Holden 355 stroker

Hey all,

Im going to be rebuilding my 304 and stroking it out to a 355 to put in my vs Ute.

ive been quoted around 20k for the engine (will post the quote).

im in two minds about going ahead and having an engine builder build it or have a crack myself. Got nothing to do with price which the quote I think is reasonable but more just experience and been able to say I did it.

iv never built an engine at all but id say i know my way around an engine and have changed various parts over the years from head gaskets, water pumps, new gear boxes etc. from memory and have currently pulled the engine out and stripped it myself.

my question is, with the advice and help from the videos on HPA and the forums, is it still a risky move to do it on my own?

any advice would be appreciated.

If you have a GOOD machinist, and you have the tools and are able to do the checking, scrupulous cleaning, etc, in a clean area, it may be a bit of a stretch but should be possible. A decent engine stand is almost a must have, if you haven't got one.

I assume you're sourcing the parts from a company that is experienced with the conversion, as I'm not sure what carry-over, if any, there is between the earlier engines and this one, so one will need to know what one was doing with the custom parts selection. The main problem may be if there's some 'trick', or process that needs to be done that you're unaware of, that might have been missed and you don't know enough to catch?

Hi Grande,

I have just embarked on my first ever engine build, an SBC 383 stroker, and despite watching videos and reading for six years prior, there has still been moments of learning/realising during the build.

1) Be very wary of what forum "experts" say.

2) Clean, clean, clean (ATF is good for cleaning swarf out of the bores after honing)

3) Measure, measure, measure.

4) Buy quality tools. A bit expensive, but you can always sell them afterwards.

Just, take it slow. and every step, investigate if anything needs to be measured of if there are any tricks or things to be aware of. I have had plenty of "aha" moments and I'm only 1/3 into the build.

And ask on this forum. Even if you don't ask, setup a thread in the build section and keep people up-to-date with what you are doing, and someone can pipe up with encouragement or pending disasters.

I have found it incredibly relaxing and rewarding doing this, even if my fingers are currently hurting from fitting spiro-locks to the pistons (There's a trick to that!) :-D

Good luck and have fun. And make sure the machine shop is good and understand exactly what you want done. Specify what piston clearance you want. I had mine sent to two shops, the first one effed up multiple things and the second one fixed some of their (deliberate) mistakes.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

Re: #2, a friend who owned a auto' machining company used to have a sign saying - "The Three Rules of Engine Building "Clean, Clean, Clean""

After Rebuilding my first engine (sbc350) my advice to you beside being clean would be to be very careful and sure of your measurements of bore, main bearings, rod bearings, and piston to wall clearance. After you install your crankshaft with main bearings and assembly lube, give it a turn and make sure its nice and free. Do the same thing with your camshaft with its new bearings as well. These are relatively precise measurements that you do not want to mess up causing you to have to do the job over again. while your heads are off check how well the valves seal to the seats by setting the head upside down, the deck being level and fill the combustion chambers with fuel and check back with them after 15mins. the ones that leaked noticeably, lap the valves and seats. while your there also replace valve seals.

select a cam for your use, if you are changing pistons to a smaller dish or flat tops make sure to use a compression calculator and don't overlook head gasket thickness as it can juristically change your compression ratio!

there are many people who do it on Youtube and i found it very helpful to watch numerous videos from multiple people before i attempted it myself people like VGG, Golds garage etc.

Best of luck!

And of course, Powell Machine Inc., although he has decided to only do camshafts now, he does have a stack of very good engine building videos.

I have been amazed at how many things you need to measure that you don't necessarily see in videos, such as piston ring back and axial clearance. And don't forget big end side clearance.

And note down rod bolt length before installing them, if you ever remove them, at least the ones I have, there is a max stretch you need to check to see if you can re-use them.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing