What do you guys think of this?

[Zelda84]

I got the June 2002 issue of Chevy Performance mag and they had an article in there about our rides as well as one about a sweet 383 stroker motor chevy is offering as crate motor. Its called the twister. Right out of the crate without any mods this torquey monster makes 325hp/415 flbs of torque. :eek:

To me thats rather nice for the $3700 price tag. The part number to look this bugger up is 12497317. I found it on the GM performance page with a little digging. I dont know if you can get any other options from the factory to make it snottier or not, but the guys at performance chevy mag got it up to 341hp/447ftlbs by adding 1.6 roller rockers, LT4 valve spings, a 650 carb, 1 5/8" headers and mufflers. They slipped it into a 3600 Lb chevelle with 3.08 gears, a th350 trans with 2400 stall conv, and some sticky MT 26" tall slicks. They pulled three runs 13.15 @ 100.80, 13.01 @ 102.00 and 12.85 @ 103.50. (This was all done on a computer simulation :( )
Now I figure in our cars with the same setup and a set of 3.73 gears thats an easy 12 sec quarter for under $4500. Thats a nice price compaired to what I have been getting quoted.

So gimme some input guys......what do you all think???? :confused:

[Jaysz28]

It sounds like a great deal. But you are forgetting to spend money on your tranny. That motor will eat up a stock 700R4 and spit it out at ya! If it doesn't, then there is the stock 10 bolt rear. Especially with the 3.73 gears. 10 bolts stop holding together at around 300 hp. If you build it up, it may hold to 400 hp.

Just giving you something to think about.

[LL6]

IMO a good engine at a good price. Jay is right in the general sense, but I wouldn't let 700r4 and 10 bolt worry me too much. Those things tend to break when you add sticky DRs or drive like a gorilla from every stop... :rolleyes:

Run street tires and it takes a lot of the shock away from the weaker parts. My T-5 has survived a total of 130k miles so far of which 35k+ has been behind my 350rwtq ZZ4. FWIW I killed my first T-5 in under 30k miles while it was behind my stock LB9. graemlins/hump.gif

[Rumblin91]

Yeah, the rearend really shouldn't be a problem unless you are running slicks. From everything I've heard they are ok until you dip into the low 12's high 11s. And my T5 is still flawless after 15K funfilled ZZ4 miles.

[86IROC]

I drag raced my car w/ the stock rear for 2 years on DR's. The rear end was fine. My car made 286 HP & 374 TQ at the tires. That GM crate motor is great, but the CHP article doesn't do it justice. Check out HOT ROD a few issues back - they did minor things and a cam swap that produced over 500HP. If I had to do it all over again I would buy that GM 383 crate. Having a motor built was an absolute nightmare, and I am not even 100% sure that it is any good yet.

[irocbsa]

I blew up a 10 bolt with a car that ran in the low 13s. Of course, it did have a lot of miles on it at the time.

[86IROC]

I blew up a 10 bolt with a car that ran in the low 13s. Of course, it did have a lot of miles on it at the time. Yeah, yeah - look who was driving it too. tongue.gif
My car has about 144K on the clock. Not too high mileage. smile.gif

[RobP]

Hmm, the ZZ4 makes 355hp and 400 ft/lb of torque for less money. I'd hope there is much more potential left in a motor with 33 more cubes.
But hey, what do I know? My car is sitting the driveway broke dick.

[Zelda84]

Thanks guys for the input. If you all remember my plans I posted a while ago, they include a T-56, and 12 bolt with 3.73 gears. I also plan on full frame ties, wonder bar, strut tower brace, and hotchkiss suspension mods as well. Check out HOT ROD a few issues back - they did minor things and a cam swap that produced over 500HP. 86Iroc: Can you find that article again or tell which month they had that in???? :confused: I would like to read that and see what all they did. I was thinking of adding in a GM hot cam into that setup with the 1.6 rockers ect. I figure that should push her well into the 400+ range for horses and maybe close to the 500 ftlb mark of torque. :D
I know I'll be watching the Chevy performance mags on the shelves in the next few weeks looking for their part 2 on that twister engine. :cool:

Looks like with this setup I maybe able to save about $1500 and still get the power I want. My first victim.....my buddy's 89 stang. graemlins/lol.gif

[Jeremey]

I run consistant 12.2's on the 7.5 26 splined axled 10 bolt in my bird. No problems yet. And this is on 10 inch wide MT Drags.

[86IROC]

Zelda, March 2002 issue. The motor is on the cover. They did: Comp Cams 1.6 roller rockers, XE282 cam w/ matching springs, Performer RPM intake, Demon 750 cfm carb, & thinner head gaskets. 463.1 HP @ 5600 RPM, & 502.9 TQ @ 4200 RPM. I was wrong about the 500 HP figure, my mistake. Still....463.1 HP is nothing to scoff at. They ran the motor through their simulator and took a theoretical 3600# car w/ 3.73's & predicted it would go into the 11's on slicks.

[Zelda84]

I just went to hotrod's web site and pulled up the tech article on their upgrades.

I think I just popped a gasket :eek:

Damn I could do all of what they did for less money than the original 383 stroker I was looking at. I'm thinking if I went with the 1 5/8" headers, 1.6 roller rockers, the GM "Hot Cam", Edelbrock 700 CFM Q-Jet, Edlebrock intake, and a good HEI ingnition and pull those same numbers down in my 84. With a T-56 and 3.73 gears I can see why a 12 sec quarter could not be hit. I would be saving about $1200 off the cost of the origianl engine I was looking at. WOO HOO graemlins/roll.gif

[86IROC]

IMHO, I think the LT4 hot is too wimpy and would use the XE282 - either way a valve spring change is required. Of course....I am kinda biased towards Comp Cams products. ;)