Oh wise ones guide me :)

[cgrey8]

Oh, you aren't going to get me to talk you out of a stroker. LOL.

I was just stating that you don't have to get new crank and connecting rods to do an overbore. Upgrading pistons while doing a .030" bore is fairly common. But generally people doing this aren't re-polishing the crank and replacing connecting rods for a mild build. They go back together with new bearings, the new pistons, and that's about it.

But you are right, there is a lot of money in a stroker. The kit itself with all the parts is going to be around $1000 for a fully balanced cast crank kit. You can get cheaper kits in the $700 range, but from every machinist I've talked to, the "budget" stroker kits cost you more in the machine shop than you save because of the extra machining they require to get them properly balanced. Evidently the cheaper cranks are more difficult to balance...something about having to put metal back ON vs drilling them out. A good pre-balanced kit is typically $900-1000.

Coast High Performance (CHP) sells excellent kits. I think theirs are based on SCAT cranks, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

The Mustang Depot (TMD) also sells good kits. TMD is where I'm getting my kit from because they were willing to actually look through the KB SilvoLite book and find a piston to give me the deck height I am looking for. All other shops told me to deck the block because, basically they didn't want to take the time if I didn't have a Part Number to make it easy for them.

If the block has twist, you may decide to deck the block anyway to get the twist out. But if it doesn't need decking, then just getting the right piston is a lot cheaper. If the heads drop by more than .020" due to decking and/or thinner head gaskets, then you usually need to machine the lower intake to work with the lower head location and that's more money.

Point is depending on what all you are doing to the block, there's another roughly $300 of machine shop work to expect. Here's sample pricing from a local machine shop (labor only):
$120 Bore-n-Hone .030" ($15/cylinder * 8 cylinders)
$50 Block Bath
$25 R&R Cam Bearings & Freeze plugs (plus parts)
$125 Deck (may or may not need)


Other services I also got pricing on but that you may or may not need (labor only):
$225 Complete short block assy inc checking journal clearances
$600 Complete long block assy
$225 3-angle valve job machine work for both heads and all valves

[Dave]

Well looking at one of the most respected shops, found these kits for under $1000. They used to be a lot more expensive.
Dave
http://www.coasthigh.com/searchresults.asp?Cat=2001

[Soul]

Ok I give whats this one?
25 R&R Cam Bearings & Freeze plugs (plus parts)
Is that installing the cam bearings? We always do this as we have a cam bearing installer.

[Soul]

For the most part if block doesn't need bored, We will hone it ourselves and have them polish the crank, which well be all I'm out. If need bored I'll get it .30 over and stroker kit, I already have a clearance tool so that shouldnt' be a big deal.

[cgrey8]

I don't have a cam bearing installer nor a freeze plug installer, so I'd need the machine shop to do that. I've never priced what a cam bearing installer costs. If its less than $25, I guess it might be worth it for me to do that. But I just thought $25 was too reasonable to bother looking into it further. I could be convinced otherwise.

As for the prices being cheaper, most that are sub $900 are not prebalanced or are balanced for 28oz flywheel/balancer. I'll need my stroker kit balanced for 50oz equipment. So maybe that doesn't apply for someone that has a 28oz flywheel and balancer already.

TMD offers a block clearance tool for free with all their stroker kits I believe. So even if you don't have one, they supply one. 331 strokers (3.25" stroke) don't need to be clearanced for most connecting rods. There are some really wide rods that might still benefit from the clearance. All 347 (3.4" stroke) kits will require this regardless of rod.

BTW, I've been told a 50oz balancer is actually imbalanced 34oz and is used with a 50oz imbalance flywheel/flexplate. But because the 28oz stuff matched flywheel to balancer, most people just refer to the 34oz balancers as 50oz balancers. Can anybody confirm/clarify/correct on that?

[Soul]

We have a bearing driver but before that we used a threaded rod with 2 big washers, have to be super careful when doing that as you can warp the bearing.

[MalcolmV8]

Chris, for freeze plugs. To remove hammer one side with a screw driver till it spins in the hole and then pull out with pliers. Do not scratch surface of the hole it's coming out of. To install use a large socket that fits inside the plug and gently tap in. If the machine shop is doing it no big deal. Just FYI if you run into any. They are super easy.

Those machine shop costs seem reasonable too. I wish I could remember the break down on mine. total was $2017.16. I think $830 or so of that was pistons and rings. That total also included main and rod bearings as the machine shop needed them to do the work.

That included boring .20 over, line honing the block for the crank and making sure it was all true. Polishing the journals on the crank, opening up the rod bearing ends ever so slightly for better clearance. Also included balancing my entire rotating assembly. Each rod/piston combo weighs exactly the same amount and has a specific rotating ahhh number or something. I forget what it was called. I got a card with a bunch of info filled out by the machine shop showing how to duplicate that engine.
Block decked etc.

Wish I'd upped the compression just a tad back then but oh well.

Soul, don't forget to budget for your turbos lol

[Soul]

lol I still have an hx35 off a cummens 7 liter in my floor, could totally remote mount that, and tear it up first week

[MalcolmV8]

There you go lol.

[Soul]

You totally like playing devil's advocate

[MalcolmV8]

nah I'm just a huge fan of superchargers and turbos. I'd put a blower on my push lawn mower if I could find one small enough

[Soul]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAGz4i2_Iuk

Make it a 20 horse pusher:)

[Soul]

Also looks like I'll be doing this, on the weekend
http://www.themustangdepot.com/servlet/ ... ool/Detail

[Grumpy]

Stroking requires you replace pistons, connecting rods, and crank. But stroking does NOT require that you bore. Although most stroker projects include having the cylinders bored .030" over




dont forget MOST strokers require that the block be "clearanced" for the rods or they will hit the bottom of the cylinder bores when it rotates ...... need to "notch" both sides of the cylinders..... this can be done by installing the crank and a rod and rotating it by hand till it just touches the bore... then mark it with a sharpie then rotate it backwards till it hits on the other side and do the same thing with the sharpie ..... you will have to do this on all 8 bores.... i used my porting tool with a metal grinding bit to remove the metal from my FSM SVO block. Good Luck on the build and keep us posted with pix if possible.

[cgrey8]

Any 347 will require notching for sure. Most 331s with standard connecting rods won't. Although if you get some really thick or light weight rods, they may have problems clearing. Most people clearance the block even if it is a 331 even if they don't have to just so they don't have to worry about the potential of metal-stretch at high RPMs causing the rods to scrape the block.