Wondering if 401 crank fits in a 364 block? Would like to keep the original heart of the beast in my ‘60 LeSabre but a little more stroke would be nice. Rather not look for a “good” core block when I already have a nice start with a working 50k mile engine. Would need new pistons anyways with an overbore. Also, any simple head tricks to consider (valve size…easy do-it-yerself porting…)? Or different year heads that are advantageous?
Hi, Check the main bearing sizes, but if it fit you'd end up having to use custom piston or rods, possibly both as the deck height is different, 364 shorter than a 401/425 Regards, Jim
I think the crank throws will interfere with the oil feed that is the length of the engine line under the cam. It might have to be removed and re-routed. I know this is an issue when stroking a 401/425. You will have a longer stroke in a shorter deck meaning the bottom of the cylinders are closer to the crank. This could mean cylinder notching at the bottom to accommodate the big end of the rods and rod journals. Again this in issue for the 401/425 strokers. You can see the notches in the Nailhead stroker below. Another issue may be the skirt of the piston being closer to the crank on a shorter rod. The skirt will come .100" further out of the bottom cylinder and may cause instability of the piston or contact the crank counter weights. Of course a custom piston would take care of that, but we are looking at quite a lot of expense when all of these things could impact your build. Buick probably would have stroked the 364 instead of redesigning it with a increased deck height if it were feasible. As Tom likes to say, just my thoughts. Cheryl
do you know the stroke in the photo. i had lots of clearance on my 425 stroke and not even close to the oiling pipe. no ideal about the 364 block.
i would for sure use the 401-425 rods, to keep less side load on pistons plus move the pin height up to give you a really light and shorter piston.
that was a lot more stroke .500 thousands over stock. using the 401 crank on a 364 would only be .250 thousands over stock. i bet it might work.
I'm not calling anyone wrong, but how can the 401-425 with a longer stroke, and using the same timing case/gears/chain, have a lower deck height then a 364? The 401-425 block is physically taller then the 364 and all that extra height is above the camshaft.
Egge has pistons at 2.39 pin height so stock must be 2.46. if i do the math with stock 6.10 rod length the block comes out to 10.31. what am i doing wrong here ? Babeola ?
ok Egge goes by compression height not pin height that's were am going wrong. so its not 10.31 so must be close to 10 inch, but shouldn't change anything about using a 401 crank with custom pistons.
I imagine Tom would be the one to ask. He is making pistons for all nailheads and probably has all the deck heights and compression heights on hand. We know the deck is shorter as the 364 intake manifold is not as wide as the 401/425, the rods are shorter and the stroke is shorter.
I get about 9.75" deck height for the 364 with a rough calculation. Half the stroke is 1.695" + 6.1" rod + 1.925 compression height + .030"-.050" down the hole give us 9.75"-9.77". We would have to take one apart to check the actual deck height, but this is close enough for our purposes. Cheryl
What a great discussion! Love the technical side of all this - and so do many of you. May be a bit of a fantasy but I think we all like to contemplate such challenges
Any idea what the compression height is of the stock 364 piston? If same as 401 then maybe off the shelf 364 + .030 pistons may work? Could it be this simple???
