Ill make sure to check all of that out. I want him to install it in my car that way if I ever have any issues I can always go back.
I saw the head studs but those rods bolts look stock to me. Could just be an off-branded 8740 bolt though. Just another question to ask is all. PS. As Tom said.. check the rods side clearance and try to rock a piston sitting at BDC(skirts hanging out as far as possible) back and forth. Also keep in mind that cast pistons aren't known to be very durable as power goes up. Miss the tune and things can go bad really fast.
Do you have the early parts necessary?? Front sump oil pan and timing cover with dipstick, water pump, pulleys, intake, carb, etc... Also you'll need a steel or bronze gear for you dist...
I have everything except steel gear. Im thinking of buying the smaller msd distributor with msd 6al box. On the timing cover issue would it be worth it to go with a serpentine belt setup if im only running a belt for the water pump?i have manual steering and no ac
If changed the cast pistons for some better ones would I have to mess with anything else to make them wok?
yes.. unless they're VERY close to the same weights.. you'd likely need to rebalance the whole works including the flywheel/flexplate and balancer. If you're going to all that trouble.. just build what you want in the first place. What's wrong with your '69 block? Is it wore out? Why not just build the top end of that for right now and then swap those parts over to another built shortblock when the time comes? Granted you'll need to double check machining accuracy and allow budget for potential corrections of these cheaper off-shore parts.. but stroker cranks are $200 or slightly more including shipping and no tax. New steel rods are around $100-$200 bucks.. halfway decent hypereutectic pistons are $100-$200.. rings are around $50-$100 depending on quality/durability.. and then figure another $500-$600 or so for machine work and gaskets. What I'm getting at here is that I see no reason to buy stock anything these days unless you're really not very mechanically inclined to do any of the work yourself. It seems daunting at first.. but there are tons of guys assembling motors with bolt on parts in their garages these days. Or bite the bullet and pay someone to assemble the shortblock for another $200-$300.
the $2500 would be fair with a dyno sheet... that way you know it was put together well enough to stand up to a couple of full pulls...
and as another FYI here. 289/302 motors are notorious for maintaining decently usable bores due to their decent rod/stroke ratio and long skirted pistons. So long as you can inspect the bores for cross hatch uniformity(barreled bores are easy to spot as the thrust side polishes the hatch away completely) before buying a core and there are no major scratches to be felt with a finger nail.. you can just run a dingleberry(ball style) hone through the bores and put fresh rings in the thing. Be sure to step up to a slightly taller 1.605-1.615" pin height replacement piston(avoid 1.585" compression heights like the plague) to get away from lower compression ratios caused from the pistons having negative deck heights. Then use a slightly smaller bore(just say no to 4.100" bore gaskets) and slightly thinner head gasket to gain even more compression while you're at it. No deck machining required to gain a quick and easy quarter to half point of compression. For about $1,200-$1,500 bucks you can build a kickass little shortblock full of MUCH better aftermarket steel stroker parts. Then find a good set of used aluminum heads for $1,000 or less(many including roller rockers and other supporting valvetrain bits and pieces) and you have yourself a very near 400 horsepower rolling fun machine. If all that's too much to handle all at once.. start out by upgrading your current mill with aluminum heads and build another shortblock later on. Heads and induction are where the bulk of the power's hiding anyways. The old saying is that power is made above the head gaskets.. and durability is built below it.
There is room to grow with those Eddy heads. Ron Robart at Fox Lake Racing has a CNC porting program that can make these heads flow very well if you want to build a 331 or 347 at some point.
I see the guys are pumped to get you going on building a new engine ! I noticed you mentioned the fellow who built the engine could install it for you for $1000 so I take it you might not have the time, space, or have the interest in doing it yourself. If that's the case, I think $1500 is a pretty good price if it checks out as per the previous posts. Good luck and let us know how it progresses, whatever you decide to do. M.D.
I will probably just find a block and build it to my own taste then. Really leaning towards a 331 stroker.
