HORN AUTOMOTIVE TAKE THE MONEY AND MAKE EXCUSES MARION Iowa

Go through all that work to offset grind a crank, use special rods, etc, and have all the self-destruction issues that come with an offset crank, or just use a stock 400 crank and a stock set of Chevy rods. which one is more cost effective?

As you said, if the shop went through all that work to turn a 350 crank into a 400 crank, why not spend the extra 5 minutes to cut a keyway?

Because they didn't do anything. It's still a 350 crank.

Don't be so sure about the lack of a keyed crank nose meaning it is not a 383. Years ago, the way to make a 383 small block Chevy was to offset grind the rod journals of the 350 crank to the 3-9/16" stroke, then use earlier small block rods to fit the smaller size journals. Hot rodders were doing this in 1970. TRW sold a special set of pistons made just for this application. So, it could be the original 94 Z-28's crank, and not a 400 crank.
If they were doing work on the crank, it seems pretty lame of Horn Automotive to not just cut the nose for a woodruff key and put on a keyed balancer, however.
I live about 70 miles from them and many years ago worked in a high performance machine shop. They had a good reputation back then. I'm quite certain that these guys are pretty competent, but they sure haven't taken very good care of you.
I'd keep after them till they make it right. I don't know about the insurance. I guess you should have notified your company and just left comprehensive on it. (Making sure that it stayed off the road till you called the company back to reinstate the insurance.) Hindsight is always 20-20.
Good luck,
Al

If the crankshaft has no keyway for a woodruff key, you do NOT have a 400 crankshaft. Without a 400 crank, you do not have a 383. The 383 stroker also needs the 400 balancer, and flywheel(flexplate) as they are externally balanced...not internally as the 350 is.

You got stroked. Ask a machine shop near you about this.

Sorry about the bad news.

And any mechanic worth a d**n would have installed the short plugs. They are called "Header Plugs" for a reason. Accel makes a very good series for the Chevy. Ditto for the wires and boots.

Good luck.

If the crankshaft has no keyway for a woodruff key, you do NOT have a 400 crankshaft. Without a 400 crank, you do not have a 383. The 383 stroker also needs the 400 balancer, and flywheel(flexplate) as they are externally balanced...not internally as the 350 is.

You got stroked. Ask a machine shop near you about this.

Sorry about the bad news.

And any mechanic worth a d**n would have installed the short plugs. They are called "Header Plugs" for a reason. Accel makes a very good series for the Chevy. Ditto for the wires and boots.

Good luck.

If the crankshaft has no keyway for a woodruff key, you do NOT have a 400 crankshaft. Without a 400 crank, you do not have a 383. The 383 stroker also needs the 400 balancer, and flywheel(flexplate) as they are externally balanced...not internally as the 350 is.

You got stroked. Ask a machine shop near you about this.

Sorry about the bad news.

And any mechanic worth a d**n would have installed the short plugs. They are called "Header Plugs" for a reason. Accel makes a very good series for the Chevy. Ditto for the wires and boots.

Good luck.

If the crankshaft has no keyway for a woodruff key, you do NOT have a 400 crankshaft. Without a 400 crank, you do not have a 383. The 383 stroker also needs the 400 balancer, and flywheel(flexplate) as they are externally balanced...not internally as the 350 is.

You got stroked. Ask a machine shop near you about this.

Sorry about the bad news.

And any mechanic worth a d**n would have installed the short plugs. They are called "Header Plugs" for a reason. Accel makes a very good series for the Chevy. Ditto for the wires and boots.

Good luck.

Rob from Bowie MD. as i'm new to this site and find the rebuttal system a little cumbersome if' you'd like you can reply to my email directly. I'm not sure about the discrepancy of the term stroker or not but I did see the crank shaft and it definitely did not have a key slot.They told me the bore would be changed and the crank would have a longer stroke to it. I was very interested in your comment about short plugs IT makes complete sense about temps an proximity.

Therefore, it is NOT an LT-1. It is essentially a 400 Chevy with the same bore as a 350. This is what a 383 Chevy engine is. Since the crankshaft is from a 400, it will have the keyway.

That is why I don't understand the issue. I have a feeling it's not really a stroker, though.

Hello Rob;
Just to get the facts straight an LT-1 motor does not had a keyed crank shaft. GM engineers in their wisdom decided to sav a few bucks and do away with it. I realize the earlier 350s did have the slot though.

A 383 stroker Chevy is a 350 with a 400 crankshaft. The harmonic balancer is lined up with a woodruff key. If the key is in place, the balancer cannot rotate on the shaft, no matter what. The ront bolt is torqued down, so again, as long as the woodruff key is installed, there will be no issues.

As for the wires burning through all the time, you should have bought Hooker Super-Comps. Install them, shortie header plugs(standard spark plugs are too long for use with any headers), and the fibergalss plug boots. You'll have no more problems with burn through.