383 Stroker Final Assembly

[SneakyPete]

I figured it out using some simple math, my beehives give 31.33lbs of pressure for every .10 of an inch, installed height is 1.8, giving 130 lbs. Actaul height is about 1.85, giving about 114.45lbs (my sping height is .05 taller than recomended, 31.33lbs for every .10, half of .10 is .05, half of 31.33 is 15.665) It is still a little more than recomended, however there is another spring available for my cam that has closer to this seat pressure. Valve lift on the cam is .480, and these springs hit coil bing somewhere in the .600 range. MY heads are currently limited to .550 lift do to retainer/valve guide clearence.
On the starter topic, I can find plenty of startes for a 14inch wheel, with offset mounting bolts, and plenty of starters for a 12.75 inch wheels with parrallel bolts. My current starter has parrallel, and I dont believe my bellhousing will accept offset bolts, any ideas, besides a new housing?

 

[vinny p.]

It seems you have the springs figured out.. Just make sure the keepers are in right and you're good to go.

The starter is another problem. I have never run into this, so my information is limited. Did they ever make 2 bellhousings? I always thought they were the same. I took a look at Mercruiserparts.com, as far as I can tell, they only made 1 bellhousing. Take a look at the attached link , it may be helpful.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/

 

[SneakyPete]

I think I screwed up, its been a while since I took everthing apart...The starter actually bolts to the block, not the bellhousing, correct? I got home form work this morning and checked the new block and the bellhousing...me new block looks as though it has 2 holes for a starter to mount to, one on the outside, and two inboard closest the the pan, with one close to the flywheel, and one closer to the dipstick tube...the one closest to the flywheel must be for parrallel starters, and the one closer to the tube must be for offset starters, I haven't slept in 25 hours, so I am making some pretty basic mistakes, so I am not gonna do any work on the thing till I get some rest, I dont want to make ruin anything!

 

[vinny p.]

Yes, the starter bolts to the block. I thought you were saying that the larger flywheel wouldnt fit inside the bellhousing. You should have no trouble getting the right starter.

Before you bolt on the flywheel, take a look at the rear seal. I would like to know which block you have. DONT FORGET to put a few drops of red loctite on the flywheel and coupler bolts..

 

[SneakyPete]

I gotta get some studs for coupler, the bolts I have won't fit in the round coupler because of the ball shape of it ( the bolts need to be long), so I am going to have to use studs screwed in to the back of the motor, then mount the wheel, then the coupler, the use nuts to hold it all together. Vinny PM me ur email, and I will send the pic I just took of the back of the assembly.
*EDIT* found ur email, pic is in the mail.

 

[vinny p.]

You have troubles... That new piece you have is not a flywheel, it is a flexplate. You cant use that on a marine engine. That flexplate is for an automatic transmission for a car. The thickness of the 2 is alot different. You will eiether have a get a large diameter flywheel or re-use your old one.

Sorry....


BTW, Your block is an early style with a 2 piece rear main seal.


Are you having fun yet?? This can be a pain in the ass to get done right. Take your time and dont cut corners.

 

[happy]

son a gun i missed alot... from valve train to dapmner... didn't you buy a 383 stroker??? for a boat?? i thought got heads for your other moter.. then whacking a deal on a 383.. damnit...

your not dead in the water yet... you just have to be careful how you assemble it...

*1 if you have a flywheel on it for a car... they balanced the crank at 0.. which is a good thing... now if your new 383 is a 2 piecce rear main seal , your even in better luck.. if its not.. you have to buy balanced pieces from oem (bad luck) without re-balancing the assembly,, you stand a good chance of having a vibration.. not to mention your timing mark may not show at tdc correctly.

if your old engine is a 2piece rear main seal... and your new engine is a 1 piece rear mains seal.. you cannot use the old flywheel

ps. guys.. just got my stroked 454 back.. made her a 496... 600 hp// 618 tq

 

[vinny p.]

Happy,
I have talked to Pete a few times on the phone. I am trying to guide him in the right direction. The new engine came with a balancer, so the only needs to worry about the flywheel. As I said, they sent him a flexplate for a car. That wont work!! I wonder how many marine engines his builder has done if he made a basic mistake like that. Anyway, I told him which wheel he needs to get. His new blcok is a 2 piece seal. Dont know for sure what the old block was. From the picture of the old flywheel he sent me, it looks to have been a 2 piece as well. He can use the old wheel, but its a smaller diameter. Its rusted up a bit, needs to be re-surfaced and zero balanced. It may not pay to put money into it.


Give up some details on that 496...

 

[SneakyPete]

The new wheel is on the way, it is a zero balance piece. It ended up costing me $88, which I gues isn't too bad, but now I gotta drop $210 on a high torque mini starter from trick marine...I'm hoping this is the last of the major purchases!

 

[vinny p.]

I'm hoping this is the last of the major purchases!

This is a boat you are building, right!!!! It never ends.

 

[SneakyPete]

I got the component sheet for my motor today, it was supposed to have Eagle Forged Crank and Rods, with 18cc forged dished pistons, and the spec sheet says it has CAT 4340 Forged Steel Crank, CAT Forged H beam rods, Keith Black FOrged Flat Top Pistons, Clevite rod and main bearings, durabond cam bearings, machined and blueprinted block, hastings powerflex rings, & a SCE rear main seal.
Other than not getting the crank (eagle), rods (eagle), and pistons that I was told would be installed in the motor, they did a great job (SARCASM)

I will never do business with Wheeler Power Products again, terrible customer service, terrible time tables (the motor was 3 weeks late), and they lied to me about which components would be installed in the motor. If I had more motovation, and it was the middle of winter and not the beginning of the boating season, I would pull the pan and find out what crank and rods are ACTUALLY on the motor.

 

[vinny p.]

Pete,

Dont complain too much about the Scat crank and rods. Eagle stuff is too damn heavy and is made in China. Scat is the next step up. However, I have not heard anything good about Keith Black pistons . JE is the way to go..

 

[happy]

hmmmm .... dont' really know what to say hear.. so are we gonna dig in.. and get r done.. or are we gonna sit here and watch the milk rot..

I'd say get them wrenches spinning...

as far as your timing goes again on your engine if your advance module says 22.. that means you set your initial timing at 10..... if your module says 24.. then you set your timing 8..... and so on... since you have only a short block... your responsible for the heads. pushrod height... and valve adjustment.. pretty much... you have very little if any warranty on what you have purchased... ( nothing personaly against any one.. just the fact of life.. i've been doing this a long time... ))

you've alot to do before you start messing with running... were not there yet.. you need to make sure all the block plugs are in, all your oil, senders, alarms, knock sensors (if equiped).. are all in and secured proplery..

make sure your heads have all the plugs in them, gasket match from the block to the head.. and make sure your head gasket fits right.. assemble and torque your heads..

next step is to assemble your valve train, measure your pushrod height... ( i've seen your post on valve springs) ... so rock n roll..

assemble your oil assembly.. ie... your oil filter,, or remote as nessesary... pre lube the engine and watch for oil leaks...

now run compression check..

if the #s are looking good... finish the assy..

 

[SneakyPete]

I've got everything put together, head gaskets checked, h20 plugs are in, heads bolted and torqued, fuel pump is on and torqued and pushrod is lubed, lifters have been pumped up, lubed and checked to ensure that they spin in the bores, rockers cinched down till the push rods were hard to spin plus 1/4 turn, push rod height looks good, and I started priming the system, but my poor B&D cordless drill gave up the ghost before all but like 4 rockers were flowing oil, so I'm gonna borrow a drill with some more sack and drive on. I'm waiting for the new flywheel and starter and then she goes in. My boat has no alarms or sensors, and I installed oil pressure sender and water temp sender already.

the build sheet says CAT, not SCAT, but I'm done whining about that topic...

 

[vinny p.]

Never heard of Cat cranks... When adjusting the valves, you should turn the nuts down until you feel a slight drag on the push rod, ( Not hard to spin ) then tighten the additional amount the cam company tells you they want on the lifters.

 

[happy]

i don't do pushrod adjustment that way..... (unless i'm running the engine during adjustment)

dry pushrod adjustment is to zero lash.. that means the pushrod doesn't move up and down.. then 3/4 turn.. i've never heard of spinning the pushrod.. but someone else may have another idea.

crane golds go to zero lash, then 5/8 turn. then lock the allen, then torqe the 5/8 nut to 25 ft lbs...

either way one half the vales get adjusted at tdc, and the other half at 180 degrees fm tdc..

pushrod height must also be checked.. i personally check every one.. but its not nessasary if your not going for all the oomph your engine can make.. i think its silly not to.. but i work on alot of 1000hp + engines.. so even the lil guys get the same attention.. but if your engine can produce (say) 200 hp... why build it to only produce 180... i dont see the sence..

why did you opt out of alarms.. the sensors are at tops fifty bucks.. a tee at you oil sender.. and your intake should already have a place for an alarm in it.. your ground wire is already in your harness in your boat.. its just 2 connections, and your buzzer goes off..

 

[vinny p.]

Happy,

We both know there are a few ways to adjust valves. Everyone does it a bit differently. While you can certainly do it the way you described , by feeling for the up and down play to dissapear, I feel for up and down while twisting the pushrod with 2 fingers. As soon as I feel some resistance in twisting, I stop. The amount of resistance is hard to describe, its kind of a feel or experience thing. I have done it this way countless times without any problems. Personally, I like to adjust solid lifters better. It takes away any ambiguity.

 

[SneakyPete]

Vinny, I adjusted the valves like you said, (my earlier post of "hard to turn" was a little off)...basically what I did was crank the nut down while spinning the the pushrod with my fingers...as soon as the pushrod stopped spinning freely, I gave it another 1/4 turn, I followed an order of adjustment from a SBC build book I have. I have everything buttoned up and primed, new flywheel and old drive hub is on. The guy up the street is coming down tomorrow morning to drop it in with his tractor, can you guys think of anything I may have missed? I never knew about alarms, my boat was never equipped with them, so I never even thought about installing them.

 

[vinny p.]

Pete,
1/4 turn may not be enough. What did Comp Cams recommend? Alarms are a great idea and easily hooked up. You dont need a complete system from Merc. You can get Livorsi sensors from Trick Marine and pick up an electronic buzzer from a local electronics store. I can tell you how to hook it up.

 

[happy]

i agree w/vinny... a quarter turn may not be enough.. i'd roll them another 3/4 turn... what i've found is the 1/4 turn is if your adjusting the valves while its running... in which case you'd back the lifter off untill it starts ticking.. then tighten till the ticking goes away.... and then 1/4 turn..

you can also purchase the alarm kit from west marine... i saw them yesterday was a cole herse kit.. complete with oil alarm, water, and buzzer... for 40 bucks.

good luck with your engine set.. you should be running by the end of the weekend!!!!