318 stroker
A couple years ago I bought a 390 smallblock (318 stroker) off craigslist.
It seemed like a good deal at the time. It was a fresh build still on the dyno, using many
Stock factory parts.It had a 4" EAGLE crank , factory conecting rods, custom forged flat top pistons,
6 quart oil pan, old 360 heads, a factory cast iron four barrel intake, and a thermoquad carb, and a
Mopar Performance 509 lift hydraulic flat tappet cam. The dyno said 431 hp and
454 ftlbs. Torque.
Brought it home, put it in the Demon, hooked up everything, even the exhaust and got it fired up.
It run well sounded great and idled a little lopey. I kept an eye on the oil pressure and it was about 60 lbs and would drop to about 20 at idle.Satisfied that every thing was good I thought I was done. I ran it several more times over the next month. When I went to change the oil I noticed some metal filings in the bottom of the drain pan. I didn' t throw anything against the wall but.....
Anyway, I pulled the engine and tore it down. What I found was the corners of all the
main bearings were worn down to the copper. Apparently the radius on the main journals of the Eagle crank is bigger than the radius on the bearings.
I was going to use the good parts over in a fresh build so I ordered the
correct bearings for that crankshaft -.010 and had the crank reground -.010. I have not done anything else with that motor sinse. I know it could be built into a real strong street engine.