It’s our first head-to-head shootout with two engines: a Blueprint Engines crate Chevy 383 small-block versus a hand-built Mopar 383 by Engine Masters host Steve Dulcich. To make this a fair test
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:20 This episode has all the BAM.
00:22 It's Engine Masters presented by AMSOIL and our very first head-to-head showdown between
00:28 two engines.
00:29 This one, a big block Mopar 383, and that, a small block Chevy 383.
00:36 Now when you're doing a shootout like this, you really need to eliminate as many variables
00:40 as possible so that you've got a fair fight.
00:42 So as I'm going through the tech specs on this Chevy 383, I'm going to tell you about
00:45 some of the components that are going to be the same on the Mopar as they are on the Chevy.
00:50 Starting with this carburetor.
00:52 This is my favorite carburetor right now.
00:54 This is a Holley XP.
00:56 It's an 850 CFM double pumper.
00:58 It's an aluminum carburetor, they've got new calibrations in it.
01:01 It's got features like the billet metering blocks and a billet base plate, and I just
01:05 want to take it home and play with it.
01:07 The MSD distributor is also going to be used in both engines, as is a high-rise dual-plane
01:12 intake manifold.
01:14 Now one of the rules was that you had to use the best possible iron production cylinder
01:19 head to eliminate the variables of the aftermarket.
01:22 This is a Vortec head, kind of what you'd find on a 350 Chevy and a 90s Chevy truck.
01:28 It's got the best port and best chamber that I know of for any production cylinder head
01:32 on a small block Chevy.
01:34 The 383 Mopar will take a 1 7/8 diameter header.
01:38 The small block Chevy can't accept that bolt pattern without an adapter, so what this is,
01:43 is a 1 3/4 to 1 7/8 inch stepped header.
01:47 Getting into the short block, let's talk about the camshaft.
01:51 Both of them are running the same Xtreme Energy Comp Cams hydraulic roller.
01:56 They are a 230, 236 at 50 grind.
02:00 This one has 510, 520 lift and a 110 lobe separation angle.
02:04 The compression ratio on both these engines is 9.6 to 1.
02:08 And now we start getting into a little bit of a difference.
02:11 The Chevy 383 is a stroker motor, which means that the crankshaft stroke is longer than
02:16 stock.
02:17 This is a 350 block with a 4.04 inch bore and the stroke is 3.75 inch.
02:24 The last thing that you need to know is that this is actually a Blueprint Engines crate
02:28 motor.
02:29 You can buy this long block with the intake manifold for $36.95 at blueprintengines.com.
02:35 It has a 30 month, 50,000 mile warranty, which is pretty impressive.
02:40 They advertise this at 420 horsepower and 440 pound feet of torque, but we're going
02:45 to find out if that's true right now.
02:48 Ready for your AMSOIL education.
02:50 The first thing that we're going to do is break in both of these things with AMSOIL
02:53 break in oil.
02:55 The 383 is completely new and the Mopar has a brand new camshaft in it.
03:00 And while they both are using hydraulic rollers, and while most people think of a break in
03:04 oil as being needed with a flat tappet, AMSOIL really likes to see it with a hydraulic roller
03:09 as well, just for protection.
03:11 And this helps seat the rings.
03:13 And so we'll be breaking in both engines with that oil right there.
03:17 Then we're going to be running them both with the same oil.
03:20 Oil can really affect horsepower, whether it's because of a viscosity difference, like
03:24 if you're looking at a five weight versus a 40 weight, or if you're looking at a dinosaur
03:28 oil versus a synthetic.
03:29 And of course, all the AMSOIL stuff is synthetic.
03:32 What we're using here is the 10W40, and this also has quite a bit of zinc in it for the
03:37 long run.
03:40 And we're going to be running it with the same oil.
04:07 And in the end, we've got 465 pound feet of torque and 440 horsepower.
04:20 And how repeatable is it when you can just do that over and over and over?
04:23 It's pretty good.
04:24 That's a really nice motor.
04:25 Yeah, it is.
04:26 I have to say, I'm going to have a hard time beating this with my Mopar motor.
04:29 What?
04:30 I'm not hedging here.
04:31 It's a big block.
04:33 Here let's go install it.
04:34 I want to find out.
04:35 Man, Blueprint engines over delivered as usual with that Chevy 383.
04:40 That thing made good power and this poor Mopar has an uphill battle.
04:45 It's clearly the underdog in this fight.
04:48 And this thing was built at home by Steve Dulcich, literally at two o'clock in the morning
04:53 just days ago.
04:54 Let's go through the specs on this thing again.
04:56 Same carburetor as the 383 Chevy, that 850 Holley XP.
05:00 Same MSD ignition.
05:02 This is an Edelbrock RPM dual plane intake manifold like the HiRise on the other one.
05:06 This is 9.6 to 1 just like the Chevy.
05:09 This engine has the same Comp Cams 230, 236 duration hydraulic roller as the Chevy.
05:16 But the Mopar grind has a little bit more lift.
05:18 It's .541 inches on the intake and .537 on the exhaust.
05:24 Now the bore and stroke on the 383 here is wildly different than it is on the Chevy.
05:29 And so what makes up the displacement?
05:31 The bore.
05:32 This thing has a factory bore of 4250 and this thing is 60 over making it 4.310 inches.
05:40 And if you do the math, the total displacement on this thing is 394.
05:44 But really the coolest thing about all of this is that Dulcich is sweating bullets.
05:49 He seriously wants this garbage to win.
05:52 Let's go find out if we're going to make his dreams come true or squash him like a roach.
05:56 [music]
06:05 [singing]
06:08 Oh yeah.
06:09 I'm actually stoked on this.
06:10 I hope it wins.
06:13 I don't think it's going to, but I hope it wins.
06:16 [music]
06:27 Here's why I think this thing actually has a fighting chance.
06:30 Okay?
06:31 I've got to hear this one.
06:32 Okay, so it's 10 more cubic inches.
06:34 It has a taller deck height, so the intake manifold is bigger for more plenum volume
06:40 or more volume and has longer runners so it stands to make more torque.
06:44 And the under chassis header design is a longer tube so it stands to make more torque.
06:50 So I think that's why it has potential and if it doesn't win, it's Dulcich's fault.
06:55 Why is it my fault?
06:57 Because then you did something to overcome all those advantages and lose anyway.
07:03 These are rated at 335 horsepower.
07:05 Fryburger, would you agree that there's no more famous big block Mopar factory head than
07:09 the coveted 906?
07:10 Oh, I know.
07:11 That's why the Mopar guys are going to absolutely hate us and rip us to shreds because that's
07:14 the single best cylinder head ever manufactured.
07:16 This is the Edelbrock RPM.
07:18 It's the best manifold for this kind of engine combination.
07:20 I've got the MSD distributor.
07:22 I've got the TTI headers with not a single ding or dent anywhere.
07:27 These heads are milled to equalize the compression to make it the same as yours.
07:30 There's one way to figure this deal out.
07:32 So right now you're saying legitimately no facetious comedy.
07:35 You think it's going to win.
07:36 Well, look at it.
07:37 It's got this happy orange paint.
07:39 It looks good, friendly, and comfortable.
07:41 You say absolutely no chance whatsoever.
07:44 I say no chance.
07:45 I say there's a possibility that it makes more torque but not horsepower.
07:49 I say there's absolutely zero possibility that that Chevy is going to beat this Mopar.
07:59 I'm a little nervous.
08:02 I'd like an opportunity to recuperate my prior wager.
08:06 Now this is your motor.
08:09 You've built hundreds of these things.
08:11 I've slammed that together in one afternoon.
08:13 That would be your problem.
08:15 But you've built hundreds of these and I think that you should maybe have a little better
08:19 idea of where it's going than we do.
08:20 So I'm willing to take a chance and offer a little wager one more time.
08:25 Really?
08:26 I don't have the confidence in my numbers for that.
08:29 Why do they call it gambling?
08:31 I know.
08:32 All right, I'm in.
08:33 Okay.
08:34 What are we gambling for?
08:35 You're realistic.
08:36 I'm the balance of hopeful and realistic and you're just hopeful.
08:39 I've got my 20.
08:40 [LAUGH] >> Okay, fire it up.
08:43 [MUSIC]
08:53 >> There you go.
08:54 [MUSIC]
09:01 >> Whoa!
09:02 >> Yeah!
09:03 >> You are.
09:07 >> [LAUGH]
09:15 >> That was awesome.
09:15 >> Did you see the torque on that thing?
09:17 >> Did you see that thing run?
09:18 >> The incoming torque.
09:19 >> Cool, that was huge.
09:21 >> Wow.
09:22 >> Here's what just happened.
09:23 That was the very first dyno pull that we made with the 383 Mopar, and
09:27 it was a legit nail biter.
09:28 I didn't know what was gonna happen.
09:30 We were all guessing.
09:31 Dulcich had high hopes, but look at this.
09:34 From 4,000 RPM on up, almost exactly the same curve between these two engines.
09:41 But the Mopar kills the Chevy here between 3,000 and
09:46 3,800 or something like that, just a whole lot more torque and horsepower.
09:50 And we have to give more credit to the cylinder head on the Mopar than we did.
09:54 It must be in the same neighborhood as that Vortec head, or
09:57 it would not have repeated the same power like that.
10:00 I had 453 at 4,300 for torque.
10:03 >> Okay.
10:04 >> And 427 at 5,500 for power.
10:08 >> Okay, I had 458 at 4,300 for torque,
10:14 and 428 at 5,600 for power.
10:18 >> [LAUGH] >> And-
10:21 >> You'd almost think we'd done this before.
10:23 >> 475 pound feet and 485 horsepower.
10:28 >> I was being optimistic.
10:29 >> No, yeah.
10:30 >> [LAUGH] >> Fry burger, you take home the dough.
10:33 >> Yep.
10:34 That was seriously my favorite episode yet.
10:36 >> I gotta say, I liked it a lot too.
10:38 >> Because of winning.
10:39 >> Yeah, cuz this thing did what it needed to do, so what can I say?
10:43 >> The thing I like about it is that it was pretty legit.
10:46 I think we went to a lot of effort to make sure that these things were sort of
10:49 equalized.
10:50 And what are people gonna rip us apart on the Internet about on this?
10:53 >> Well, I don't know.
10:54 All I know is I had no idea how it was gonna play out until it actually happened
10:58 in the cell.
10:58 >> I know. >> And it couldn't have turned out any
11:00 better for me because this was an unknown quantity until we tested it.
11:04 >> Yeah, this was really predictable.
11:06 >> Yeah. >> I mean,
11:06 Blueprint knows what it does.
11:08 We kinda knew what was gonna happen, but that was the wild card and
11:11 you dominated.
11:12 It was pretty cool.
11:12 >> I literally slammed that thing together until 2 o'clock in the morning.
11:16 Until the night we had to be here the next day.
11:19 >> I know.
11:19 It was genius.
11:20 No, I really liked it.
11:21 That was a good show.
11:22 And we'll have another one next time on Engine Masters presented by Amsoil.
11:27 But in the meantime, go check us out on social media.
11:29 Of course, Instagram, the account is Engine Masters.
11:32 Facebook, the account is Hot Rod Engine Masters.
11:35 And I know you're gonna go subscribe to MotorTrendOnDemand.com,
11:38 where you can see all kinds of gear head content.
11:40 Until next time, this is Engine Masters with Dulcich, the Mopar hero.
11:45 >> [LAUGH] >> Are you presented by Amsoil?
11:48 >> Presented by Amsoil.
11:50 How's that?
11:50 >> Perfect.
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