Here are my thoughts. Tell me if I'm wrong. If I go 410 I'll have to buy a crank. If I can't find a good used 428 crank, I will have to buy One new. I get killer deals at a local speed shop. What brand should I buy. If I buy from barry it looks like there isn't that much difference between a 3.98 crank and a 4.25. I personally don't think I need the extra cubes. What do y'all think. Hell, if a 390 can make 440ft lbs, I might go that route. Also, would my best money be spent buying on of Barry's kits or can I find stock parts cheaper.
With pistons, can I use a stock 360 rod and a custom piston or will the piston be to short. Will a 390 rod work better? Which brand of piston do y'all suggest.
Which head do I look for, or will a c8 or d2 work ok? I have all the time in the world to look for parts, and I'm pretty good at it too.
What do you mean by "if you want to save money on seats, go with CJ valves". Wont cj valves need seats as well. I know absolutely nothing about heads. But want to learn.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm doing this build for 2 reasons, the truck needs more torque, and I want to learn a little about building a performance engine.
I'm gonna check out those builds now.
Thanks again for all the help
Will
I'd buy a SCAT cast crank if I were buying new, regardless of stroke. Although some people have had good luck with Eagles, many haven't. In my opinion what you are doing doesn't require a forged crank.
If you go 3.98 stroke, you can use 6.49 (390, 428, 427) connecting rods, if you go 4.25, the most common size is 6.70 and it uses a Chevy rod dimension. With a 4.25 stroke, the cheapest way is probably SCAT I beams, Probe pistons and the SCAT cast crank, but it will be very tough to keep compression low with the C8/D2 heads and a stroker. The one I just did was a bear to keep under 10:1 with D2 heads and off the shelf parts and that's too much compression for your intended use.
My opinion is still what it was on the FE forum, if you are staying on a budget, get a good 1.77 compression height cast piston and build a zero to -.010 deck 9:1 390, a high 250's advertised duration cam and Performer intake.
I do think head work will help you significantly though, not drag racing, high dollar head work, but head work that doesn't add much port volume, just cleans up obstructions in the guide area and blends the bowl cleanly to the valve seat combined with a good valve job
Going to 410 would be easy too, but it adds the cost of a crank and a balance, but there are plenty of cast 1.66 or 1.67 compression height 410/truck 390 pistons out there, ebay is loaded with them, so the price would be more than a 390 but less than a 445. Again though, you'll need to watch compression as stroke adds it pretty quickly and you'll need to keep it around 9:1 for the type of cam you'll want.
As others have said though, if you want the MOST power, the 445 will get you there.
As far as my comment on saving seats on the heads, you can cheat if you are building a budget motor and add 2.09/1.67 valves and just cut new seats and then blend the bowls. Its decent for a budget motor, but if you were going 445 I'd probably put a set of seats in too.
The D2/C8 head is fine with some work, I run D2s on my 445 that flow 277 cfm, that's much more than an out of the box Edelbrock, but they are only opened up to medium riser size intake runners with CJ valves The heads don't really need to be opened up even that much though, the real gains are in the bowl area and the valve job on those heads, especially on a build like yours, from the factory they are the worst flowing heads, improving those areas make power with no downside However, like the ones on my 445. they can do well with relatively little work.
I would not use a 360 rod only because a custom piston would cost more than finding a good set of 6.49 rods and using an off the shelf piston.
The 360 rod is not long enough to use a 390 truck/410 piston with a 390 crank and too long to use a 390 car piston with a 390 crank, so no real benefit.
