The urge got the better of me

[Aspen500]

I HAD to hear the car run and it could not wait another minute. First time since October, plus I wanted (or is that NEEDED) to smell the race fuel that's mixed in. Nothing better! Well, if you add the smell of burning rubber to the smell of burning race fuel, I guess that would be better

 

[Duke5A]

Almost Spring time! Sure doesn't sound like a hydraulicflat tappet cam.

Wish I could do that. Mine doesn't have the axle installed yet.

 

[Aspen500]

I'm curious. What do you mean it doesn't sound like a hydraulic flat tappet cam? I'd love to have a hydraulic roller cam (and EFI and a Gear Vendors overdrive and.........) but $$$$$$$$$.

I'm guessing we'll have to wait at least another month around here, probably closer to two months yet. Sigh...................Maybe we'll get lucky, all the snow will melt, rain will wash the salt away and the street sweepers will get all the sand and gravel off the pavement by the end of March! In reality, it'll most likely be mid May at the earliest.

 

[Duke5A]

It sounds just like mine and it's the first stroker I've ever owned. I always attributed the diesel like sound to the roller cam. Sounds mean.

How high is the compression?

 

[Opticon77]

Usually hydraulic lifter noise is due (if not to worn/dirty lifters) to aggressive lobe profile and increased valve spring pressure. Roller or flat tappet shouldn't really sound any different. BUT that sound is closer to a knock than a tap in the video. I'm going to say it's probably piston slap from the short skirt on the stroker kit pistons. Maybe a touch undersized for the bore.

 

[Duke5A]

Usually hydraulic lifter noise is due (if not to worn/dirty lifters) to aggressive lobe profile and increased valve spring pressure. Roller or flat tappet shouldn't really sound any different. BUT that sound is closer to a knock than a tap in the video. I'm going to say it's probably piston slap from the short skirt on the stroker kit pistons. Maybe a touch undersized for the bore.

Yeah, that was my error alright. Like I said, first stroker motor. I attributed the sound of the piston slap to valve train.

 

[Aspen500]

You got it. The noise is from the pistons with the shorter skirts. IIRC, they have .005" skirt clearance with an anti-friction coating. At any rate, the clearance is what the manufacturer recommended (pretty sure they're KB Silvo-Lite). They're forged pistons with a high silicone content. It's sounded like that from day one.

I estimate the CR to be around 10.25:1. Pistons are -024cc dish with 73.5 cc chamber heads and -.015" deck height.

I think the roller rockers have sort of a "sound" to them as well. PRW stainless roller tip with shaft bushings (not needle bearings).
Big blocks tend to be noisier, with nothing but a thin piece of tin covering the valley rather than a noise insulating manifold. At least that's the way it's always seemed to me.

 

[Opticon77]

Those are low-expansion hypereutectic but you may have made the mistake of leaving bore clearance for forged pistons. Looks to me like hypers over a 4" bore should only have about .002-.0025"

#2---- Clearance Requirements for Hypereutectic Pistons

 

[Aspen500]

I'm probably wrong about the manufacturer and model of piston. It was a guess. I do know for sure they're forged and the recommended clearance shown on the spec sheet was .005"-.006". They came from 440 Source as part of the stroker kit. Found my assembly notes and I did measure .005" skirt to wall clearance. Nice part is, 100% forged and machined in USA.

These are the ones:
Platinum Series Pistons - 4.350 -24 Dished-440 Source

 

[Oldiron440]

Your car looks and sounds great.!
Now if we can rid on the snow....

Just the fact your pistons are forged they will make more noise at startups. When I put mufflers on my Volare I just cringe with all the things I hear.

 

[Aspen500]

Now I'm really getting itchy. No, I don't have a rash, lol. Still too much salt and sand on the roads so,,,,,,,,,we wait.
On the way home from work Friday afternoon, I saw that for some STUPID reason, they had sprayed brine on the round-a-bout and both bridges I cross going through Mosinee (where I work). Then, soon as I turned onto Hwy KK, that was sprayed also, the entire length of it. I turn off a couple miles before the end but assume they went to the end of the highway. It had dried already but the white stripes are unmistakable. Now it'll take even more rain (and a longer amount of time) for that road to be clear. I haven't a clue why they would spray all that crap for no apparent reason. WTF??????????????????

 

[BudW]

That piston looks like mine . . . almost.

I purchased two 440-Source 400 block stroker kits (400.470.5060 stroker kit, times 2) a few years back. At the time I had a NOS 400 short block (’78) and a used ’74 400 block (more than 0 but less than 0.010” to clean up). I didn’t want to bore the used block more than needed and didn’t want to bore out my NOS block at all (it is already honed and ready to go, as is, other than having a cast crank and super low compression pistons). I then called Diamond pistons and they made a pair of custom pistons for me to get my compression where I want it at (9.5 to 1), that is also coated. Diamond also sent me 3 spare hockey pucks (well . . . they do look like pucks).

I sent one spare piston with my used block to a machine shop, three years ago. I hadn’t heard anything so I swung by the machine shop about 2 months later, and building was empty. To date, I hadn’t located my block.
Sense that time, I found second NOS short block (cast 2 days earlier of my other block, in ’78) cheap. Sense I already invested money in custom pistons, I might have to bore one engine out a tad.

These are my original 440-Source pistons. They have a cool looking polish to them – but not sure why.

My Diamond pistons.

Just too many "other" projects piled up before I can get to my engine assembly project (according to my wife). My plan is to build both stroker engines at same time.
BudW

 

[Aspen500]

My pistons looked like that when I got them, almost like a mirror on the tops. I sent them to a place that I can't recall right now (think it was in South Carolina???) and had the skirts coated when I built the engine again when it had 100 miles on it. Long story but basically, the original machine shop put the wrong finish on the cylinder walls and I didn't notice it was wrong. Rings never seated and there was gray/silver in the oil pan. I know this because I had the pan off at least 3 or 4 times trying to fix an oil leak (turns out the pan from 440 Source was a POS, replaced with a Milodon and pan leaks gone) I believe it was the rings being destroyed, plus the engine didn't sound right and seemed low on power, along with way too much crankcase pressure. The cylinders needed a 400 stone with a plateau finish. The 1st shop looked like they did a 320 or even coarser, even though I gave them what Total Seal wanted. So,,,,,,,,,,,,,trying to keep the long story short, I sent the block to a different shop and had it honed to the correct finish, which made the cylinders .001" bigger but the coating is .0005" (makes the skirt .001" bigger so, I ended up with the same clearance. Moral of the story, never trust a machine shop that has Chevy on the brain, lol. The second time, the rings seated in about 5 seconds I think(!)
I remember opening the boxes for the stroker kit and seeing the rods, crank and pistons for the first time and they looked so good, I thought it was almost a shame to hide them in an engine instead of hanging them on the living room wall.
It was the same with the rockers. Too bad they get hidden under covers.