YES, need to get some video. Will get it done as soon as my buddy has some time. He was away at the beach for the weekend.
Jim, you have done an awesome job with your Sprint! I also can't wait to see the video of you driving it with your new 347 Stroker. I actually read both of your build threads, back when you were originally doing it...what great writeups and work! Just keeps getting better.
Thanks, Roger, I'm ready to give it a try at the strip. Buddy has a Trailblazer SS (that was FASTER than the Maverick with the 5.0!! Hate to get beat by a truck. ) that he's made some recent mods to and is closing in on the 13s. We're looking at T&T on 11/10 or 11/17. I did get a chance to try it from a stop light with no one around. Punched it and it was leaving pretty good. Rear end started to slide out one way, corrected and waited for the tires to bite but they just kept spinning. Started drifting the other way and I had to get off it or be in the weeds. Gonna have to get used to this. I really want to see a WOT 1-2 upshift. but may have to wait for the strip. Traction is better there, right?
That's impressive to have a 3:00 ratio and smoke tires. You have the best of both worlds; can drive highway speeds w/o the hi-rpm's and be able to smoke tires all w/ a motor that has vry reasonable street manners. Well done!
347 vs. 331 I know that the 347 is very popular..but I have some concerns about that combo. Most of the kits that I have seen place the wrist pin in oil ring grove. Therefor the oil ring is not fully supported. Now this is just my opinion....I do not think that is a good idea. The 331 builds that I have seen, keep the wrist pin below the oil ring, thus the Oil ring is fully supported in the land grove. Just seems to make sense to me. Do you know if your 347 setup is the type that places the wrist pin in the oil grove?
If I needed a 100K mile engine, I'd have that concern too. At my age, I hesitate to buy green bananas. Don't think its a problem. Ya pays your money; ya takes your choice. I wanted the extra cubes of the 347 but I can understand why some choose the 331.
I'm here to tell ya that there is 0 reason for concern, as far as the oil ring on the 347 goes. I have built 3 of them personally and had 0 failure or problems. If you guys really want to know what the deal is with this consult Woody at fordstrokers.com he has built over 500 of these and can attest that there is no reason for concern. Build away gentleman!
There are kits out there that have the oil ring above the wrist pin pin. They have a shorter top part of the piston and use the thinner rings. The Coast High performance kit I had was that way. But mine must have had an oil problem with the crank because it spun the front 2 rod bearings twice. Im done with 347s. Some good heads on a 302 make plenty of power.
Having the oil ring in the pin area actually helps the ring do its job - to keep oil away from the top rings - because it gives oil some place to go. the oil rings are spring loaded to the outside and just scrape oil from the walls. If that oil goes into the pin it is just more cooling and lube for the pin. As was said - no need for concern.
Got a dyno tune on the 347 yesterday. After a pull, with throttle closed and winding down from 5800 RPM, some smoke was evident out the tail pipes. Tuner said the PCV valve might not be functioning correctly. He suggested eliminating the PCV valve and installing an oil catch can instead. I'm not sure I like that idea but it caused me to poke around some and think about alternatives. Read a warning on the internet against running the PCV hose into a single runner on the intake. Said dumping the blow by into a single cylinder isn't a good idea. That sounds reasonable. But, I have a vacuum tree mounted in the 3/8" NPT port in the #8 runner on the Edelbrock Air Gap intake. The Quick Fuel carb doesn't have a PCV vacuum port and I don't have a spacer under the carb. Not sure if there's room under the hood for a spacer or not. Had another thought I'd like comments on. How would it work if I eliminated the PCV valve and just ran a hose from each valve cover into the air cleaner? Seems like a good way to capture, with light vacuum, and burn the blow by without dumping it all into one cylinder. Any thoughts? Anyone using a catch can?
i would run a vacuum pump system if you get rid of the pcv. the vacuum in the crank case will create better ring seal than any other option. the exhaust scavenger systems work well if your exhaust system is not restrictive after the collectors.
