Water in oil 327cu/in Chevy

[timswi]

I used to take it to 7000 regularly, But it had GOOD parts in it. 4 bolt marine block, Crower crank, Oliver steel rods, venolia pistons, Ferra valves, double Crower valve springs, 245lbs on the seat 640lbs over the nose, etc. I built that engine when I was 21 and still lived at home. It lived for 8 years of street and strip abuse, with one freshening.

The current one also is a gen 4 marine 454 block, 4 bolt, Gm steel crank .020 under heavily radiused, old American made Manly H beam rods, wiseco mini dome pistons .060 over,Lunati solid roller Pn 60232 cam with isky red zone lifters. Heads are the same as my other engine, same spring as listed above, GM 990 ported rectangular ports with 2.225 intake and 1.88 exhaust valves. I do not spin this one past 6500 RPM, mostly due to the heavier rotating assembly, as well as the milder cam.

That's some good stuff right there..Gen4's are a good foundation. buddies of mine who still race get great service out of them..not many of those have come completely unglued, just mild rebuilds...I'd like to do what you did to my 396, but I will probably go GM PP or some other 1-800 big block...Once I finish the car, I probably won't feel much like building a motor. I've been out of that for 10+ years, so I've lost the touch and current knowledge.

 

[RobertN]

A friend had a Hallet flat bottom v-drive with a dual quad side oiler 427 Ford in it. That motor was specced to over 7000rpm from the factory. It came was a '64 from the research he did. It also had crazy high compression.

That was a factory race motor, from the heydey of the Ford 427, Mopar 426 Max Wedges ect.

I have not seen a BB wind up like that since. That was a scary fast boat...

My favorite Chevy is still the '66 SS396 4spd Chevelle...

6800 on a BB...Yikes...I did that once for a very short run and blew the oil pump to pieces in my 396..No structural damage but the whole top end was "blued" out.

I'm going to just buy a GM PP 502 and act like an adult once I get the restoration under way.

 

[Car Doc]

My favorite Chevy is still the '66 SS396 4spd Chevelle...

Yeah still one of my favs also and I still remember how they smelled inside very specific to all 66 Chevelle's seemed like.

Every one I was ever in had the same smell it was a result of the plastic they used in the seats I think.

It wasn't a bad smell at all just unique and man would they run!

 

[deerefan]

Yeah still one of my favs also and I still remember how they smelled inside very specific to all 66 Chevelle's seemed like.

Every one I was ever in had the same smell it was a result of the plastic they used in the seats I think.

It wasn't a bad smell at all just unique and man would they run!

Yep. Nothing like the 396/375 hp with the solid lift cam....375hp is a wee bit conservative. The other 2 that were WAY underrated were the 427/435hp and the 454/450hp. Both of those had to be closer to 500hp. I loved the sound of the 427 in side pipe equipped Vettes, just plain rude.

 

[Car Doc]

I remember my buddy I ran around with all the time getting suspended from school for 3 days back in high school for pealing out of the parking lot and ripping thru 4 gears and getting rubber in every one of them in front of the school. It was a 325 HP 396 btw.

The principal happened to be standing on the front lawn watched the whole thing man was he pissed! :laughing:

This car had a dealer installed Duntoff (sp?) soild cam, hooker headers and 3.73 posi and it flat screamed. Was maroon with black bench seat and 4 sp it was one of the fastest cars in school besides my other buddys Buick 455 GS-X.

 

[RobertN]

I would say that across the board. I really don't think the numbers for the 413 Cross Rams, 426 Super Stocks, and the 426 Hemi were right. Guessing they were waaaayyyy low... And the 44 6-Pack. Same with the 427 Fords.

My Uncle had the '66 SS396 4spd Chevelle with the high horse option. Low gears. That car was QUICK! Topped out at a lower speed because of the gears, but in the 1/4 mile, it was quick!

Yep. Nothing like the 396/375 hp with the solid lift cam....375hp is a wee bit conservative. The other 2 that were WAY underrated were the 427/435hp and the 454/450hp. Both of those had to be closer to 500hp. I loved the sound of the 427 in side pipe equipped Vettes, just plain rude.

 

[RobertN]

When I was a senior in high school('82), there was a girl who was a senior too, who's older brother would occasionally drop her at school. Well, he frequently drove a nicely massaged 440-6pack bright orange Superbird. He'd get on it occasionally; it sounded really good! He still has the car; him and his brother got in electronics and started collecting Superbirds, Daytona's, and a token Chevy and Ford, in the mid-80's when they were still cheap.

I remember my buddy I ran around with all the time getting suspended from school for 3 days back in high school for pealing out of the parking lot and ripping thru 4 gears and getting rubber in every one of them in front of the school. It was a 325 HP 396 btw.

The principal happened to be standing on the front lawn watched the whole thing man was he pissed! :laughing:

 

[carpenter383]

Sounds like a neat project! I do some drag racing with my 86 monte ss. It has a fairly stout 383 I built about 5 yrs ago. Dart 215cc heads with 1.52 roller rockers, 10-1 compression, comp cams solid flat tappet 292 240 something at .50 duration .525 lift. victor jr intake, 750 q-jet carb, Forged crank, 6" h beam rods, lightweight mahle forged pistons, everything ballanced. I've had it to around 7500 rpms on occasion, but I normally shift at 6500. It has 3.91 gears in a ford 9" rearend. 700r4 trans that I rebuilt myself about 9 yrs ago with a 3500 stall with lockup t/c . I race at a local 1/8th mile track, I drive the car there, un-cap the headers and bolt slicks on at the track. The quickest pass so far was a 7.75 at 89 mph with a 1.71 60 ft time. That translates to a theoretic 12.168 1/4 mile et. Something strange is my car actually goes faster if I don't stall it up before I launch. I leave slightly off idle which flashes the converter higher than it will go from foot braking it. It just almost pulls the driver side front tire.
Does your car have power brakes? If so you might wanna reconsider the 292 cam, I doubt it will have enough vaccume to run them. My 383 is very marginal with the cam I mentioned. You could get a vaccume pump to run power brakes if you had to though.
Btw did you use thread sealer on the head bolts? If not that could let water in the oil.

 

[carpenter383]

deerefan,

I read the whole thread and nobody mentions intake gaskets specifically as a leak spot.

So I will they can and do leak internally at the corners and not leak to the outside fact some manifolds corrode out and let go especially factory aluminum manifolds very often overlooked. hth

I mentioned checking the intake bolts for tightness on the first page U are deffinitley right about alluminum intakes corroding though, so do those cheap chrome thermostat housings

 

[Car Doc]

I mentioned checking the intake bolts for tightness on the first page U are deffinitley right about alluminum intakes corroding though, so do those cheap chrome thermostat housings

Ok ok so I missed another one of you guys +3 to carpenter383. :laughing:

If he had a vortec 350 there would have been 2000 guys pipe up.