Got a 396 - but still want a 454

[IainB]

An interesting weekend for me.... went to have a look at an engine on Saturday (with the intention of just taking measurements of the bore and crank) and asked what it would take to remove it from a certain auction site
Anyway - the answer was met with a remark along the lines of 'which way to the nearest bank then?'...... and I am now the proud owner of a 396 CI BBC (Big Block Chevy) of around 6 and a half litres......
Now Im finding that pistons arent that easy to find - and more importantly - they have 'push fit' rod pins where as my spanking new forged H beam rods are a floating pin..... unless I can find a friendly machine shop to put circlip retainers in somehow I really want the bottom end to be 100% forged.....
Hopefully the beast should now be out this side of 2004.... I hope
p.s. Chevys are VERY heavy, my poor 306 looked very 'lowrider'ish' on the way home !!

[Lowe]

An engine's an engine mate, it's all good

[Zak33]

ooooh you little ebay avoider you

Nice find...I wont ask how much...I'l wait until its all finshed...and you looks like you've been eating ice cubes to fill you up for a month cos you're skint

Good luck dude

[Stoo]

Niiiice

[IainB]

ooooh you little ebay avoider you

Nice find...I wont ask how much...I'l wait until its all finshed...and you looks like you've been eating ice cubes to fill you up for a month cos you're skint

Good luck dude

Cheers Lowe, Zak & stoo,
Lets just say the chassis builder couldnt believe what Ive paid for it - and... I may have found some floating pin pistons
H beams you have a new home.... lol
now to extract the cam bearing and find out of its a late or an early block - fingers crossed its a late block as then any BBC cam fits in - otherwise I need to get an oilway machined....
Not as much power as I wanted - should still be able to get to 500, and it means that it wont be as fierce to learn with
Will get piccies when the garage looks like someone hasnt emptied an engine in there !!

[Stoo]

Vrooooom.. LubLubLubLubLubLubLubLubLubLub =

[IainB]

Man, im such a donkey at times
Just realised that I can make money on this little package - after going through 4 rather large manuals last night - I 'think' the std pistons are forged and the rods are a std size across the BBC range - well 396 to 454. Thus - these will be of some use to someone, shame I need my C/R to be around 10.5 to 11:1 for the cam I intend to use - otherwise I could have kept these with a quick bore hone.... anyway should get some money back though can put that towards my rebore and crank grind !

[Lowe]

w00t

Oh and another thing.. you might be down on capacity slightly, but doesn't this just mean bigger N20 jets?

[Moby-Dick]

and a supercharger for good measure ?

[IainB]

Im down on capacity about a litre (from a very quick calculation) tbh - didnt realise it was that much
This has a shorter stroke - so should, in theory, rev a bit better than one with a longer throw on the crank.
Will be phoning Real Steel at midday to see if they can get me some pistons in - then depending on price decide on either forged or hyperuratic (spelling!) which are better than cast, but not as good as forged.
If I go charger need to lower the C/R ratio plus it makes a heavy engine even heavier, if I go more nitrous could really do with dropping another .5 on the C/R but then the cam I have in mind is going to be a dog at low RPM as its running a large overlap
There is so much to this engine building process its unture

[Vimeous]

Really looking forward to the results of all your hard labours Eazieb. Sounds like you're going to have a right little monster! (ok maybe not so little)

One thing, would you slot that mid-engined, into your 306? Just for an experiment ofc

[IainB]

@ myself, why am I so indesicive
Decided to sell the block and at least one set of heads - and this is before Ive even started buying more bits for it!!
Decided on a 454 block but with the 396 crank, which gives a 427CI - also gain around 500cc so that takes me to 7 litres.
From speaking to a few people should be able to get what I paid for the whole engine for.... just the block - so thats made me happy.
This should give me a good basis that I can build on for the future - as most upgrades are based around the 454, but best to get used to this first I think.
Quite possibly will be looking into a stroker crank, which should take me into the 500CI range and around 8.5litres - but thats a little way off yet