VELLE BODY MALIVATOR TRANSMISSION BLOWING CHUNKS IT LIVES INTERIOR YEAR END RAP LINKS

ORIGINAL PLAN:

Rework heads, bore, new pistons, bumpstick,four barrel and headers.

MODIFIED PLAN:

When we got into the motor we found a crack running from a head bolt to the #5 cylinder. The amazing thing about it is that someone had the bore sleeved and bored to repair it. It seemed like a lot of work to save a run of the mill 350 block when it would have been much easier (and probably cheaper) to turn the old one into a planter (that's what Stall does) and get a fresh one from the junk yard. A little checking revealed that the motor was purchaced as a reman. from one of those discount chain part stores. So if your thinking about buying a cheapo engine from one of those places, putting a cam, intake and headers on it and cruising, you're making a mistake! After seeing this thing Sprag and Stall have two words: "RUN AWAY!"

After a little re-think a SB 400 was settled on.

Stock 2 bolt block bored .030 over align bored and decked

Reconditioned 5.7 in. rods with ARP bolts (No it's not the old folks club)

9.8:1 Hyperutectic pistons (spell it, hell I can't even say it)

Nodular iron crank for 5.7 rods from Strokermotor.com

Lunati cam small base circle 225 235 dur. .490 .500 lift (the small base circle cam is needed so the 350 rods won't hit it)

Trick Flow aluminum heads with 64 cc combustion chambers. (man, we just sit and stare at them)

Holley Street Dominator dual plane intake

Holley 750 vacuum sec. carb (3130)

When putting together a 400 with longer rods you get into some weird stuff. Because the rods weigh more you have to have a special crank to compensate for the weight. Since the rods are longer the wrist pins have to be higher on the pistons to correct the deck height and keep them from banging their heads off. (sounds like an old Quiet Riot song huh?) The real hot ticket is to build one with 6 in rods but a deal came our way so we took it. Another problem is that the rods will intefere with a standard cam so you have to run a small base circle jobbie. Well this makes the lifters ride lower in the bores so you gotta run .100 in longer pushrods. Fortunately for us our buddy Mark Davis (a Chevy GURU of the highest caliber) figured all this stuff out for us so we didn't have to tax the brains too much.

Why the long rods?

400 chevy's are no no notorious for oil consumption and premature cylinder wear. This is because of the increased side loading of the pistons imposed by that looong stroke cramming those pistons up the bore with those stubby little rods. The longer rods smooth out the reciprocation of the pistons and decrease that side load. There is also some evidence that longer rods increase torque, allow more compression without detonation and help you get more chicks. Chicks dig long rods.

Hit burn to see the pics and hear the saga