the company who i'm planning on buying a crate motor from says the engine doesnt come from the factory balanced, so they offer a zero balancing service for $150. how necessary is this step? i'm already spending so much on it.
installing new engine question:
- Thread starter milesstarkey
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Assuming you are talking SBC? I think balancing is a good thing, but most new engines come in a lot closer that they used to, from the factory. If it is a crate motor, $150 sounds too cheap to disassemble and balance and reassemble. If the motor is already apart, the $150 is about right, but then it is not a crate motor?
If this is a rebuild that you are ordering from a rebuilder, then spend the $150.
GL
Ed
If this is a rebuild that you are ordering from a rebuilder, then spend the $150.
GL
Ed
- Thread starter
- #3
yeah it's a 1968 327. the company has remanufactured engines that they put together. i can pick the cam they install and stuff. i was just wondering what kind of difference it made with the engine, a big difference? will it not run good without it being balanced? will it shake, or what?
I'm surprised any company would offer a motor that's not balanced since what it affects over anything else is longevity. YES ... balance the motor. Sadly, it's not a true balance job unless they have the flywheel and pressure plate but it's better than nothing.
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just curious, why did you choose a 327? you could probibly do a 383 stroker just as cheap.
I would recommend not buying a remanufactured motor, and just buying a new crate motor from the dealer. Coming from experience I have had nothing but nightmares and headaches from remanufactured engines. The quality that goes into the rebuild from these places is at the best poor. The only way you will get a quality rebuild is to have a good machinest or yourself do it.
A balanced motor is extremely important if you are turning high hp or rpm. If you are not building the motor for either of these reasons then you would be fine not to balance it. If you are going to do it, it will not be worth unless you have every part of from pressure plate to front pulley. It would be like boring the shafts, but using old rings and pistons.
Scott
Scott
- Thread starter
- #9
to balance it they asked that i send them the flywheel and harmonic balancer from my engine. my engine that went out is a 327 so i just thought of replacing it. i haven't looked at the prices of 383's. what cars were they out of? here's the website i found the engine http://www.Rebuilt-Auto-Engines.com. they have a 7/70,000 warranty.
- Thread starter
- #10
what about a 400? that's about the same price as the 327.
the 383 small block chevy<to be refered to as SBC> is actually a 350 boared .30 over with a 400 crank. The only change you would have to make installing either the 400 or 383 would be your flywheel. 400 SBC cranks are externally ballanced where as all other SBC's are interally ballanced.
there is nothing wrong with the 327 I was just concerned that you might be under the imrpesion you where getting more power or durability and I have ran across a lot of people who want a lot more money for a 327 because they are "rare" when you can get as good reliability and probibly more power from the 350 or 400. You might get slightley better gas mileage with the 327 but probibly not even noticeable.
The 400 is a good motor but I have owned a few that had over heating issues it's just a lot of motor for the size of the block....the easiest and probibly cheapest route you could would be to buy a 350...they you could reuse your 327 flywheel
side note: there are manufactures now offering new 400 SBC cranks whick are internally ballanced so they use non 400 flywheels and flexplates
there is nothing wrong with the 327 I was just concerned that you might be under the imrpesion you where getting more power or durability and I have ran across a lot of people who want a lot more money for a 327 because they are "rare" when you can get as good reliability and probibly more power from the 350 or 400. You might get slightley better gas mileage with the 327 but probibly not even noticeable.
The 400 is a good motor but I have owned a few that had over heating issues it's just a lot of motor for the size of the block....the easiest and probibly cheapest route you could would be to buy a 350...they you could reuse your 327 flywheel
side note: there are manufactures now offering new 400 SBC cranks whick are internally ballanced so they use non 400 flywheels and flexplates
after looking at the site you intend on buying from all their small blocks are about the same price'''''if your abel to spind a little more coin and want some serious power check out these guys
http://www.jasperengines.com/panther-spec-eng.htm
I had a 351W that they built in a 85 mustang, it dyno'd at 457HP at the tires and I put over 130K very hard miles on it with no motor problems....the only problems I ever had where it would tack up so fast I kept ripping the PS pump off it and until centerforce came along it would shatter/explode clutch plates.
http://www.jasperengines.com/panther-spec-eng.htm
I had a 351W that they built in a 85 mustang, it dyno'd at 457HP at the tires and I put over 130K very hard miles on it with no motor problems....the only problems I ever had where it would tack up so fast I kept ripping the PS pump off it and until centerforce came along it would shatter/explode clutch plates.
- Thread starter
- #13
how much of a difference is the 400 from the 327. in terms of torque or horsepower? on that website the 327 is only $26 more than the 350. i don't want to have to pay to bore out an engine. from what i was told, the 350 has more horse, but less torque, than the 327. and torque is what's important to me. am i wrong?
- Thread starter
- #14
alpinestar, those guys are $800 more. i don't have that kind of coin.
milesstarkey said:
understandable, I dont have that kind of money anymore...kids and all
as for the HP and torque numbers I really dont have any Idea as to the 327 but I think a stock 350 from about 73 to 80 sumptim was rated at 160HP/260TQ but those numbers are completely out the door when you start changing cam/exhaust/intake/carb/ing. etc
names Steve by the way
milesstarkey said:
It's time to fix a couple of notions here before things get out of hand. Begin by comparing apples to apples. If you assume every component in the engines to be the same then 327's do not produce more torque. 327's and 350's share the same bore (4.00 inches) but the 327 has a 3.25 inch stroke and the 350 is 3.48 inches. You don't have to know much about engines to know that if you put a longer crank on a bicycle you make more torque when pushing the pedals. The same physics works in engines. Add to that the engines bolt up exactly the same way and you can see why folks here are asking you about the 350.
383 SBC's were never in production cars and so can't be had at the local junk yard. They do produce gobs of torque (because of, again, a longer stroke) however they are not as easy to build as some folks make them out to be. Both the block and the rods many times need to be ground down to make the crank fit which can sometimes get very close to grinding into the water jacket. The clearance between the cam and rods on my current engine is 0.030 inches after grinding the rods. In stock 400's this was done by using a shorter (Read weaker) bolt on the rods. For the money you're better off sticking to a 350.
400's are actually good motors that got a bad wrap mostly from folks that didn't know how to build them. The overheating myth largely grew out of folks bolting different heads on a 400 block without drilling steam holes in the heads. The "blame" was placed on 400 blocks having seimesed (joined) cylinder walls. Fact is joining the cylinder was makes the cylinders stronger which is the reason Dart and aftermarket Bowtie racing blocks have them as well. They do need extra cooling but that stems from the engine simply having more displacement.
One point already made that is very important ... for what it takes to buy a reman motor (and not be sure if it was done right or not) you can have a new and dependable crate motor delivered. $1500 will get 260 reliable NEW horsepower on your doorstep and it will have very strong torque numbers.
If you still plan to get the 327 reman and are asked to pick a cam just be sure you keep the duration of the cam on the short side ... less than say 212 @ 0.050. Above that and the engine loses low end torque, especially in a 327 which is less forgiving than a larger motor.
That is almost crystal clear 
I would suggest trying local places to you. Local machine shops sometimes have items
that have not been payed for, local engine builders usually have stuff on hand. Maybe even
a local company that offers rebuild or reman engines? This is more my general approach, but crates and crate prices could be hard to beat.
I think you could use web stuff as a general idea, pricing, warrenty, but i would really be
worried about handleing the core motor and exact warrenty stuff through a web business
I would suggest trying local places to you. Local machine shops sometimes have items
that have not been payed for, local engine builders usually have stuff on hand. Maybe even
a local company that offers rebuild or reman engines? This is more my general approach, but crates and crate prices could be hard to beat.
I think you could use web stuff as a general idea, pricing, warrenty, but i would really be
worried about handleing the core motor and exact warrenty stuff through a web business