rebuilding the 304 vt senator! ;)

[HSV08]

So the senator is in the garage awaiting the rebuild.

So what i have planned to do is:-

-Acid dip block and plenum and possibly crank.
- Flat top pistons and rings
- A crane type 286 spec grind with a 110lsa at .500" lift
- a slight head porting
- deck the block to zero
-new hydraulic roller lifters
-new crank bearings and cam bearings
- plus all your normal extra's ( head gaskets plenum gaskets sump gaskets oil etc)


Now a few qeustions....

With the cam and ecu, do you think it will be ok to run in motor on the standard 5l computer and 98octane until i can sort tune out?

I was also thinking of a 276 but love the lopey idle of the 286 so thinking that maybe the better option

What valve springs do you recommend?

is it wise to deck to zero with the flat tops?

What else would you recommend also getting or doing engine wise ( high stall will be coming later on)


Im not wanting an all out power monster, but something some what streetable with power in the range of 2500 to 3000 up and some good hard torque (without going stroker or charged) and something that is nice and grumpy at idle but not going to be a too much of a pig down low, but im willing to sacrifice some as its not my daily.

Ideas and recommendations?

Cheers

 

[Ian Johnston]

If you are going for a rebuild(rebore for new?? pistons,), may as well go the stroker while its down.
Well worth the extra money IMHO. Be carefull on your cam specs. Lumpy isnt always good.
My daughters 355 stroker had all sorts of idle and stalling issues with a "big" cam. Needed a stall convertor, or as we ended up
doing, put in a milder cam. Now has plenty of low down go, and no other issues.
We didnt get the block decked, we had longer rods put in to get the piston up, and ended up with around 10.25:1 comp
with flat tops.
Unless you are going to rev the ring out of it, no need to go too big on the springs(unless you are using roller rockers)

 

[HSV08]

If you are going for a rebuild(rebore for new?? pistons,), may as well go the stroker while its down.
Well worth the extra money IMHO. Be carefull on your cam specs. Lumpy isnt always good.
My daughters 355 stroker had all sorts of idle and stalling issues with a "big" cam. Needed a stall convertor, or as we ended up
doing, put in a milder cam. Now has plenty of low down go, and no other issues.
We didnt get the block decked, we had longer rods put in to get the piston up, and ended up with around 10.25:1 comp
with flat tops.
Unless you are going to rev the ring out of it, no need to go too big on the springs(unless you are using roller rockers)

I i have been told to go to stroker if i was pulling it all apart, but then i may need a new pump injectors ecu etc right? as i doubt the 5l ecu will run the stroker?
did she stroke it or was it already a stroker? if she stroked it what was involved?

The other option was just to run the smaller 276 with the 110 possibly 112 lsa at .50 to bring the torque down lower in the rpm. im sure i can get my tuner to just rich"n her up a tad to get a little more lump

what was the longer rods used and why did you go that route instead of decking?

 

[Ian Johnston]

You may need injectors, and a retuned chip in the ECU, but the fuel pump shouldnt be an issue. We are still running the
original pump, but Falcon XR6 Turbo injectors.
It was stroked when she had it rebuilt, as it needed a rebore, so seemed like the perfect time to do a stroker.
Not sure on the rods, but Scat crank used. You can(maybe) end up with gasket sealing issues if block decking, and will
probably have to deck the inlet manifold to get it to sit properly.
We had the chip reburnt, but I think the Kalmaker tune is fairly common.
The length of the rod changes a lot of things in the engine. Best to talk to an engine builder, or tuner to get the best
results.

 

[showbags]

If you are going for a rebuild(rebore for new?? pistons,), may as well go the stroker while its down.
Well worth the extra money IMHO. Be carefull on your cam specs. Lumpy isnt always good.
My daughters 355 stroker had all sorts of idle and stalling issues with a "big" cam. Needed a stall convertor, or as we ended up
doing, put in a milder cam. Now has plenty of low down go, and no other issues.
We didnt get the block decked, we had longer rods put in to get the piston up, and ended up with around 10.25:1 comp
with flat tops.
Unless you are going to rev the ring out of it, no need to go too big on the springs(unless you are using roller rockers)

I i have been told to go to stroker if i was pulling it all apart, but then i may need a new pump injectors ecu etc right? as i doubt the 5l ecu will run the stroker?
did she stroke it or was it already a stroker? if she stroked it what was involved?

The other option was just to run the smaller 276 with the 110 possibly 112 lsa at .50 to bring the torque down lower in the rpm. im sure i can get my tuner to just rich"n her up a tad to get a little more lump

what was the longer rods used and why did you go that route instead of decking?

HSV ran a stroker in the Senator Signature, so can't see your ECU being an issue. Stick with the 286, much nicer cam than the 276.

 

[HSV08]

HSV ran a stroker in the Senator Signature, so can't see your ECU being an issue. Stick with the 286, much nicer cam than the 276.

What valve springs did you go with for the 286? and where does the torque sort of start?

 

[HSV08]

So bit of an update, i have pulled the intake plenum off, rocker covers alternator aircon basically everything i have pulled out until i got to the heads.

But found a nice little suprise in there. Some of you may remember me posting a video up asking anybody to tell me what they thought the noise was it was making...

ill post up a few pics to show you what i found..

By ralliart89 at 2012-07-20

By ralliart89 at 2012-07-20

 

[HSV08]

So as you can see three lifters in the back end had pitting marks in them. the worst pictured. also on a few cam lobes it had eaten away at the nose. which is strange as roller lifters should be smooth and not leave any marks really on the lobes compared to flat tappets. cant pull bearings out to inspect them yet but i know where i should be looking so far!

 

[HSV08]

by the wat i thought i would also post this up! took the oil filter off and found that it had cracked apart inside, which may have been what went through my oil and into the lifters and caused that pitting and wear! Funny thing is it was a "FRAM" oil filter which ive always thought was good quality!

By ralliart89 at 2012-07-20

By ralliart89 at 2012-07-20

 

[HSV08]

So the newest edition of parts has arrived for the stroker build!

Here we have a scat 9000 series 3.480 stroker crank! With holden mains and chev big ends.

By ralliart89 at 2012-08-03

By ralliart89 at 2012-08-03

Though the missus is not happy its on our white coffee table!

next addition will be some eagle 5.7" rods!