397 Short block built

[70imp355]

Well after some work, cleaning, and such I worked with my engine builder he let me help with the cleaning, boring, honing, and assembly of my new short block.

We bored and honed using a torque plate tht was something new to see and do

I ended up having to source a new block after initial inspection and such on my old block that I had purchased, we found 4 large cracks along the sides due to the old owner probably leaving it outside and freezing. Never woulda caught this until it was too late by myself but once its checked with special equipment it becomes painfully obvious. Luckily we found a nice virgin 350 from a 70 camaro 4 block main 010 509 block it only has 32k on it and then was wrecked and never touched. It was perfect for the .040 bore.

We decked it, aligned bored it, installed new cam bearings, new freeze plugs, and all the fun stuff to make sure that we had a strong foundation. Only problem is I didnt say zero deck so we just decked it so my pistons are .22 in the hole, my fault so I will end up using a felpro 1094 tht i will spray with silver spray paint. I had these on my old setup and seemed to work just fine. Should be a nice 37 quench and the calcs I use give me a compression of about 11 to 1 and being im at 4500 ft above sea level should run fine on premium.

Now I was told that the 397 was going to be a HUGE problem to clearance for and that it was more than likely gunna hit the cam and Id need to get a small base circle cam as well making the deal I got on everything not as good cus I had recieved a brand new custom speced Chris Straub and Clay Smith camshaft made for a stroker with AFR heads. Well with the help of Terry Walters and Scat they have actually built a nice setup not only did it require minimal clearancing but stock cam base circle is just fine have plenty of room. Even my builder said hes had to clearance more for some 383s more than this 397.

Now the real fun part was balancing the whole thing, rods were pretty close and it was neat to see how they balance the large and small end to make it perfect, but they were all balanced to perfect. The CP bullets were dead on not one of them was off, nothing was required to balance them, with the pin they came in just over 400 grams each pretty lightweight. Now the crank wow oh wow was that thing out of balance the front was out of balance by 149 grams and rear 137 grams but it took some time and patience but it came in perfect as well. An like I said, I even got to take part in it, help do it, and see how it was done.

The rings were setup for long life and good oil control and again seeing how to use and even tried the ring grinder myself was cool to I got it perfect just took me longer. We went with Clevite H bearings which were a bit pricier but a good performance bearing that even has a neat coating, and like everyone says got to trust your engine builder. You can even see their black appearance on the picture below of the piston and rod assembly, the bearing looks black.

Cam clearance was setup and decided to go with a nylon cam button and the Milodon reinforced cover with the extra plate welded on the inside. A double roller timing chain.

All I have left to do is install the oil pump and pickup and yes the stroker crank clears my pan beautifully even without a gasket installed so with the new one piece will be golden.

Had the AFR 195 comp heads trued and then a local head porter went through them and gave them a mild cleanup and opened the pinch area a bit to increase flow. So while I think a nice set of 210 or 227cc heads would be great on this for all out power. These should be great on a daily driver that sees the track a few times a year. Being its in a big heavy car the smaller head will provide more torque as well. Besides the cam should match perfectly with them its not overly aggressive and I may even go bigger at a later date. This one was free and new so couldnt really argue and the specs are Hyd roller C Straub designed 233/235 @ .050, 292/294 advertised, with 1.6 rockers lift comes in at 585/ 544 on a 108 lobe sep with a 104/112 ICL will be using Morel hyd roller retrofit lifters part number 5372.

Anyway just finishing up putting the bottom end together and then gunna install this coming week.

[levisnteeshirt]

i've been working on one of those for myself for a while ,, i went with 5.850 rods ,, and the piston cleared the counter weights , no problem 1.213 SRP's

[70imp355]

yeah I was happy I got the 6 in rods I like them and it keeps the pistons nice and lightweight lol and it all cleared beautifully.

[greg]

let us know ur et an mph,wen u take it to the track..

[70imp355]

Well its gunna in the spring the tracks here close for the season this week, sucks but oh well.