Joey Liberto's Roller 383
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Last Updated: 09 Sep 2003
Author: Dave Williams; dlwilliams=aristotle=net
Joey Liberto has a very sharp 1987 Monte Carlo SS. He wanted to upgrade the
tired 305 for a roller 383. I provided the short block and did the assembly;
he picked out the rest of the parts and had them shipped here.
During the time I was building his engine his car was stolen and stripped. He
says that won't stop him from putting it back together.
Roller core, fresh from the junkyard. I had a hard time finding one that was
machined for a mechanical fuel pump. Most had the boss, but it wasn't
machined. A few just had a withered-looking lump of metal, which made me
wonder why Chevy wasted their time casting it. This one will work with a
mechanical fuel pump.
The harmonic balancer had rubber oozing out and had to be discarded. Note
four bolt main caps.
Air-over-hydraulic pin press at a buddy's shop.
...and a stack of slimy rods.
The Federal-Mogul monster finished digesting Badger, who made a line of
perfectly fine cast stroker pistons in the $99-$125 range, depending on who
was selling them. Federal has shut down Badger after buying it, and their
Federal brand pistons are $175. I finally found a set of Badgers in a
warehouse in Michigan, but the only ones they had in the correct size were
domed.
My milling machine and fixture made short work of the domes.
The mill cut is correctly aligned with the axis of the piston; the top of the
piston is cast, not machined, and the cast surface isn't precisely true with
the axis. It won't hurt anything. I went ahead and used the belt sander to
smooth the tops after taking this shot, just in case someone ever opens the
engine up and wonders exactly what the hell I was doing...
Wash and air dry to remove the oil and chips.
737 grams is still right about what an ordinary 350 flat top piston weighs.
One reason I wanted these pistons was that they used ordinary 5/32" and 3/16"
rings; the Federal equivalents use metric rings. The price difference is
enough to justify milling the domes.
Piston in my homemade pin alignment fixture. Some guys can heat the rod and
slide the pin through with their bare hands. I either get buck fever or I'm
simply clumsy; the fixture lets me get the pins in right every time.
Now we're balancing. I've already put four slugs in the middle; twelve more
are going in now. In retrospect, I should have used a 400 damper, but the
back was very close, just the front was way out.
Since I was short of heavy metal, I filled the holes with lead and used heavy
metal caps welded in place. I still used most of a $40 bar of heavy metal,
though.
Moving right along... most of the front counterweight is filled now.
...and we're finally finished. There are a couple of slugs in the #2
counterweight as well. On the other hand, there's no tattletale 400 damper to
give Joey away when he tells people it's "only a 305."
This is one of the import cranks that looks just like a Scat crank, right down
to the holes drilled in the rod throws, as you can see with #4. Note the
football shape of the counterweights. This is a 5.7" rod crank; a 6" rod
crank has larger counterweights, and those will usually neutral balance with
no heavy metal at all.
A shot from the other end. Nice and shiny, isn't it? The counterweights
cleared the internals of the block sufficiently for it to turn without
grinding on the crank or block; this does not always happen.
Grinding the shoulders of the connecting rods for cam clearance. You only
have to grind two of them, but it makes it easier to balance if you do
them all.
And now we have a stack of sized, clearanced, cleaned rods, ready to assemble
to the pistons.
Rod heater warms the pin end, then I assemble them with the pin fixture you
saw above.
Sliding a piston and rod into the block. The cap and nuts go on, then you
turn the crank to see where the outboard nut hits the cylinder bore or pan
rail.
Somewhat dark shot, but the shiny spots are where I ground for clearance. I
use a zip tie as a .060" feeler gauge.
Steel roller cam. This is a new pull from an HT 383/Ram Jet 350 crate motor,
part # 14097395, 196/206, .431/.451 on a 109 lobe center. All you have to do
is spray it with carb cleaner, blow it dry, shoot some WD-40 to keep it from
rusting, and install. No special break-in lube is needed for a roller.
Expensive full roller timing chain. The factory roller cams have a different
sprocket bolt pattern than the flat tappet cams, so the parts places gouge you
for "special roller parts."
Degreeing the cam, 4 degrees advanced.
Zip tie gauge again, checking every cam lobe and every rod for clearance.
Now I take it loose from the stand, drive in the rear freeze plugs, install
the oil plugs with Teflon sealer, install the new rear seal and its housing,
and paint. Then it goes back on the stand. Hoist lifts it to convenient
working height.
Checking the ring gaps. All were in the acceptable range. It's not unusual
to find them far too wide or tight, though.
Installing the pistons. I have an assortment of ring compressors, including
some nifty anodized aluminum taper compressors, but I've grown fond of this
one. It's fast and easy, and the oil rings don't tend to pop out from
underneath as the pistons slide by.
Installing more brass freeze plugs.
New Melling M55HV high volume pump. Checking pan to pickup clearance.
Joey wanted the pickup welded, so I tack welded it in place. Bags help keep
MIG spatter off. I have to re-clean it anyway, but the less gunk on the pump,
the
better.
Brand new Vortec cylinder heads. These were casting number 062. These are
darned good heads for the money.
After using most of a can of carb cleaner and a lot of compressed air, they're
lowered gently in place. Teflon sealer is required on the head bolts to
prevent water leaks.
Torqued, painted, and ready for final assembly.
Joey sent a brand new set of roller lifters...
...new pushrods...
...and new 1.5:1 self-guided aluminum rockers.
I adjusted all the valves with .030" of preload. It's easy when the lifters
are dry.
And here's the finished long block.
Joey asked me to check to make sure the opening on the intake manifold was big
enough to clear the secondaries on the Quadrajet. Sure enough, it wasn't.
A little work with the die grinder, clean, and the intake is ready.
Special Vortec intake gaskets, silicone for the end seals, ready to drop the
intake on. Joey sent new ARP stainless steel intake bolts. They only make
sensor-safe silicone in gray or red, apparently.
I located another balancer in the junkyard. It had good rubber, but the seal
surface was worn. Thin steel seal saver fixes that.
Bronze-tipped fuel pump pushrod to ride against the steel roller cam.
It took 40 ft-lb of torque to turn the engine over. The Grant moly rings have
more tension than most late model rings.
Side view. Shiny black hides details. Joey found the valve covers on eBay
for $60; they're pretty nifty.
Front view. Still need to install the balancer.
Installing the balancer. I modified the tool so I could use a ratchet instead
of a wrench.
I used this low-torque starter because I couldn't find my heavy duty starter.
It spun the 383 right on over. Ground strap directly to starter housing helps
cranking speed a lot.
Turning the engine over with the piston stop screwed in to #1 cylinder.
Turn it all the way one way, mark it, turn it all the way the other, mark it
again, split the difference, and that's Top Dead Center. GM has used several
timing mark and timing tab positions over the years; this one was 2" off.
Sitting on the run stand at fast idle.
A little better shot. Black and darkness don't seem to come out well with the
digital camera...
Joey had trouble arranging a truck to pick the engine up with, and the engine
was out of mine, so, after careful measurement, I found the 383 would just
slide into the back of my Malibu wagon. I already had a plywood load
floor that I'd used for transporting short blocks. This was the first time
I'd tried loading a whole engine back there.
The back of the wagon is only 4x4x2', smaller than the trunk on some cars.
It's a small wagon, after all. I went over to my Dad's woodworking shop and
built a low-profile carrier. The bottom edges are all radiused with the
router so it will slide easily. Cutout is for dipstick.
Short side clears oil filter boss. The window in the bottom is to clear the
pan, which isn't quite level, and the drain plug. There's about 1/16" of
clearance from the plug to the bottom.
Ready to slide in. I wound up with more room than I thought, but I was still
glad I went low-profile.
Slid all the way forward, waiting for the tiedown straps.
Subject: [ml] trip to Memphis
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 10:12:04 -0600
From: Dave Williams
To: monte
You *can* slide a small block Chevy long block with tall valve covers
into the back of a Malibu wagon. It required a little carpentry to
build a carrier that puts the oil pan practically on the load floor,
then I strapped it down to the hooks I have in back.
When AB got home from work we headed off to Memphis to drop the engine
off at Joey Liberto's.
Headed east from Little Rock, we started seeing lightning, then rain,
then TORRENTIAL rain, huge lightning bolts, thunder, then a little
hydroplaning as we hit parts of I-40 that had flooded out, cars all over
the shoulder pulled over to wait it out. Wow. It finally turned into
plain old rain and sprinkles about the time we passed Forrest City.
It was just sprinkling in Memphis. Note: when Joey gives you
directions that say "go down through a few lights until you hit
so-and-so Street," he is using a "a few lights" as a euphemism, since
there were only about 42 red lights strung out over 10 miles before we
got to the place where we were supposed to turn. I was wondering if we
were going to drive all the way to Nashville. Joey also forgot to
mention his driveway doesn't *quite* go straight up in the air...
Fortunately, all the rain had stopped so we unloaded and got the engine
on his engine stand and into the garage without anything getting wet. I
had seen his Monte a few months ago, I peeked under the cover last night
and it just about made me sick. You can write a car wreck off as bad
juju, but being stolen and stripped just plain sucks.
--
[email protected] (Dave Williams)==============================
== waiting, anticipating / for someone to save her soul / well, I ==
== ain't no new Messiah / but I'm close enough for rock and roll! ==
============================= http://www.bacomatic.org/~dw/index.htm
=============================================================================
M A X I M U M O V E R D R I V E R A C I N G E N G I N E S
PO Box 181, Jacksonville, AR 72078-0181
=============================================================================
383 Chevy stroker for Joey Liberto, Memphis TN
completed 08/20/03 (long block)
4.030 bore (+.030)
3.750 stroke (+.250)
382.66 CID (383 CID), 6272 cc (6.3L)
64 cc combustion chamber
2.5 cc .012 deck
3 cc .015 gasket
6 cc valve notches
--------
75.5 cc clearance volume
788 cc swept volume (4.040 x 3.750)
788 + 75.5 = 863.5 cc total volume
863.5 / 75.5 = 11.43:1 CR
WARNING: this is a high compression engine. It will require
premium fuel and will probably require rejetting,
recurving, or reprogramming the fuel and spark curves.
DETONATION KILLS ENGINES! You really don't want to try
out the warranty. If you need help setting the engine up,
just ask.
warranty: if it breaks, you get to keep all the pieces you can find
COMPONENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------
heads:
Vortec 062 head castings
cleaned, installed
block:
late roller truck casting with mechanical fuel pump provision
bored .040"
honed #320 finish
cam bearings Dura-Bond CH-4, 283, extra-wide rear bearing
chase all threaded holes
brass freeze plugs
new lower dipstick tube
paint gloss black
crank:
new 3.75" stroker, one piece rear main
mains Clevite 77
checked counterweight to block clearance, ground crank slightly
main journal oil clearance
#1 .002 (std. bearings)
#2 .002 (std. bearings)
#3 .002 (.001-under bearings)
#4 .002 (.001-under bearings)
#5 .003 (std. bearings)
end play .004"
pistons:
Dynagear 4.030"
1.43" pin height
domes milled off (28 grams lighter)
fitted at .002-.0025"
rings:
Grant .030-over moly, 5/64, 5/65, 7/64" (std. SBC)
gaps #1 .017 #2 .022
.022 .019
.032/.032 .035/.034
#3 .021 #4 .017
.022 .018
.032/.032 .033/.033
#5 .012 #6 .016
.017 .021
.028/.030 .033/.032
#7 .018 #8 .016
.020 .020
.030/.031 .032/.031
rods:
late 350 large journal forgings
resized
stock 3/8" rod bolts
shoulders beveled for cam clearance, .660" (all) .040" clearance
torqued to 45 ft-lb
rod bearings Clevite 77 CB-663-P
side clearance:
#1 .006
#2 .007
#3 .009
#4 .009
stack height:
1) -.012 2) -.012
3) -.016 4) -.011
5) -.011 6) -.011
7) -.011 8) -.009
cam:
GM Performance Parts HT 383/Ram Jet 350
Part # 14097395
hydraulic roller
crankshaft duration at lash point I: 288 E: 308
crankshaft duration at .050 Tappet lift I: 196 E: 206
lift with 1.5:1 rocker I: .431 E: .451
lobe centerlines 109 degrees
timing set:
Competition Cams
installed on 2 degree advanced slot
Competition Cams 7808-16 pushrods
lifters:
new Sealed Power hydraulic roller
oiling:
Melling M55 oil pump
stock 5/8" oil pickup tube and top cover
pickup tube adjusted to 3/8" pan clearance and tack welded
balance:
589 pistons
145 pins
180 pin ends
57 rings
420 big ends
51 rod bearing
420 big ends
51 rod bearing
----
1970 (/2)=985
675 setup RPM
540 balance RPM
F 0.04
R 0.06
internal balance
heavy metal in front counterweight
stock 350 HB, stock weighted 1pc seal type flexplate
misc:
40 ft-lb turning torque, long block
harmonic balancer marked for true TDC
===========================================================================
TORQUE SPECIFICATIONS -----------------------------------------------------
--------torque---------------spec----------------thread---lube-------------
rod bolts
torqued to 45 ft-lb (Chevrolet spec 45) 3/8-16 oil
note: 1) step 1: 30 ft-lb (both bolts)
step 2: 45 ft-lb (then finish up)
main cap bolts
torqued to 70 ft-lb (Chevrolet spec 60-70) 7/16-14 oil
note: 1) use moly grease under bolt head
2) step 1: 50 ft-lb
step 2: 70 ft-lb (reverse pattern)
head bolts
torqued to 70 ft-lb (Chevrolet spec 65-72) 7/16-14 oil
note: 1) use hardened washers, moly grease both sides of washer
2) block is blind tapped, no sealer needed
3) step 1: 50 ft-lb
step 2: 70 ft-lb (reverse pattern)
damper (harmonic balancer) bolt
(Chevrolet spec 70-90) 7/16-20 oil
note: use automatic transmission fluid as lubricant when pressing damper on
flexplate bolts
(Chevrolet spec 75-85) sealer
intake manifold bolts
(Chevrolet spec 23-25) 3/8-16 sealer
exhaust manifold bolts
(Chevrolet spec 18-24) 3/8-16 antiseize
timing chain sprocket bolts
torqued to 40 ft-lb (Chevrolet spec 40-45) 5/16-18
oil pan bolts
(Chevrolet spec 7-9) 1/4-20 oil
(Chevrolet spec 9-11) 5/16-18 oil
oil drain plug
(Chevrolet spec 15-25) 1/2-20 oil
water pump bolts
(torque 12-18) 3/8-16 sealer
timing cover bolts
(torque 12-18) 1/4-20
bottom pulley to damper
(Chevrolet spec 35-50) oil
valve cover
(Chevrolet spec 3-5) 1/4-20 oil
===========================================================================
assembly lubricants:
rod bearings: Unilube moly assembly lube
rings: Unilube two stroke oil
cylinder walls: Mobil 1 5w30
piston skirts: Mobil 1 5w30
wrist pins: Mobil 1 5w30
head bolts - threads: Teflon sealer
main bolts - threads: 30wt ND
head, main bolts - under head: 30wt ND
rod bolts: 30wt ND
cam bolts: Loctite 252 Blue
cam lobes: 30wt ND
cam journals: 30wt ND
cam distributor drive gear: Iskenderian cam lube
crankshaft rear oil seal: Unilube assembly lube
===========================================================================
INSTALLATION: ------------------------------------------------------------
Don't forget the ground strap connecting the engine to the chassis. If
it is broken or missing, make another out of at least 10 guage wire.
Make sure the battery is grounded to both the chassis and the engine. It
probably has a big wire to the block or head and some little cheesy wire
from the intake manifold to the firewall. Use at least #4 (battery cable
size) direct from the negative post to the starter and to the chassis.
Your starter and headlights will appeciate it.
Make sure the battery is fully charged before trying to start a new motor.
RUN-IN: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Make sure you don't have any loose wires or hoses in the way of the fan
before firing the engine. It is a great temptation to just start it up
with nonessentials hanging hither and yon.
Your engine has already been run in and contains oil. Change the oil and
filter at 100 miles. After that you can change the oil and filter whenever
your personal oil religion dictates.
Oil Viscosity:
Use the lowest viscosity oil required to maintain hot idle oil pressure of
at least 15 psi. This will circulate the maximum amount of oil through the
bearings. Very thick oil just goes right through the popoff valve built
into the oil pump and you can be starving the bearings while the guage
happily reads 60-80 PSI.
Coolant:
Fill the cooling system with a 50/50 mix of water and ethylene glycol
coolant. The system must be "burped" before driving the car.
Run the engine until the thermostat opens. Add water as necessary. Fill
the coolant recovery tank to the mark. Put the radiator cap back on and
shut the engine down. As it cools, it should draw more coolant from the
tank. When cold, fill the tank to the "FULL" mark. You can drive the car
now. You need to keep an eye on the recovery bottle for the first few
driving cycles; as the engine purges trapped air from inside, it will pull
in more coolant.
===========================================================================