I have an 396 engine... the engine hasn't run for near 30 years, so I took it apart and everything looks fine BUT the cylinder bores.... while, they are not rusty.. they look like they could use a quick hone job before I put new rings in and put it back together... question: Can I hone the cylinders myself and install new rings or should I have a machine shop do it? can I buy a hone? they cylinders look good, standard bore, no ridge... I want to "do this" as cheaply as possible... also, sorry if this is an amateur question but, where can I buy new rings for the TRW2287F pistons? or will any 396 standard bore rings work? thanks for any help. -john
Yeah you can hone it yourself. There is kind of a pattern to follow with the speed of your stroke for best results. It's hard to explain but slow at 1st then speed up for the finish. You could probably rent one if you really want to stay on the cheap approach. Rings, Summit Racing, Auto Zone, Advance Auto, pretty much any auto place.
Can you do it yourself? Sure. But honestly, how good of an engine do you want to build? If the cylinders need to be honed, then the chances are good that they're out of tolerance and will need a bore. Now you need new pistons. Are the rods out of size? is the crank excessively worn? All stuff to consider if you've got the motor all apart anyway. There is no sense in cheaping out now, and putting together a "fresh" motor with blowby and low oil pressure
besides all the above,keep in mind that the 396 (2 bolt main)325hp motor was prone to spinning I think the rear main bearing due to a shortage of oil in that area. Check it out real good or have someone that knows the 396 do it for you. It would really suck to put a potentially strong running motor together only to have it come apart from either lack of knowledge of that motor or not checking it out well enough
Be sure to replace the valve springs. BB chevy's tend to eat them and a new set is good insurance against dropping a valve.
If the bores mic out well (remember that forged pistons don't mind a bit more clearance) even with less than perfect, black iron rings can be used with a home hone job. They'll last about 50,000 miles no problem. Rear main spinning? Never heard that one. Hard on valve springs? The BBC has much better valve train geometry than the small block, so I question that one, too. I've also heard that they were hard on cams, just make sure that all the lifters spin freely in their bores, so this is another thing I never had a problem with.
The valve spring problem is related to improper cooling of the valve springs due to inadequate oil flow. Lots of lost BB Chevy valve springs because of it. You pay your money and you takes your chances.
careful,the markIV family of engines aka Big Block Chevy were first placed in cars of the 1965 model year,thus offending the 1964 rule here.
Back in the mid 70's, I found a 350 hp 396 sitting out in a field. I had to knock the pistons out, due to rust. I honed the cylinders, re-ringed the pistons, micro polished the crank and slap it back together with new bearings. Big oval ports heads and used a rectangular port factory hi-rise. Sig Erson Hi-Flow 1 cam with an 800 Holley. Clearances were pretty loose. One of the fastest engines I ever had. It lasted a couple of years street racing until it spun a bearing.
Funny, I had almost nothing in the motor so I didn't care if it blew. It just kept on running. When it spun a bearing, I decided to rebuild it the "right way". Forged crank and miked the bearings. Car slowed down after that. Go figure.......
I would consider taking it to a machine shop to at least get the pistons and crank measured. You could have a piston skirt colapsed and it would be hard to tell by just looking at it. You can check it without a mic if you use a long feeler gauge set. For a quick and dirty clearance check You just lay the feeler gage in the cylinder and slide the piston in with it. You will want to make sure you clean out the ring groves good too. Just break an old ring and use it to scrape the carbon. Make sure the wrist pins are free in the pistons too. If you hone the block yourself you want to make sure you have a nice crosshatch finish. A slow drill makes it easyer to get the crosshatch. You get either by moving up and down with the drill really fast, or triggering the drill. You tap the trigger and go down-stop, up-stop. Triggering works good if you use a rigid hole like a Sunnen... They have nice drag and you are less likely crashing the stones that way. Run cast rings. And make sure you get it good and clean. I hot tank the block, hone it, hot tank again, bucket wash with soap and water, blow it dry, then oil the cylinders. Use plenty of oil on the pistons and rings during assembly too... Jeff
Like Gashog said replace the valve springs because the big block has a heavy valvetrain, and weak springs tend to drop valves. If you have an early 396 it may have a groved cam and the oiling was not as good as the newer versions, just make sure you don't interchange cams. You could also take your motor to a machine shop and have them check the tollerances so you will know if you can just do a rering it and put new bearings in it. If you hone it just dont stay in one spot of the cylinder, and go up and down. Good luck!
Absolutley a must to use the right cam/bearings for the block! Early engines had the groove in the cam and later engine had it in the block. Use the wrong set up and you'll have a hemorrhage or starve the valvetrain (ask me know I know
Thanks for the advice everyone. gashog, It's a 1969 block. I'm good. It had a solid cam which I do NOT want to run... It had some vintage L88 aluminum heads (closed chamber) which I sold for a profit.. so I took the money and bought a nice set of cast iron 990 heads with big valves.... 225 intake /188 ex Combustion chambers are 123cc and have been extensivley polished. These heads will flow approx. 350cfm on the intake side. ( WHICH WILL BRING MY COMPRESSION RATIO DOWN TO 10.25:1 IF MY MATH IS CORRECT) another question... what cam would you suggest for a snorting street beast to scare the neighborhood kids? valve springs are 1.55" Double Valve springs again, just thinking out loud, so feel free to yell at me to do the right thing if need be. The car is a 55 Chevy belair... ps: I love this board... nothing better than talking hotrods...
hone it, ring it, put new bearings in it and re-assemble it, its a chevy, it will run fine. if theres no ridge on it i wouldnt worry to much, if there was a ridge id worry more about micing it, then the real worry is cylinder taper, not necesarily cylinder wear, if its .001 over spec that isnt crap, guys will hone em looser for less friction. jeff
I did a low budget check for taper... measure ring gap from top to bottom... It's good. I'm just wondering if my new heads are overkill.... (I'd someday like to slap them on a 496 stroker) but for now I'll run them on the 396 ... Just gotta decide on a nice cam....
See if you can find a Crane 103072L cam, I had one in my 325/396 and it pulled well, and sounded really good! It was listed as 3/4 race energizer. The '96 was in a 65 impala with 3.08's and a close ration 4 speed to give you an idea about the pulling ability. Doug
One thing we always do to the early 396 blocks is to trench the two oil galley holes in the rear cam bearing register together.We use a ball mill to cut a groove in the register to connect both oil galleys to the lifters togther. After this is done you can use regular bearings and a regular cam without all the fuss. Everytime I tried cutting the cam or running the grooved bearing we had problems. And as for the cylinders. Tight and slick Just like your woman!!! The less clearance to spec and the slicker the finish the better off you will be.
I use Speedpro cams. This is a really nice cam for a hot street engine. http://21cgt.com/FMWebCatalog/default.htm I think you are right on the heads. Unless you plan on spinning it lots of rpm's you may want to find some oval ports. Just stay away from the open chamber heads unless the TRW2287F has the right dome. I could look in a book I have at the shop.... I ran that cam in a 396 I put in a '59 Chevy and it hauled ass. I did have close to 11 to 1 though. Jeff
Have a friend that has had amazing luck using a ball hone and putting things back together. They run well and seem to last a long time.
If you want to get technical there were a handful of "Mystery Motor" big blocks floating around in 63. If any of those NASCAR boys had also been 'traditional' rodders at home then you theoretically could have seen big block chevys in traditional rods in both 63 and 64. just saying, its possible!
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