Budget Engine Build Stories

Frustrated with body work, I just want to throw my 383 together, reasonably speaking of course, and get my Road Runner so it starts and moves under it's own power.

So, please feel free to share your budget build stories. What worked well and what didn't?

One question I'm wondering about is I'd like to use a crank from another engine as it's in perfect condition and I already have a set of standard main bearings on hand. Would doing this abate the factory balance job to detrimental levels? Not sure how the factory balanced these production line engines? Were the pistons/rods/crank balanced together as one set?

not sure how the factory balanced those components, but it wasn't very precise ! interchanging factory parts with others won't hurt a thing.
others will surely comment.

Unless the crank has gone through balancing with aftermarket parts being used - the factory balance job is fine.

The plants ran all the rods and pistons as is - the supplier was supposed to keep them between a min/max spec for weight.

The cranks were all balanced after grinding using the factory bob weight specs.
Then they went to assembly.

My suggestion is look the crank over real good and see if it has what appears to be drilling’s that look unusual to the crank - real clean/shiny metal compared to surrounding metal, etc. if not then put it together.

I believe the older service manual should show puston, pin and rod weights so you can check your internals yourself with a gram scale.

Unless you are spinning it to the moon you will be good.

If you ever check weights on a scale you'd be surprised how far off the factory weights are. Pistons are usually pretty close to being the same but I've found connecting rods are all over the place. Put your connecting rods on a scale one at a time and see for yourself.

That's what I was thinking. I don't think it will be that critical for what I'm doing. Rarely if ever will it see much past 5,500. I do have ARP rod bolts on hand that I'm thinking about having installed when I get the rods done.

My next question has to do with the headwork. What would be the bare minimum for this? My stock 906s have the high performance "Magnum" valve springs. Do you think those will suffice? The engine will have stock type cam. Also, the original valves? Can 50-year-old valves live to see another day in this type of application?

Also, forgot to mention, this is on an engine with 98,000 miles, which I'm inclined to believe is accurate.

Is this going to be a hone the stock bore and rering the original pistons kind of build to get the car self propelled? The 906 head doesn't have hardened seats but if the valves don't rattle around in the guide, haven't receded into the ports and aren't burnt/leaking badly, you might get away with a blister stick and some lapping compound to seal them up.

If everything is beat, I would at the very least find some 452's with hardened seats to start with for the bucks down approach but if the plan was to build them properly it would be Stealths all the way for the stock look or Procomp types if you don't care about the appearance.

Kevin

For the piston rings, I was looking at these Sealed Power moly rings. -> https://www.summitracing.com/parts/slp-e-233k

Or I've heard that cast rings seal better with imperfect cylinder finishes -> https://www.summitracing.com/parts/slp-e-233x

Which ones would you buy?

Cast will work fine in this application.
Doug

Summit has a nice ring and bearing rebuild kit. We've done this on a couple of engines over the years and they ran great. As long as it isn't wore out and is a good core.

Well, my budget build was almost dashed when one of the pistons slipped through my hands, fell two feet on to concrete and busted a piece of the skirt off. NOOOOOOO!!!

The good news is that the knuckle heads at AMS Obsolete happened to have a NOS one of the same exact part number on the shelf. I got it coming. Hope it works out.

Fingers crossed. No more costly mistakes...

Dude! oily fingers? well at least you won't do that again!

I've done this 440 on the cheap twice now, once for my GTX and another time for my Polara....
...it owes me nothing, but next time I might spend some real money on it.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1235800/1.html

Here she is! Break it on Monday, have the new one by Friday. It's crazy to see a new-in-box 68/69 383 HP standard piston...

Back in the day this was how to make a nice engine. Start out with a good complete 67 to 71 440 from a car in a farmers field to rebuild but also add the Direct Connection or Crane cam and lifters, Torker intake Holley carb Blackjack headers Trans go shift kit and a young guy had one heck of a quick car.

I did a 383 for a friend a few years back. this wasn't a budget build, but ended up being a no budget due to unexpected health issues. I took the engine apart and it was absolutely the worst mess I've ever encountered. long story short; bought one of those sealed power engine kits with 2315 pistons, bearings, rings, etc. ball honed the block. gave the guy the heads off one of my cars (906's that were in fairly good shape), got a summit 6400 cam, rebuilt the point distributor, spent many hours cleaning and rebuilding the stock avs. didn't balance anything but I know the pistons are heavy. fired right up, runs nice and smooth

My budget builds involved a $50 junkyard motor and a can of paint. I used to blow up a motor, head to the junk yard pay the guy $50, go over to his engine shed, point to one, he would load in the truck and I would have it installed the next day with a fresh coat of paint. 5-6 months repeat...if I had low oil pressure, a mix of stp and gear oil went in the engine, I could take a motor from 5-6 psi at idle to 18-30, when it got hot the pressure would still run normal. It worked good except for the smell of the oil.