Help me decide on what stroker kit to buy

[Bigstang1]

I have decided to build a stroker for my mustang this coming winter. I am trying to decide what kit to buy and im trying to stay cheap but i want somthing that is going to last and be good for the street. I am a junior in highschool so my funds are limited. I have 3 basic choices

1. CHP streetfighter 347 forged pistons, cast crank, oil ring does not intersect the wrist pin so no burning oil $1099
2. 347 kit from POWERHOUSE hyper pistons, nodular iron crank, forged rods, oil ring is intersected so it will have the burning oil problem $599
3. 331 kit from POWERHOUSE same as 347 but a 331 does not have the intersected oil ring but i heard that a 347 i better for the street

This will be my daily driver in the summer time and i want somthing that isnt going to break or wear out right away but then again im on a budget. I will be using aluminum heads, typhoon intake, b303 or trickflow stg 2 cam and a timing gear drive. Tell me what u guys think about what kit and if the rest of my combo sounds ok. thanks

 

[90Notch]

My personal opinion is the words "stroker" and "on a budget" should NOT go hand in hand. In order for a stroker to be reliable you NEED to spend $$ and have the block properly machined. Combo sounds decent but I'd use X303 cam over both you have listed. Strokers are expensive so spend some time pricing up everything you need before buying a kit!

Get a cast 347ci kit then figure in new balancer and flywheel (really should go with 28oz kits) and in MA minimum $700 of maching costs.

As to where to get it, get either a Scat or Eagle kit and shop around they are shops you can buy a cast iron kit w/hyper pistons for @$800 (including rings and bearings).

 

[saniutza]

IMO CHP stroker kit it's a good deal... i'm gonna get one myself soon... i was gonna stroke mymotor but i decided to go with a 306 supercharged... better daily driver than a stroker...

if you'll get a stroker i think you should work on you H/I/C .. i know you already got the B303 cam but i think th cam wont free all that power out of the 331 or the 347....

 

[Bigstang1]

Holy crap!! $700 dollars for machining?!! What exactly is required for machineing a stroker? I was planning on boring .030 over, hot tank, and clearencing the botom of the cylinders for the extra stroke. What else is there to have done? I apoligize for my ingnorance please help me out. Im starting to think this street stoker thing isnt a good idea and it kinda upsets me cause ive been plannin on it for like a year so if somone could tell me if a street stroker is a bad idea all together and point me in a different direction that would be good thanks

 

[408stroker5.0]

Stay away from Hyperuetic Piston's. There alright, but the price difference when compared to a decent forged set is so minor that it makes no sense not to get Forged Piston's. That's my opinion.

 

[Bigstang1]

ttt

 

[408stroker5.0]

This is off topic, but it has been bothering me.
What the hell does... "ttt," mean?????? I've seen it a couple of times on Stang Net.
While I'm at it what does... "lol" mean?

 

[331 cobra]

It means "to the top", LOL is "laugh out loud" I believe.

I bought my forged crank from summit for $511 shipped. It is a $1,000 crank on clearance and made in USA. I bought my connecting rods on Ebay for $500. New from Lunati they are about $1,100. All I need now is a nice set of pistons and I'm going to have one built bottom end!

If the Trick flow cranks are still on clearance, I think they are a bargain. I have seen the less expensive lunati 5.4" rods for arround $225 on ebay. A set of forged pistons is about $450, so for about $1,200, you could have an all forged, american made kit. The rods are the only questionable item, but they are better than stock and stock rods have been known to handle a whole lot, usually more than the stock block can handle, so it isn't too bad to skimp a little there.

$700 for machining isn't out of the question if you need a line hone or heavy metal to ballance your crank. Hopefully you won't need either. $400 would be about right for a normal job out here. That's a bore and hone, deck the block, cam bearings, hot tank, ballence job and assembly.

Summit also had 347 cranks on clearance, but I don't know where you can get a good deal on 5.315"rods, so, I'll say stick with a 331. You get better rod ratio, better oil control, and a stronger crank for just a few cubes and it can be a little cheaper.

 

[jaketuff]

To The Top
Laugh Out Loud

Boost is the easiest way... but look see that motor has 175k MILES! Probably needs rebuild before boost to have a reliable powerplant.

There is no way to keep a small budget with any motor build out. $700 is CHEAP for machining. If I were you I would do the tranny swap and pay that off, then think adding power. The manual will awaken the powerband and you will find it faster than the AOD-especially if the AOD is 175k miles old, ever rebuild that unit?

OUT

 

[Bigstang1]

I have never rebuilt the AOD and it shifts funny somtimes so i know the t5 will waken things up because im putting in some 3.73s at the same time as the T5. I will be assemblying the motor myself...will that brings the price down much from the machine shop...i think it would. So if i did assemble it myself i would tear down the block send the block in for a bore and hone and hot tank and new cam bearings. What is "decking"? then after i assemble it i would send it back there to get balenced? I wanna be able to say that i built my engine myself (with the supervision of a mechanic i know)
Also does anyone know if the chp kit requires clearencing for the rods in the bottom of the cylinders? thanks for all the help i apprieciate it. i still have hope that i can do this.

 

[90Notch]

There's no reason that you couldn't tear down the engine you have now, clean everything, do a home hone, install new cam bearings then reassemble motor with new rings and bearings for $300. Unless you have the funds for a stroker stick with building a 302, you can make decent power out of them.

Decking is machining block deck surface down so that piston tops sit flush with deck surface.

"Also does anyone know if the chp kit requires clearencing for the rods in the bottom of the cylinders?"

The 347 kit will definitely need it, 331 kit I don't know. My 331 Eagle kit with I beam rods didn't need clearancing.

 

[331 cobra]

To ballence an engine, first the rods are ballenced to each other by figuring out which one is lightest, then grinding on the ballencing pads of the heavier rods untill the match to within about 1 gram. They do this twice, once for the big end and once for the small end. This matches the moments of inertia for your rods. Next the pistons are ballenced, but since they are only reciprocating weight, they only do it once. Now they take the weight of the big end, the small end, the piston/ring/pin and an arbitrary ammount of oil. Those weights are entered in to a formula to determine bob weight. Then they take bob weights and fill them with lead shot untill they match the bob weight that they have calculated. The weights are bolted to the rod throws of the crank, then they put that in a ballencing machine. They will either add putty to the crank, or use a computer to figure out where they have to drill holes to remove weight, or add mass with heavy metal.

Ballencing isn't something you can do in your basement, and you do it before any assembly.

For a real high performance rebuild, ballancing is required. Usually stock motors are pretty close, but if you use lightweight pistons, you will throw your ballence off by quite a bit. It might work fine at low rpm, but throwing around extra weight at 7,000 rpm will create some real force, and a lot of vibration.

 

[Bigstang1]

Ok ive been doing some thinking and i think i wasnt to build a 302/306 engine combo instead. It seems more realistic for a kid my age and with the money i have. I want somthing with higher compression but that i can still run on pump gas (93) So i was thinking about dome pistions and everything else stock in the bottome end but new bearings and rings. Any suggestions along these lines? thanks

 

[90Notch]

Check your email. Use all stock bottom end parts until you can afford to build a real motor. You could easily build a reliable 300rwhp+ motor using stock bottom end then adding used upper end parts...easily. It has been done countless times, there are three things that you need to make sure you don't skimp on IMO heads, cam and a good timing set. The rest does not have to be top of line.