So, adding up the costs.....

looks like around $560
more cost to the build to stroke the crank .200 longer

this includes:
Additional crank grinding work $350


$25 more for eagle BBC 6.635 rods and pin bushings

$35 for Big Block Chevrolet sized Rod Bearings

Rod machine work on pin bushings and narrow small ends $150

$525 additional cost over other repairs and upgrades

The costs I am estimating for the stock stroke upgrades:



Crank grinding work to correct current tight clearances $150

New speed pro Cam bearings $20

Mill heads $200

Flow test heads and intake on heads on both runner types $160

Polydyne coat rod and main bearings $150

Ati balancer $400

Speedmaster sfi flexplate 2561226012 $130

Eagle 6.735 Oldsmobile rods $480

Clean and hone block ~$250-300

Balance assembly $250

Canton oil pan 15-502 and pickup 15-503 $430

Head gaskets .027 $180

$2800 total cost est.




Are the corteco .028 Head gaskets still available?? I can’t find them for sale? 55661HG ?

Thats most likely because you cut .500 off the counterweights. They normally take 3-4 slugs total.

About $75.00 installed.

Odd cam bearing wear

Thank you all for the tips so far on the balance weights.

Still mulling this all over....



The block has main studs and straps on 2,3,and 4 and oil restrictors installed as well. Yes, I have built very precise engines before and I know how to use the measuring tools, so I have that going for us luckily....

now, I have to figure out what clearances to run for a street/strip engine. I am thinking .0025 rods/ .0035 mains, thoughts?

I need to read the build sheet when I can later, but I believe it was align bored and honed and the deck was squared as well as the cam journals honed.

also, the cam bearings have a very weird wear/burnishing pattern on them all from 7 o’clock to 4 o’clock .....

Maybe someone rotated the cam while it was dry, but it seems more like they degreed the cam while it was dry or assembled the engine and turned the cam over dry with valvespring forces on it dry.

We are going to replace these, but not quite sure with what yet...


We are going to have polydyne coat the rods and main bearings no matter whether we go stroker or not.

I personally met with Dave at Mile High and he seems very sharp and willing to do whatever I ask of him for stroke and/or more bearing clearance.

At at this point, I am at a dilemma. The Arias 23cc dished pistons came off the press fit pins on the Mondello rods just fine. So, we will probably have to re-use them, unless.... I am working on acquiring some other newer/lighter forged pistons in the background.....

I also just discovered that there is s brand new fuel station that has E85 only 2 miles from me......

my target compression was going to be 10.5:1 for non ethanol pump gas nearby, but this is really making me want much more compression......

That is E85 for $2.149 near Bandimere today 6/25/2018

To do the stroker setup will cost $500 minimum for machine work from Dave at Mile High crankshafts, not including Nitriding, which would add another $175.
To balance the crank would be pushing $500 for the balance ($190) and it only takes four pieces of Mallory at $75 ($300)....
That would be $1,000 in the crank..... plus machine work on 6.635 BBC rods...... possibly $250 or so more.

So, that is $1250+ dollars to try and make 21 more cubic inches..... Not sure it is worth it when adding things up.

Using a stroker crank would require grinding or machining the Big Block Chevy 6.635 rods to be narrower on the little end by .062 and the big ends will have to be narrowed as well to fit within the journal width and the bearings machined to match the rods.
I am thinking that because we want a chamfer on the outer sides of the rods, that maybe we only machine the inner parts of the rods and bearings to fit within the crank journal. Does anyone see any issues offhand with this?

Also, we would have to buy new small end rod bushings to have pressed in and honed for a .980 olds wrist pin.

For now, I am trying to get some numbers on the cost to machine the rods with these mods.


I hope to get the flow numbers tomorrow for the heads with and without the intake attached.

I am also checking on the cost of machining for the 2.125 valves..... or 2.18's and going to .311 stems on the intakes










Might be better off getting more airflow out of the heads (If they are weaksauce), going with Eagle Olds Rods, getting it balanced externally, having the crank ground for more clearance and milling the heads for more compression (and deciding how much to mill and if we are going to run E85 or not).


We will see what the head numbers show, and if we want to risk the E85 tune..... the injectors I have are large enough, and I have plenty of fuel volume and pressure available with my dual 044 pumps and swirl pot for delivery. I can up the pressure if the duty cycle required is more than what they can flow at 44psi. Because of our elevation, I don't think it will need that much E85 even....

You Tube

270 on the intake, 210 on the exhaust, both at .700 lift.

Getting warm.....

I am picking up the flow test sheet today to show the numbers with and without the intake.

I will post that later today.

There isn’t enough clearance between the valves to go to anything much larger than a 2.07-2.08, so we aren’t going to spend the money for the tiny gain that would give. Looks like an offset guide, rocker arm, etc. is the only way to increase the valve size and we can’t do all that right now....

Head CC is 69CC’s and piston dish is 23cc’s and currently .013 down the hole with a .040 head gasket gets me 10.2 compression. If I go to .027 Cometic gaskets, that should get the quench to .040 and bump compression to 10.5:1, which I am told can run fine on 91 octane premium here in Denver. It would also run fine on E85 obviously, but because my Dad is afraid of committing to an E85-only compression ratio, we will probably stick with 10.5:1.

Dad asked me last night if we could do rear mount Turbo’s later on, or even a 150 Hp nitrous kit with 10.5:1. I told him with E85 or race gas, we could still do either one safely until block/bearing failure without a girdle.

looking at a custom Howard cams hyd roller grind with 235/241 @.050 .640/.603 lift 112LSA to get the cam up into the lift range where we can make use of the heads and also the 112LSA for boost or nitrous later. Our springs are good and plenty stout for that size cam, and we are double checking for coil bind setup height now with some new proper fitting retainers and +.050 locks and spring locators. Mondello had used some crap stock locks on the valves... and the retainers are a sloppy fit... these springs we have are 160lbs at 1.800 and 370lbs at 1.050, which is what Howard cams suggested.

Dave Sarno of SCH in Arvada, he is really awesome and has very fair prices


http://schracingheads.net/index.html

Warm? Hell I was pretty damn close, 4 on the intake and 7 on the exhaust. That’s within 2-3%. Didn’t see anyone else do that! 😎

that is why I had to tease you a little!!!

Happy to do so, I hope this works out great. This will be the last Oldsmobile we ever get to build, so trying to make it count!

If my Mondello restrictors are still tight, should I go ahead and pull and replace them with the threaded ones?

is that a real failure point now as well? I guess I would need to thread the aluminum plugs to try and pull them out with a screw? Or is there another way? Maybe a wood screw of appropriate size...

Has anyone seen a flow test of the Edelbrock Victor intake to see what numbers and runner to runner variation is?

Don’t use restrictors at all, use the back cut Durabond 06-B cam bearing installed at 3 o’clock when looking at the front of the block.
For main bearings use the federal Mogul 108M. It’s only a 5/8-3/4 groove instead of a full groove like the Clevite. Much better bearing..

do you see the full grooved clevite bearings as a real weak point with this much bearing diameter though?

I may may cut my own cam bearings on a lathe... I have some speed pro 683S cam bearings coming already....

So, turning the feed hole to 3 o’clock gives better oiling and effectively acts as the restrictor to the cam bearings if using the bearings with grooves on the rear for the oil circuit?

The “blueprinted” Mondello oil pump wouldn't turn when I tried it, so I figured we better take it apart also and check it out. It had a little dent/ding on the gears, and the bottom plate had so much Indian head/shellac sealant on it that it had stuck the gears to the lower plate, and that crap was hard as a rock and tiny pieces broke off as I finally got the gears to turn, just one more thing to put crap through the oil circuit and ruin something...

We are working on pulling out the restrictors today, after working on cleaning and removing the hard black crud from the pistons and rings. Removed all the rings and cleaned each one and it’s groove. I am going to check the ring gaps and open them up some, depending on where they are at, to allow some more heat from Nitrous or boost in the future.

I like to open the second ring up about .002 more than the top ring, to keep the top ring from unloading/fluttering, where Mondello’s blueprint sheet shows that he had the second ring tighter on this build originally.


For the heads, I am disappointed in the flow numbers on the intake side, and being at elevation, we need all we can get. I am thinking that maybe we can turn the exhaust valves smaller, as they are really sitting proud of the seats anyways, and try to stick a 2.125 or 2.15 intake valve in there... what is the minimum safe clearance recommended between valve heads in the chamber? .010? .020?

understood and agreed! Thanks!