385 Revisited

[Plantfoam]

I guess I have to reintroduce myself, it's been over a year since I was last here, lol. I got a new house and I'm going back to school, so I've been out of the scene for a while. However, I'm ready for the summer, and to start working on my car again......at least have a heated garage for the winters now

I have a 1991 Z28, 305 with t-tops. I'm about halfway through with my new engine, which is a 385 stroker. All of the major block work is done....I've got an Eagle crank and rods, Mogul pistons, and a Comp cam that is a 224/224 hyd roller.

My questions:
-I need an oil pan kit with at least a 6 quart capacity. However, I want to be sure that is will fit my car i.e. ground/crossmember clearance. I saw one website with specially "made for Camaro" pans, but they were for racing, and I don't want to spend $300 on an oil pan.

-I still need to decide what heads I will buy. I know I want aluminum, roughly 195cc intake runners, and 72cc combustion chambers for running mild gas, but I can't figure out what the best package is. Also, my cam has .525 lift...do the heads just need to have a max lift above that, or do I need to figure the rocker ratio into that equation? I'm thinking that either Dart or AFR heads will be best, but any advice/experience is appreciated. I'll be ditching my TPI for an LT1 as well.

Thanks, and it is good to see you guys again,
Phil

[Plantfoam]

It's all assembled now, I need updated pics...

[meissen]

Hey Phil, welcome back! What a sharp car, man! Can't wait to hear her roar to life sometime. How far from the Detroit area are you? Wer'e having our annual Meet & Greet on June 16th at Kensington Metro Park, it's off I-96 west of Detroit. Would be great if you could make it!

[Plantfoam]

I'm probably just under 2 hours from there....I wanted to come last year, but all of this stuff came up. Getting a house really sapped my car budget, at least for the first year.

So yeah, I'm in though

[Orange Terror]

House payments can do that, I know. lol.

Welcome back!!!

[ezysk]

I had the same issue with the oil pan on my 383.
It is a pre-80s block, so I had to change the pan because of dip stick placement.
But I had a hell of a time finding one that would clear the Y-Pipe of my headers.
I ended up creating a custom pipe to fit for the time being, until I get around to installing true duals, Which itself will be another pain in the *&## to do correctly.
Is your block a Pre-80s as well?
Just a word to the wise, many manufactures list that their pan will fit on a certain car, when I have called their tech support they usually say.
We guarantee that it will not hit your cross member at that it will fit your engine, we do not guarantee that it will leave room for your exhaust.
If you happen to find a pan that fits for yours and it clears your exhaust, will you post what pan you went with and what brand your headers and Y-Pipe is.
Thanks.

[Plantfoam]

It's an L98 block, one piece seal....I think it is 1988 from the coding on the block.

I've got some Hooker shorties I'll probably use, and I'll keep it in y-pipe configuration. This should be interesting...I guess it would be best to get input from people that have already gone this route and see what they did.

Either way, I want at least 6 quart capacity to be on the safe side. This won't be a racer or anything, but I want the fail safes there anyways. It's going to be a 700R4 overdrive 2.73 freeway car with a lot of torque to compliment it

[Plantfoam]

I think I found something:

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...1_763991_10457

Looks like it just needs to be stroker clearanced.

[AJ 87SC]

That looks like a good one to me...
My buddys car ahd the same problem, so he just had some custom mufflers and piping made to dump out before the rear tire, it looks nice.
It is loud as all heck though...

AS for the heads, I would go with 195CC afr heads.

With 5.25 lift you will not need the "performance valvetrain" option
It is up to you though if you wanna get it to be safe...

What compression rating are you going to have
You might be better off saving the money and getting aluminum vortecs and going that route

Afr's might be too mcuh head for your application

[96mikez28]

So your building a 385 LT1 or just trying to stick LT1 heads on the TPI?
I don't think LT1 heads will fit over the coolant passages because they're reverse coolant flow

[Plantfoam]

I'm building a 385 LT1....my car currently has TPI on it, to clear things up

I looked at getting Vortecs, but I couldn't find any with the size combustion chamber I am looking for. I want to run under 10:1 but close to it, so I need something around 72cc, with my Mogul flat tops.

I'll probably end up getting the AFR 195's, since they allow up to .600 lift I believe. The Eliminators are a little too much for me, as I'm not going to run high enough RPM's to make it worthwhile.

In short, I want a mild 385 that runs on 91 octane with no worries. I originally patterned it after the engine I saw at www.golenengineservice.com but I don't know if they use AFR heads anymore.

[SlipStreamZ28]

I have the canton 6 quart pan on my car and I love it. It has everything a pan should, crank scrapers, windage tray and those little trap door thingy's. But I understand not wanting to spend $300 on it. One thing to consider though is all those little extras do help make a little horsepower by keeping everything in your crankcase optimal as far as oiling goes which might help justify the cost. I did have to have a custom Y-pipe made though since the MAC one I had didnt fit.

[JoeliusZ28]

I have the canton 6 quart pan on my car and I love it. It has everything a pan should, crank scrapers, windage tray and those little trap door thingy's. But I understand not wanting to spend $300 on it. One thing to consider though is all those little extras do help make a little horsepower by keeping everything in your crankcase optimal as far as oiling goes which might help justify the cost. I did have to have a custom Y-pipe made though since the MAC one I had didnt fit.

what was involved in installing that?

welcome back plantfoam, i remember the car!

[SlipStreamZ28]

Well, it was done when the engine was already pulled but from what I understand the engine needs to come out if you want to change out the oil pan. At the time I had a fairly large dent in my stock pan and I was worried I might have jarred my pickup tube so when the engine went in for the cam work I picked up the canton pan and had it put on.

[JoeliusZ28]

Well, it was done when the engine was already pulled but from what I understand the engine needs to come out if you want to change out the oil pan. At the time I had a fairly large dent in my stock pan and I was worried I might have jarred my pickup tube so when the engine went in for the cam work I picked up the canton pan and had it put on.

well that answers that then, guess im sticking with the stocker