Motor build info thread

[THEREDDEVIL]

Man I've been reading my ass off trying to figure out the best route for building a dual purpose motor. I love driving my truck but I also love sled pulling and next march our track re-opens so that means racing also. When I buy or build something for my truck I need to do it right the first time cause I don't own an oil company nor am I an heir to Steve jobs. I have a 6 figure job but there is no way possible I can cut a check for 20-30k to a shop for a fully built motor. So I want suggestions or real world input from guys that have built a motor on a per se budget. Stingpullers thread really got me thinking about hard parts that might not b needed, or little things like the pin oiler in the rods. My goal is to build a shortblock I can bolt my heads to and not worry about breaking stuff or have to tear my motor down every year. So hopefully all the newer guys like myself can make smart choices on our setups. Thanks for any info

 

[gmduramax]

If you abuse your truck your motor will not last.
I'm going with arias pistons most likely but rings will be replaced often.

 

[THEREDDEVIL]

If you abuse your truck your motor will not last.
I'm going with arias pistons most likely but rings will be replaced often.

Everyone speaks pretty highly of the arias pistons. R u gonna daily drive your truck?

 

[gmduramax]

Everyone speaks pretty highly of the arias pistons. R u gonna daily drive your truck?

It gets driven everyday and makes at least 5 passes almost every Wednesday, when it is running :rofl:

 

[THEREDDEVIL]

What's ur opinion on the cut and coated cast pistons? Can they live with good tuning?

 

[gmduramax]

What's ur opinion on the cut and coated cast pistons? Can they live with good tuning?

I just cracked or put a hole in mahle cast pistons with 30000 miles with only 600hp

 

[THEREDDEVIL]

That's not reassuring, lol. Sorry to hear that. Sounds like maybe forged is the way to go. Do u remember how much u had tied up in machine work on ur first build?

 

[ripmf666]

I just cracked or put a hole in mahle cast pistons with 30000 miles with only 600hp

Did you have the bottle on it ? I have the same cut and coated pistons with 3 years and 4 months and 60k on it now. At one point it was in the upper 700 lower 800 area now she's at around 630 area.

 

[THEREDDEVIL]

So Henry do u think the cut area on the piston is weakened? My plan was to find a block to build, throw some lb7 cut and coated pistons and carrillos in it and do the necessary machine work. Maybe port the heads. But if forged is the way to go then I will start budgeting for them. I just hate the idea of tearing down the motor every year to put rings in.

 

[jmaz268]

Whats your goal Jeremiah?

 

[ripmf666]

So Henry do u think the cut area on the piston is weakened? My plan was to find a block to build, throw some lb7 cut and coated pistons and carrillos in it and do the necessary machine work. Maybe port the heads. But if forged is the way to go then I will start budgeting for them. I just hate the idea of tearing down the motor every year to put rings in.

Has a lot in who tunes it and what power adder you pump to it. All my parts came from Guy 3 years ago and 60,000 miles on that build now. With stock heads stock cam stock push rods and stock main bolts. I have 2 built motors almost ready to ship now and a few other cores that can be started at anytime.

 

[THEREDDEVIL]

Whats your goal Jeremiah?

Honestly I want a truck I can race, sled pull and drive 25 miles to work. I figure I will hook about 10-15 times a year and race a few times. I have a race car to satisfy my need for speed on the track. To b straight up with u guys I get a pretty nice bonus at work in march so that pretty much goes towards the truck. I wanted to just put a bigger single on my truck but if the motor lets go I'm stuck without a truck and cruising the man wagon. Not good. I realize I can't have a 1000rwhp truck and expect it to do all the shit I want. But I would like a reliable 700hp(ballpark) and about a daily driven 600hp. I don't think I need billet flex plate or high dollar dampner. I don't need to spin 5000 rpm's. And my "don't lift" mentality is going to get me bent rods or cracked pistons with a bigger single.

 

[THEREDDEVIL]

Has a lot in who tunes it and what power adder you pump to it. All my parts came from Guy 3 years ago and 60,000 miles on that build now. With stock heads stock cam stock push rods and stock main bolts. I have 2 built motors almost ready to ship now and a few other cores that can be started at anytime.

Henry can u pm me a price on the built motors? Maybe that's an option for me.

 

[gmduramax]

Did you have the bottle on it ? I have the same cut and coated pistons with 3 years and 4 months and 60k on it now. At one point it was in the upper 700 lower 800 area now she's at around 630 area.

It was sprayed on occasion. In your 60k how many passes have you put on it? My motor had no less than 300 passes.

 

[ripmf666]

It was sprayed on occasion. In your 60k how many passes have you put on it? My motor had no less than 300 passes.

In the 2 years of your motor being built your saying you have around 300 passes with 30,000 miles on it. I think you need to count your time slips up.

My stock motor with a gt4094r and some bottle made it to 30,500 miles before popping with around mybe 200 might of been a few more. We could get in 30 to 50 passes on a test and tune before noon. And a normal Friday night race was luck to see 8 passes. Had more street racing then anything on it. The built motor has around 100 runs lots of street abuse and lots of hwy time. The drag racing in the mid west sucks its more sled pulling here I miss the east coast so I have not been to the track a lot the ones around here I just do not care for track prep sucks.

When are you going to pull the motor apart and we can see this piston ?

 

[gmduramax]

In the 2 years of your motor being built your saying you have around 300 passes with 30,000 miles on it. I think you need to count your time slips up.

My stock motor with a gt4094r and some bottle made it to 30,500 miles before popping with around mybe 200 might of been a few more. We could get in 30 to 50 passes on a test and tune before noon. And a normal Friday night race was luck to see 8 passes. Had more street racing then anything on it. The built motor has around 100 runs lots of street abuse and lots of hwy time. The drag racing in the mid west sucks its more sled pulling here I miss the east coast so I have not been to the track a lot the ones around here I just do not care for track prep sucks.

When are you going to pull the motor apart and we can see this piston ?

I was thinking about starting it tomorrow. I have to rearrange the garage first.

 

[ecc_33]

My engine is at BES right now and is done. I will be running deliped stock pistons. Hamilton valve springs. Carrillo rods, ATI damper, Head studs, 60 over injectors, stock cam and heads, The only piece of the puzzle that im missing is the 60 over nozzles so far. BES balanced the engine, torque honed the bore, keyed the crank and cam, Cleaned up the deck on the block and the heads. All together right now I have right at 7,000 in the parts and machine work. Machine work alone was $2300 Im not exactly sure what all was messed up on the heads as i sucked a turbo through the engine 2 years ago and the heads were pitted up bad. I could have possibly bent a couple valves. I should know next week exactly what they did but it wasn't cheap. The good thing is though I know it was done right and thats all that matters:thumb:

 

[Stingpuller]

Motor

Is it ever cheap??? We need to get started on it. Jeff

 

[THEREDDEVIL]

I can handle 7k. That's not bad.

 

[JoshH]

Here are a few things to consider at the machine shop.

Key cam and crank
Bore the cylinders (if going to an oversized piston)
Torque plate hone (especially if using head studs)
Deck the block (just enough to make it flat and square with the mains)
Line hone the mains (required if you want to run main studs)
Completely clean and inspect the heads and valves (just to make sure everything is right before bolting them back on)
Balance the rotating assembly (there are guys who have gotten by without it, but it makes them idle so much smoother and isn't that expensive)