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Should I take a chance on this 383 Stroker? It's available for pickup and cheap
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Should I take a chance on this 383 Stroker? It's available for pickup and cheap
It has the Speed-Pro Hypereutectic Pistons H859CP but not much else is known. Looks clean. It was taken out of project car. Owner says it came from a "blueprinted engine". This seems like a great deal so I may be swayed to put together a budget L98 roller stroker.
Re: Should I take a chance on this 383 Stroker? It's available for pickup and cheap
It's not worth your time. The only way to check its health now would be to pull the pistons and measure ring gap and the crank's journal ODs. Its not running so you can't, ya know, hear it run. You also can't verify oil pressure. The heads are off so you can't do a compression or leak-down test. Buying the engine as a short block second hand when nothing can be easily confirmed, I wouldn't feel comfortable paying anything more than scrap or core prices. I'd say $300 tops if you can verify the length of stroke, the cylinder walls look good and the ID of the cylinder bores is within spec. If he can take it apart and show all the measurements and aftermarket brand stampings and it's a forged crank you could start researching new prices and come up with a number.
Re: Should I take a chance on this 383 Stroker? It's available for pickup and cheap
Even if the price is right, you still need to look deeper. Pull the lifters one at a time and look for wear. Look at the crank and see if it's cast or forged. If it still has an oil filter on it, cut it apart and look for metal; if no filter, pull a couple of main caps and a couple of rod caps---one at a time---and check for wear. Inspect the cylinder walls for scoring. I noticed the engine has already been fitted with .040 pistons, making it a non-candidate for another overbore in the future.
Ask pointed questions. Why was the engine removed, and where are the rest of the components. If everything checks out to your satisfaction, use the fact that a buyer can't hear the engine run to leverage an even better price.
There's nothing wrong with buying a used engine/long block/short block as long as you know what you're looking at and know the market in your area.
07-28-2019, 11:22 AM
