383 RPMs?

What's the max RPMs I should spin a stock 383?

6000

Open question, and not blow up, be in an effective power band, or plan to race and need advice selecting a gear for the street?

Just don't want to blow it up

5500 then. I've seen tons of 383s with spun bearings.

The factory recommend redline on a 383 car was 5200 RPM with the stock cam.

This. Higher if the valve train allows.

Stock... probably no need to go over 5k... valve train/ rotating mass is the limt, mine is stock crank/rods forged pistons, solid .557 Mopar cam 6800-7000 no problem!

stock around 5200-5300rpm.

500 rpm below the speed where a rod comes out the side
Seriously, 6000 should be safe if your valvetrain is up to it.

I'm not sure how true they are but a couple reasons I've heard for the 383 spun bearing condition are the following:

1) The factory rod bolts would stretch on the high revs and were thus the weak link.

2) The 383 at high revs would suck the factory oil pan dry, even with the stock volume oil pump and cause momentary oil starvation at the rod journals.

Again, don't know if this is nothing more than hearsay, and certainly these issues could manifest in any stock engine that's over-rev'd. That said, the 383 was mass produced and market towards the value crowd who undoubtedly ran the holy hell out of these engines. The notoriety of spun bearings and blown blocks, probably a combination thereof...

In any case, the two conditions mentioned above; pretty easy to remedy.

#2--True of ALL big blocks and Hemis, the high volume pump, deep pans, more oil, and the duel line system came about for this reason.
My 383 turned 6800 easy with 8 quart pan and big pump, stock rods-good bolts and adjustable rockers-good springs

Yes: Remember the 383's had a smaller oil pan too. I believe that's why they spun bearings. There is no reason to spin a stock 383 higher than 5500 anyway.
Back in the day there were plenty of quick 383's out there that didn't spin bearings but I think it was because their driver's knew they didn't go any faster by over revving them.

So you're saying 6,800 rpms with non-factory "good" rod bolts?

Yes.I've been 7200, and above 7500 on mis-shift with Speed Pro piston on a stock rod with "Direct Connection" rod bolts.

Spun bearings is likely due to lack of oil. A 383 bottom end will hold together much longer than a 440.

My friend had a 383 in a station wagon that he was going to junk. He wanted to blow up the motor for fun. Put a brick on the gas pedal. We got tired of listening to it after 5 minutes poping and banging because the the ignition and valve train were way past their limit. Motor was fine.

All I can say is my engine lived (in fact I still have it in storage) aftermarket bolts where installed around 1976 era. Engine was balanced, Mannly slugs, 509 hyd cam.
Many years ago I saw that a S/S 70 Cuda stick car that shifted his 8500 and thru the traps at 8700, this was before the good rods.

The 383 stroke is just 1/16" longer than a 340. That's what saves it. at 6500rpm the max acceleration is 2560 Gs. So the piston and the top of the rod "weigh" less than 10,000 lb at the top of the exhaust stroke. The 3/8" rod bolts can handle this.

If they haven't been torqued properly or have some sort of material defect the rod bolts can stretch enough to lose clamping force and allow the bearing to spin.

It can all be calculated.

R.

I float valve's at 5800. Bottom end doesn't notice.

I would find a place to put my car on a chassis dyno. You will see where the power drops off (probably before 5500 rpm) and know where to rev your engine to. Money well spent

^^^ Agree on the dyno, but what is stock?

The old Mopar engine books listed rpms for stock bottom ends and I think both the 383 and the 440 checked in at 6200. Probably been 15 years since I saw that chart. Trying to think of where my book is. Anybody have one to confirm?

I think its 5200 RPM's on a stock 383. In the old days I did a lot of street racing with a stock 383 Dart, and shifted it at 5200 RPM redline. I know my engine would sound like it was screaming at 5200 RPM's. And I could never see any gains above that.

Early 70's. 383 circle track car. Stock rods w/arp rod bolts, General Kinetics solid cam, oil restricted to cam bearings and left side lifter gallery, double pick up oiling system. Believe me the lifter galleries can be a big source of oil leakage, you don't have to block it off just slip a piece of allen wrench into the feed hole. Turned this engine 7200 to 7800 rpm's twice every lap for 3 years with same rod and main bearings. It can be done. I know the question was for a stock 383, just thought I'd throw this in here.

I'd ballpark 5500 rpm....and you're probably better off (speed wise) to shift it around 4500'ish for maximum speed (just a ballpark) since you will be making less horsepower when the engine is revved up to 5500 rpm.

If you have a stick shift car & like to rev up motors high, then definitely install an rpm limiter. I blew a motor missing a 2nd to 3rd gear shift many years ago.

We all heard of "short shifting" back in the day. Well we tried that, 4500 4800 5000 5200 5500, never, ever, picked up ET till we went back to 6800, this was on a very mild 440 with stock 906 heads. My 383 wouldn't Et untill it was turning 6500. The Max wouldn't freight train untill 6500, 7000 thru the lights. Whole lot of BS thru the years that's repeated. It's all in the setup.
Might add, all non ported heads.

But the OPs question is about blowing it up, not what is the right shift point. So I think you are being appropriately responsive to the OPs question, IMO.

We have no information on what's in his "stock" motor, so no way could we even guess to what the right shift point would be.

If it is a 335 HP 383, factory peak power was 5200, suggesting to me the best shift was probably 5500 to 5700 rpm. If you want to slow your car down, shift at peak power.

Not sure its really possible to easily blow up a stock cammed 383 if you keep oil in the pan.

Back in the 80's my cousin worked for a towing company in Northern California. One day he was tasked with getting a '69 383 roadrunner they had impounded ready for sale. He asked me to follow him & the Roadrunner a couple miles from the impound yard to the main storefront because they already had a buyer lined up for the next day.

What I witnessed next flat blew me away and I was laughing my ass off in amazement.

So my Cousin pulls up to a stop to make a right to go over an overpass across I-80. He then pops the Torqueflight into neutral,floors it, and somewhere near the stratosphere drops the now screaming 'Runner into low. The whole car lurched up & forward and I swear the 8 3/4 was going to come flying out of there and hit me since I was right behind him in my 'Bee. Tires vaporized instantly and after about 150 feet he popped 2nd and the tires stayed lit, engine screaming for mercy like I'd never heard a 383 rev before. He repeated this drill 3 more times on the way.

The next day, buyer shows up, she fires the now violated 'Runner up, purrs like a kitten, no strange noises at all, takes it for a test drive, runs, shifts, and drives great. She forks out $700, closes the deal and motors off happy as a clam!

I was throwing that out on the engine holding up. I don’t think a 440 with a stock cam will like buzzing it up there at 6200 since a 383 with same cam wouldn’t either. My understanding was those chart were for what you could expect to get by with on a stock bottom but modded engine. Wish I could find my book.