Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Im about to do a stroker cleveland, I have built clevelands before but always just standard stroke.

One of my suppliers has some good pricing on individual Eagle items, so im thinking of the 4" crank 435640006000 (forged, internal balance) and can get a good deal on FSI600B I beam rods. These rods are for chev and also come in a stroker clearanced version at extra cost - my question is, are the stroker clearanced versions necessary for a cleveland? I have heard there is a lot more room inside than in an SBC. will also be matching to IC877 KB Icon forged dish pistons.

all of the kits advertised elsewhere seem to use H beams, but this build is not going to be big power, nor revved past 6000 - plus both the H beam and these particular I beams are rated at 700hp - weight is slightly less for the I beam (which could be an advantage for balancing ?) i have no issues running either except the extra $100 for the H beams.

any advice is appreciated.

thanks in advance!!

Personally I'd use a Scat crank & Scat Pro I beam rods - I don't like the Eagle stuff & the price difference is pretty minimal.

Plenty of room in a clevo crankcase.

My advice would be to go over to 351c.net on Facebook and talk with some of those guys plenty of stroker cleveland’s over there.

600 HP or less I'd opt for the Scat 4000 series cast crank and I beam rods with the 7/16 bolts. Anything over that gets the forged unit.
Of course it all depends on budget . If you have more disposable then there are even better options out there. The Molnar rods are a nice upgrade.

I totally agree with what Knight and Russ have said.

A good deal is not always a good deal- any eagle stuff that I get asked to use gets crack tested full stop. Any eagle crank gets reground full stop. Theres more $ right there.

877 is a nice piston. The step dish is great with a closed chamber head on a lower rpm build but set bore clearance 1st, then trial assemble , allow for full possible piston rock at TDC on the step (high) side of the piston. If using open chamber go for something else.

You dont need stroker clearanced rods for what you are doing.

I'd also do a 3.850 with a 6.125 rod.

You can make the other 15 H/P elsewhere.

good info, thanks to all for your contributions.

wow, is the eagle stuff still that bad?? most stuff i do i had been using scat, i have only ever used one crank from eagle, it was customer supplied for a 408 forged windsor and he flogs it, has had no issues.
the last scat (cast) crank i got was for my own personal engine, and it had terrible chatter on the mains so it got a grind which left a sour taste in my mouth.

is the 393 preferred simply for less piston skirt out the bottom of the bores? or for less thrust load on the bore?

ill check out that facebook site over the weekend.

Try Tim he has all the cleveland strokers possible. Nice kit from molnar also with racetec pistons. http://www.tmeyerinc.com. The stock crank will handle well over 600hp with rod upgrade. The last 9.5 comp iron headed open chamber 357 we did was 470 hp at 6000. It wouldve hit 500 easy but owner didn't want to rev past 6000.

I only use scat cranks after some bad experience with the eagle cranks. Just make sure you have the block bored for the 1 piece 351W rear seal or you will have heart ache with the non knurled seal area cranks.

At the end of the day , check everything, i had a scat crank with a beautifully ground dip in a rod journal, it literally looked like someone had bumped the grinding wheel into the journal as the crank was ground!
And then i have had cheap 'junk' that checks out spot on!

IC877 , 4" stroke, this is at BDC.

What's the bet that Scat, Cat & Eagle are all made in the same Chinese factory....

@ Geoff2: You'd lose that bet....

Totally different parts and quality of parts. You won't find any Eagle parts in my shop.

@ the OP: I specialize in Clevelands and have tried about every combination of rotating assembly parts out there. I have (2) 408C's in here now. Both use Scat crankshafts. One uses a Scat 6" I-beam rod and the other one uses a Molnar 6" rod.

Both will clear the cylinders without grinding.



If you use a larger H-beam rod, such as an Eagle, or a Scat, you will need to grind.

FWIW, I've never ran a 3.850" stroke, always a 4". The wives tales about extra stress in a Cleveland with a 4" stroke are just that.

There's another good Cleveland forum...... www.the351cforum.com I know the owner personally..... Lots of hard core racers and engine builders there with tons of Cleveland experience, both factory and aftermarket/out-of-the-box.

blykins wrote: ↑Fri Jun 08, 2018 7:23 am There's another good Cleveland forum...... www.the351cforum.com I know the owner personally..... Lots of hard core racers and engine builders there with tons of Cleveland experience, both factory and aftermarket/out-of-the-box.

Yeah right , that's what they all say !

What’s that mean, Craig?

Considering I pay several hundred dollars a year to run that website and my name is on the registration, I think it’s a fair statement. Don’t you?