up with another low buck 400 I did during that same time. This motor didn't start out as the well used piece out of the Polara wagon. The core for this one came out of like a 72 or 73 Charger that had gotten replaced by a 440. This one was sitting in his garage for a couple of years and the guy was tired of tripping over it and was ready for it to find a new home. It wasnt really all that used up when I got it...... It was worth the $50 I gave him for it.
The rest of the story is correct.

The one that came out of the Polara is a better story though.

I was talking with someone about a 446 build that was on the dyno yesterday.
We were discussing the actual compression ratio because we had come up with different numbers.
Well, apparently KB has made some changes to the designs of several of their pistons in recent years, and after my catalog was printed.
In the case of the 446 in question, the flat top piston #237 has gone from a 6cc valve pocket to a 9cc valve pocket.
On this motor that equates to a .3 difference in compression ratio.

I went on line to see if the same was true for the 383 pistons, and it would appear it is.
The old KB 400 domed piston in my catalog has a pretty big dome and works out to a 6cc effective done volume.
The new KB 400 has a noticeably smaller dome, and now has the effective dome volume listed as 0cc.

In light of the new configuration of this piston, I agree with JohnRR in that these are not really a preferred choice anymore.

I don't really understand why KB wouldn't somehow differentiate the new versions from the old, since they are obviously not the same any longer.

Just thought I'd pass that along.