383 Crate Engine - The Heart Of The Matter

...By honing each block, the results are superior ring seals, less friction, faster breakin, and longer life.

The next stop on the engine's journey is balancing the crankshaft and components. First off, Smeding weighs each assembled rod and piston and calculates the numbers.

From there they transfer the weight of each assembled rod and piston to its corresponding position on the crankshaft via clamped-on bob weights. The crank is also balanced with the flywheel and harmonic balancer bolted on. With all eight rod assemblies connected to the crank, it is then spun on the Hines digital balancer. While spinning, the machine reads out the specs on both ends of the crank on separate graphs on the computer monitor....

...From there, the machine points out the degree of rotation where grams of metal need to be removed from the crank. At that point, Smeding drills out the appropriate amount of metal from the counterweight on the crank until both ends spin in unison. Using this digital balancer, Smeding can balance the components within one gram of accuracy.

Next up, Ben Smeding takes the reins and begins the assembly process.

Before Ben gets to work, he does a onceover on the block and double-checks all the clearances using dial calipers.

Like a bunch of tourists waiting in line at Disneyland, the various components await their turn.

The Smeding pistons were designed for performance and fit. Smeding designed a tight-fitting high-silicone hypereutectic aluminum piston that features duro- hield graphite-coated skirts for reduced friction. They also have a zero deck height for maximum combustion quench and full-floating wrist pins. Not to mention the pistons are outfitted with a moly-faced ductile upper ring, a reversed-taper beveled second ring, and a light-tension threepiece oil ring.

Each rod in the 383 is forged from highgrade 4340 steel. They measure 5.7 inches from center to center, feature bronze pin bushings, and have 190,000-psi rod bolts. Smeding also clearances each rod in the stroker motor for clean and clear rotations.