383 appearing, 400 stroker with stealth heads question.

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Dragonbat13

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This setup has interested me for a long time. I know all about how the stealth heads are according to many sources on the web.

I see it mentioned all the time. Take a 400, stroke it (personally I would go 470) and slap some stealth heads on it. Put a factory looking intake and 383 badges on it and you would have a kick *** sleeper motor.

So has anyone on here done it? Anybody know of a video or article where it was done?

I like the idea. That long block with a performer or performer RPM intake and high performance manifolds, or possibly headers for that "day 2" vibe.
 
Chit, I'd go 500-511 or go home. Take an old Edelbrock DP4B grind all the names off it, have it ported to match the heads and paint it to match the engine. I mean heck, if you're gonna stroke it, STROKE it. lol
 
My old 451" engine had a Performer and eventually a modified holley SD for induction. It had factory a-body exhaust manifolds, ported big valve 906's and a healthy hydraulic cam (.560ish w/1.6 ductile rockers). With my dyno headers and a Performer RPM intake the engine made 500hp/500tq. With factory a body exhaust manfolds and Performer (non RPM) intake it would make a calculated 400hp/420tq on a chassis dyno coming in hot off of the street. I think my best pull n/a was right under 450hp/450tq. It took a bit to tune that thing due to the restrictive resto exhaust system and OE manifolds.

This particular engine also put down 576whp on a 150hp plate n20 setup. : D

Unfortunately it split a cylinder on #4 and is torn down for a sleeve. The positive side of that is it will get upgraded to a set of bowl ported Stealth heads, PRH spec'd solid roller and some aftermarket rods. I was hoping to pick up 50-75hp n/a and shoot for 800fwhp on a 250ish shot of nitrous.

Things to consider:

-If you enjoy a bit of RPM in your v8 be aware that a 511" engine will peak way under 6000. Even with a healthy hydraulic cam you will be looking at peak hp in the 5000-5400rpm range. Make sure you tell the person in charge of camshaft selection what your expectations are.

-My 451 would hit a wall a 5800 with the Performer intake. The wall moved to 6100ish when we changed to the Holley SD. Use the largest plenum intake you can fit , especially if you go 470" or 511".

-Work with a cam grinder (PRH) so you can set and meet realistic goals.

-If you go 511" I strongly recommend reworking a set of c body or other ex. manifolds to do away with the steering column pinch area. This is the area that will hold back the combination.
 
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To put into perspective how bad the stock low deck 4bbl manifold is…….

I dyno tested two BBM strokers on consecutive days.
One was a low deck 511, the other a 499 RB.
The 511 used the factory 301 manifold with some work done to it, the 499 had a 6bbl.
Both were run with the same set of B body manifolds.
Both were 12:1, and running SR cams.
They both had ported 906’s, and the heads on the 511 were a few cfm better.
Both cams utilized the same intake lobe and lsa.
The 499 had a slightly faster ex lobe.

The difference in power was about 65hp.

If you’re “trying to make power”, the stock low deck intake manifolds are a pretty big hurdle to overcome.

I later got to test a different low deck 511, which was an overall much higher effort(and $$$) build.
That engine had an extremely modified 301 intake, 14:1+cr, and an .800 lift cam.
It made slightly less hp than the above referenced 499-6, which was a very basic straightforward “bread and butter” build.
From what I understood, this high effort 511 was about 3X the cost of the 511 referenced above.

The bottom line is, you’re not going to get 500hp on a legit dyno from a low deck pump gas stroker street/strip type combo using a factory intake and ex manifolds, unless the intake has had quite a bit of work done to it(and it still won’t be as good as an ootb rpm).
And even then you’ll need to be running all the CR you dare, and not a “small” cam.

Do yourself a favor…….use a good intake manifold.

Edit- I re-read the OP.
Go with the RPM(or a decent single plane) and the headers.
Then the power potential would more be dictated by the level of work done to the heads and how much cam you can tolerate.
 
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I don’t remember all the details of this one:
Low deck 511, 10.5cr, mild ported Stealth heads(290-ish), mid-sized street solid roller.
I don’t recall which intake, but I wanna say it was an RPM, QFT 950, headers.

648tq@4100
586hp@5700
Still 558hp@6200

Of course, if you could get past the appearance of the heads not looking stock, you’d make even more with some TF heads.
 
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While this is a Performer RPM for a RB it sill shows you what one looks like with all the lettering, coil bracket mounting, and machining location tabs cut off.

I probably spent 40 hours on this just to painted it, and with an air cleaner on 99.9% of the crowd wouldn't know it's not a stock intake.

Tom

rsz_2stealthy_440_performer_rpm.jpg
 
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PROSTOCKTOM said:
While this is a Performer RPM for a RB it sill show you what one looks like with all the lettering, coil bracket mounting, and machining location tabs cut off.

I probably spent 40 hours on this just to painted it, and with an air cleaner on 99.9% of the crowd wouldn't know it's not a stock intake.

Tom

View attachment 1716282272
Click to expand...
Heck yeah. That would be camo as heck all paint up sittin under an air cleaner. lol
 
years ago i had a 66 D150 that had a 440 in it with an eddy performer package: carb, intake, cam & heads. it had ceramic coated headers and standard issue speed shop chrome air cleaner and was painted chrysler blue.

with the hood up, most anybody that walked by looked and just said: oh, a big block and wandered away-- despite it clearly saying "edelbrock performer 440" front and center and the heads obviously being aluminum.

you could easily conceal many trick components with a small application of subterfuge-- factory paint and a stock air cleaner would go a long, long way. or head the other direction and use some eye candy to draw the attention away from other components.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Chit, I'd go 500-511 or go home. Take an old Edelbrock DP4B grind all the names off it, have it ported to match the heads and paint it to match the engine. I mean heck, if you're gonna stroke it, STROKE it. lol
Click to expand...
If you don't have a 470 don't knock it.
 
Dragonbat13 said:
This setup has interested me for a long time. I know all about how the stealth heads are according to many sources on the web.

I see it mentioned all the time. Take a 400, stroke it (personally I would go 470) and slap some stealth heads on it. Put a factory looking intake and 383 badges on it and you would have a kick *** sleeper motor.

So has anyone on here done it? Anybody know of a video or article where it was done?

I like the idea. That long block with a performer or performer RPM intake and high performance manifolds, or possibly headers for that "day 2" vibe.
Click to expand...
Plenty of people have done it, use the RPM manifold and headers you'd be best served using a set from tti unless you want tiny front tires to fit fender well headers and or beat new other brand headers to junk to fit under chassis.
If you're going to do the stealth heads you might want to think about cnc ported versions because you might want to go faster at some point.
 
67valiant 100 said:
Stealth heads pair with an M1 dual plain intake for the ultimate stock looking engine.

View attachment 1716282337

View attachment 1716282336

View attachment 1716282340
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This right here. That engine is exactly what I'm talking about..

IF I ever do it I would run a hyd roller with the 470. Multiple reasons I figure on the 470 (and the 451 might be better).

My thinking is that the engine could last an extremely long time. Decent piston skirts. Hyd Roller cam. Fairly simple fuel and ignition setup.

Custom converter with a 727, 3.23 gears and a 28 inch tall rear tire.

I think it would be a stout machine.
 
I remember a past post here where a member chimed in saying that on the low deck 511, the piston pins holes were up in the ring lands/grooves?
Is that significant in terms of durability?
 
Brooks James said:
I remember a past post here where a member chimed in saying that on the low deck 511, the piston pins holes were up in the ring lands/grooves?
Is that significant in terms of durability?
Click to expand...
I don't believe it is, these stroker pistons have a pretty good skirt.
I run the same compression height 1.320 in my 470 as the 511 with 6.700 length rods and there is no evidence of the piston being less durable.
My only concern pistons would be the 1.12 ch 500 ci stroker but in my opinion that is supposed to be ran for less than 10 seconds at a time besides warm up.
But I can't say that as a fact.
 
I have a friend drag racing a 541" (4.500" stroke") with 1.12" pistons. I'll bet he has 2000 runs on the pistons. Refreshed when the cam broke two years ago.

Probably not a combination I would advocate for on the street, but no issues as a race engine.

Tom
 
PROSTOCKTOM said:
I have a friend drag racing a 541" (4.500" stroke") with 1.12" pistons. I'll bet he has 2000 runs on the pistons. Refreshed when the cam broke two years ago.

Probably not a combination I would advocate for on the street, but no issues as a race engine.

Tom
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Is this in a low deck 400 block? Thanks. Kim
 
Dragonbat13 said:
This setup has interested me for a long time. I know all about how the stealth heads are according to many sources on the web.

I see it mentioned all the time. Take a 400, stroke it (personally I would go 470) and slap some stealth heads on it. Put a factory looking intake and 383 badges on it and you would have a kick *** sleeper motor.

So has anyone on here done it? Anybody know of a video or article where it was done?

I like the idea. That long block with a performer or performer RPM intake and high performance manifolds, or possibly headers for that "day 2" vibe.
Click to expand...
The factory could've cleaned up in the muscle car wars if they had built a low deck 470 engine using a 400 block, Max Wedge heads and a MW sized dual plane intake with a big Holley carb. They had all of the technology to build engines like that in early 70's. I'm sure they thought of it but perhaps they didn't want to embarrass the Hemi owners.
 
oldkimmer said:
Is this in a low deck 400 block? Thanks. Kim
Click to expand...

No it's not a 400, I honestly don't you can even fit a 4.50" stroke crank in a 400 block. 4.25" stroke is all I've ever seen made for a 400 main.

Good Ole tried and true 440 block. You need that deck height to have room for compression height and rod length with a 4.5" stroke.

Tom
 
PROSTOCKTOM said:
No it's not a 400, I honestly don't you can even fit a 4.50" stroke crank in a 400 block. 4.25" stroke is all I've ever seen made for a 400 main.

Good Ole tried and true 440 block. You need that deck height to have room for compression height and rod length with a 4.5" stroke.

Tom
Click to expand...
I actually read a post today, might have been on FBBO of a guy who built a 400 with 4.5" crank AND kept it internal pickup.
 
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