480-500 hp at the crank 383

I'm getting tired of my worn out dog of a 350 and am super interested in building a motor for myself, most likely a 383 pushing 480-500 at the crank, if anyone has a combos or "recipes" I'm all ears

Yes there is.

A rule of thumb nowadays says that you should expect to spend $10 per horsepower to build your motor if you're doing the assembly yourself. Figure on a minimum of $1,000 for machine work.

If I were tasked with engineering the build for you, I'd begin with an L31 block, to take advantage of the production roller hydraulic cam and one-piece rear seal arrangement. It's still a Gen I block, so no surprises. Here are the vehicles that came stock with the L31 platform.....
1996-2002 Chevrolet Express/GMC Savana full-size vans
1996-1999 Chevrolet/GMC C/K full-size trucks
1996-1999 Chevrolet Suburban/GMC Suburban full-size long wheelbase SUVs
1996-1999 Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon full-size short wheelbase SUVs
1999-2000 Cadillac Escalade

Here's the recipe for a slam-dunk 500hp/500ft/lbs 383 roller cam motor.....
Stock L31 block bored to 4.030".
Scat cast steel crank for 1-piece rear seal
...http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sca-935050l
...This will be an externally balanced motor, using a 400 small block harmonic
...damper and eccentric-weighted flexplate. Finish balancing will be done at the
...machine shop.
Scat forged steel connecting rods
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sca-25700
Milodon 7-quart pan
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mil-30902
Milodon standard pressure/standard volume pump
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mil-30902
Milodon pickup
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mil-18311
Fel-Pro 1003 head gasket
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fel-1003
SpeedPro hypereutectic pistons, +0.030"
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sl...cp30/overview/

Check main bearing bores for being round and parallel. Correct by align-hone or align-bore process. Stack height (piston compression height, rod length and crank radius added together) is 9.000". Cut block deck height to 9.000" to make "zero deck" block. Squish/Quench will be 0.041", the thickness of the head gasket.

Pro-Filer All American 23 degree aluminum cylinder heads, 195cc intake runner volume, 72cc combustion chambers. Makes 10.1:1 static compression ratio with the other parts listed here.
http://www.profilerperformance.com/r.../sbc-23-degree

Edelbrock 7101 Performer RPM intake manifold. No manifold will make more power and torque from 1500 to 6500 than this one. It's based on the original Winters aluminum high-rise, dual-plane intake manifold that was used on the Z-28 302 Chevy motor. You may find a used one under Weiand part number 8016 or Holley part number 300-36. Those two are no longer in production, but can be found on craigslist or racing junk. The current production Weiand 8150 is a pretty decent manifold also. Ignore the Edelbrock Air Gap model of this high-rise dual-plane intake manifold. It's marketing hype.

Use the standard 7101 NO-GAP intake manifold to prevent cold weather bucking and rough performance.
Use a single-plane intake manifold if you are looking to make power from 5000 to 8500. All I can do is shake my head when I see street machiners running around with a single plane intake on their motor.

750 carb. If stick shift or auto and your converter stalls at 3000 or higher, use a double-pumper. If auto and the converter stalls at less than 3000, use a vacuum-secondaries carb. Use a 14" x 4" air cleaner assembly so the motor can breathe.

1 3/4" primary tube diameter, long tube tuned headers, not those cheezy "shorty" pieces of ****. Choose minimum 3/8" flange thickness to prevent the flanges from curling up like potato chips from the heat and spitting out the gaskets. Run an X or H tube immediately after the collectors, then pipes and mufflers of your choice back past the rear fender. Nothing sounds quite as "Mickey Mouse" as pipes that are terminated under the car and reverberating the sheet metal.

There has been chatter about flexplates cracking lately. I suspect this is a result of buying Chinesium plates that are too thin for the job. Use only plates that are SFI 29.1 rated. (drag race quality).

Howards roller hydraulic cam, part number 180255-10
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hrs-180255-10
Uses stock Chevrolet roller lifters from the L31 donor motor
With a 10.1:1 SCR, this cam will generate a DCR of 8.6:1 that will operate well on available pump gas with zero detonation, using the aluminum heads.

Figure 500 bucks minimum for a good-quality 2800-3000 rpm stall torque converter.

Check pan to oil pickup clearance with modeling clay, the kind of oil-based clay that you will find at hobby and craft shops, not Play-Doh, which will not hold its shape. With the block sitting with the oil pump pickup up, make a cone of clay and affix it to the bottom of the pump pickup. Put a little oil on the clay so that the oil pan will not stick to it. With the gasket in place, drop the pan down onto the block and make sure it is all the way down on the block pan rails. Remove the pan and measure the clay. You want 3/8" to 1/2" clearance between the pickup and the pan. Alter the pickup or use a different pickup to change the clearance. If the clearance is excessive, you could starve the motor for oil. If the clearance is insufficient, the pump could pull the bottom of the pan up against the pickup and the game if over.

Wow thank you so much for all of this I will dig into this and research all of these parts!!

Joe, that is an incredible, soup to nuts recipe! Wow I want to go out tomorrow and build that!

and I second the recommendation on the Performer RPM manifold. Back in the day I switched out the performer for the performer rpm on my worked 400 sbc in my impala and I distinctly remember the car being able to break the tires loose from a rolling 20mph 1st gear stab after switching to that manifold.

Can you give me the link to the Pistons recommended I couldn't seem to find them, sorry, thanks

That's an old write up. You might have to call the company or search the net for specs to match up.

If I was building a higher hp street motor, I would go with a forged piston like the SRP pistons. The scat I beam Pro Comp series rods with the 7/16 bolts are a good upgrade, and I would not use the stock roller lifters with the shielded wheel. Upgrade to the better lifters. The Scat 9000 cast crank is a valid option. 10:1 compression with an aluminum head is good. But also ensure that you have sufficient spring pressure with the hydraulic roller. I used the AFR 195 heads and upgraded the springs to a 140 seat/410 open spring.

This is a good one too, not quite 480.

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/13-performance/855274-380-cu-vortec-head-build.html

Spier racing heads builds these pro-filer heads and I could have him fully assemble the heads to have proper spring pressure for the hydraulic cam. And ideally what compression do I want to have if I'm going to be running this on 91 and have the pro-filer heads with 72cc and most likely driving it everyday?

street driven on super pump gas, I'd keep.it between 10 and 10 1/2 to 1. And make sure the quench is spot on to avoid detonation.

Joe73 wrote:
A rule of thumb nowadays says that you should expect to spend $10 per horsepower to build your motor if you're doing the assembly yourself. Figure on a minimum of $1,000 for machine work.

If $5,800.00 - $6,000.00 is the budget for a short block, consider:

http://www.jegs.com/p/Blueprint-Engines/Blueprint-Engines-Small-Block-Chevy-396ci-485HP-500TQ/1617610/10002/-1

or for a little more:

http://www.jegs.com/p/Blueprint-Engines/Blueprint-Pro-Series-Small-Block-Chevy-427ci-540HP-535TQ/3475604/10002/-1

I would stick closer to 10 on 91. My nova was 10.3-1 and ran good on the 93 octane gas here with AFR 195 heads. When I sold it, the owner was using 91 and it had a little run on issue that went away with the 93. I used a Lunati Voodoo hydraulic roller that was 231/239 @.050 and .533/.550 in my 355.

Joe73 wrote:Yes there is.  

A rule of thumb nowadays says that you should expect to spend $10 per horsepower to build your motor if you're doing the assembly yourself. Figure on a minimum of $1,000 for machine work.

If I were tasked with engineering the build for you, I'd begin with an L31 block, to take advantage of the production roller hydraulic cam and one-piece rear seal arrangement. It's still a Gen I block, so no surprises.

Couldn't agree more. Joe, Your a 4-spd guy, Was the block drilled & machined for a clutch linkage stud? I've been wanting to build a modern 355 to replace the 327 in my vette. The old 327 is a blast to drive but I'm afraid of damaging it. I took a look at a few in the yards here and they didn't have the hole drilled or tapped for the stud. I would think that a machine shop could add one though. I've read elsewhere that some of them did come with the clutch stud hole. Maybe the earlier ones? they also don't have the passage for the fuel pump pushrod. Maybe a machine shop could add that as well. I was wanting to make it look as original as possible and retain the fuel pump.Thanks to modern electronics & machining these motors look like new inside with very little to no wear. When shopping for one in the yards it would be wise to pull a valve cover and look for signs of antifreeze. These things were horrible with the plastic intakes and gaskets leaking internally. It think most of them are a 4-bolt main as well? They go for about $150 at the local pull a part.

Yes, mine came with the tapped stud hole since its a coded 4 speed block. So thats the way it came from the factory. I've read lots of threads where guys drilled and tapped the hole themselves. I dont think it would be hard at all.
As for their not being a hold for a fuel pump pushrod. I'd hide an electric pump somewhere (or even inside the tank) and just cut the arm off a fuel pump and bolt it on. It will look stock.

Yours must be from a HD truck. I thought clutches were hydraulic when these engines were out. The 2 I saw were in 2000-2001 vans. automatic.

I dont get ya.  HD Truck ?   My 350 is my original Gen 1 block with matching VIN number to my car. 

Oh, I think I got the problem.  The build I posted was something I found on the net a long time ago.  I kept it for reference.  ITS NOT MY ENGINE.  Just an engine builder posting his specs and results.  

Hope that clears it up.

Yes, thought you were referring to the 96-up vortec blocks (in the original post), As far as I know, the manual trans models were all hydraulic clutch, no hole for the stud.

Nice recipe ! What I really like is the new word : "Chinesium" HAHAHA !!