383 Stroker Longblock for under $2000!?

Whitebowtie · May 29, 2004

Anybody every buy from here? Any problems?

sstruck383 · June 7, 2004

I bought one of there 383 TBI engines for my C1500 and it has a lot of torque but no upper end horsepower. It comes with a little cam size of 184/194 @.050 duration. They told me it would with the big 206/214 cam but it didn't. I get 21 mpg with it on the highway which is nice but the upper end hp is not there but the low end torque is there. So, if I was you and you wanted low end torque, I would get there engine but you have to be very detailed what you want the engine to have. Secondly, I would buy the 383 long block from GM, wish I would have done that and just change out the cam to make it work with the TBI system. Good luck...hope this helps.

Whitebowtie · June 7, 2004

That sucks! How did you find out it had the wrong cam? What did they say about it?

piratebaseball · June 11, 2004

That was my little brother that bought the 383 from them. We found out that the cam was wrong when they sent us the cam spec sheet. They were all out of the cam that was suppose to go in there so instead of telling us, they just sent that one instead. He was going off to college on a baseball scholarship soon and we didn't have time to wait and deal with their sorry behinds. They did not have a quick fix and if I remember correctly, wanted us to send the engine back to them (with us paying the freight) for them to install the correct cam after a month or so of them waiting to get the right cam which was suppose to be in the engine to begin with. If that ever happened to me, I'd be filling up my tank of gas to deliver the engine to them personally if you know what I mean. However, I agree with him though, great low end torque, but no upper end. You can feel the engine just die when it starts getting up in the range. In your shoes, I'd buy the 383 short block from GM, put in the cam you want. Pop on a set of vortech or AFR heads with the matching intake for each application. And then put the Whipple supercharger on top

Whitebowtie · June 11, 2004

I just ordered from them two days ago. It's for my 97', so it's a vortec. I mention to him about your brother not getting the right cam. I had him write everything in an email that would be going in it, direct copy of what is on the website. How long ago was this? And is the engine still running good? Thanks.

piratebaseball · June 17, 2004

On the bright side, my brother is getting crazy gas mileage with it. I think he is getting 22mpg or close to it on the hwy. It is holding up pretty good I guess, but I don't think he is really happy with it. With all of the money he put in to the engine to get it going and running (our other engine had around 230,000 miles on it so we had to buy alot of new parts and accessories) he could have bought the ram jet 350 from chevrolet and got it running. For the money its hard to beat the engine. We have had no durability problems as of now (that I know of). I think Raynor is going to try an LS-1 build up next time. The thought of a 427 small block is eating him alive right now.

sstruck383 · June 30, 2004

Sorry I haven't been on this thing in a while. The engine is fine....the piston slap is a little noisy but i found that the Mobil 1 5w40 Synblend is the best stuff to cover it up. Durability, they use low tendency piston rings which sometimes eats up some oil. I am getting 21.5 mpg with it on the hwy and 15 to 16 in the city. I love the gas mileage of being a college student but as soon as I graduate the engine will be replaced. Very disappointed in the performance of the engine but it gets great gas mileage on the highway. If you want even more power, a set of 1.6 Roller Rockers will give you about 15 more hp. Good luck with the engine.