L78 CE Crawlspace find

[Furback]

Update. Took the L78 shortblock to engine builder. He reports that it is as new, been taken apart cleaned up, balanced and reassembled with new rings and bearings. Love it. Look out 68 SS Nova. Those 074 heads will look good on this one.

[SuperNovaSS]

Awesome news. I'm not sure if you will be happy with the performance of the 074 heads on a shortblock with closed chamber pistons.


Jason

[kwhizz]

There also is a 50-50 chance that the pistons might make contact with the heads in the combustion chamber area........besides having around 9:1 compression.......But......You could always build a Clone of a Clone......LOL

Ken

[ORIGLS6]

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/haha.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[Furback]

Have a 427 L72 std bore, NOS pistons etc. Open chamber heads. Checked with putty , no problem. 396 piston may be close, we will see, may have to relieve chamber or not.

[Smokey]

I have a pair of 12 or 12.5 pistons that are NOS from an L-88 that would be perfect for this.

[kwhizz]

We end up back in the same spot.........GM never made a Piston for a 396 bore with open chamber heads..........Remember.....we are talking about a 396 here......Not a 427....

[WILMASBOYL78]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: kwhizz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">We end up back in the same spot.........GM never made a Piston for a 396 bore with open chamber heads..........Remember.....we are talking about a 396 here......Not a 427.... </div></div>


Ken...just wondering what piston was used on the 71-72 402 motors??
These had oval port open chamber heads(iron)...I would imagine that the pistons are different for oval vs. rect. port heads...maybe I'm mixing things up?? Perhaps pistons can be made to work in a 396 application that match the 074 head...but, they would need to be custom.

wilma [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]

[RichSchmidt]

Didn't GM make a hand full of aluminum headed 396's? Was that the L-89? Where they closed chamber?

[kwhizz]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RichSchmidt</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Didn't GM make a hand full of aluminum headed 396's? Was that the L-89? Where they closed chamber? </div></div>


Yes........L-89 engines were 396 ci and of closed chamber design........