________________________________________________________________________________________

The shop that built the engine ordered all the parts . The rotating assbly came from Summit Racing and ordered as internaly balanced assembly. The eagle kit came with balanced crank , H beam rods Bearings arp bolts JE pistons and rings.They made the mistake and did not order a complete assembly that would have included the damper and the flex plate. They claimed that they had built many stroker engines and yet did not realize that the 400 sb chevy,s were externaly balanced to start with.

That's pretty inexcusable in my opinion.  It's the engine builders job to know what parts he is ordering and  putting together.

The box that the crank came in should have been marked.

sorry  chevy racing short deck four bolt main siamezed wall gen four blocks.

OK,, so GM Bowtie blocks,, what bore,, and which main caps?  What do you want for them?

OK,,, assembled short block, $1800.  Still time to select a paint color before I assemble it.

So how can I tell if I have a Mark IV or Gen V? Do I have to pull the pan and see if the rear main seal is 1 or 2 piece or is there an easier way?

You previously stated it was a "959"  " mid seventies" block, which means it would have been a MK IV block.

I have an absolute mint condition Edelbrock Performer oval port intake manifold (#2161).  Summit price $203,, get this one for $100.

May be just the opposite,, too much fuel running down the cylinder walls washes off the oil.  Tops of the pistons and inside of the headers being "black" indicate that it's running rich,, was it smoking too?

Even if he had regular "street" type clearance, I have never seen pistons turn blue, there had to be lots of friction and heat to do that.  If you were closer I would be happy to look at the parts for you, but even photos may help.

To expand upon what I wrote, it's critical that you don't have a bunch of raw fuel in the cylinders if you want the rings to seal on a new engine.  On top of that, if the rings don't seal and you continue to pour raw fuel into the cylinders, it's going to be forced past the rings and into the oil.

Anything I run, from my turbo charged Schiada that I used to race, down to any of my street vehicles, one of my normal maintenance checks is to smell and feel the oil from the dipstick. 

Might want to consider one of these, may even be the same cover,, $90 shipped.  I bought one for my 20' Baker outboard,, only had it a month so can't tell you how long it will last, but also 5 year warranty.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110712174206?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

thanks, but im trying to get her running today, not tomorrow.

after some searching, it should be at 26

I would guess you have already lashed them at this point,, but I would put an unknown flat tappet mechanical cam at .024" int and .026" exh.  It's fairly common to allow .002" extra on the exhaust, but I would think your .026" on both should run fine.

I have a 4 bolt 427 block with cylinder head studs and center main bolts also studded.  Crankshaft is a GM marked "Sonny Bryant", forged domed piston, GM 7/16" rods.  I think it may hone and go back together, it had been sitting awhile when I got it.  $800 for all of it.

It will not fit a gen 5

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S 4G

Why is that,, Gen 5 and 6 pans are interchangeable, and I can see by the photo that it is a Gen 5/6 pan,, note the notches for the two remote oil cooler fittings in the block in front of the oil filter.

Ok, I decided to look for some numbers on the block and heads. The rear of the block has 361959 stamped on it. I did a quick search and came up with a mid seventies 250 h.p. 454 motor. On the front of one cylinder head is HLC94079 This # yielded me zero results on google. The rear engine mount has a tag that states that the engine was built by Harman Marine and that timing should be 10 degrees and 94 octane fuel should be used. If I recall correctly, I remember seeing some stuff stamped on the block near the oil filter. Getting to that area is a bitch, but if those #'s are of importance I'll do whatever needs to be done to access those numbers.

As mentioned, if you remove one of the valve covers you can find the cylinder head casting number.  The casting numbers alone don't tell you too much about what may have been done to the engine when (and if) it was rebuilt, certainly nothing about the cam or compression ratio unless you know the engine has never been apart.    What the cylinder head casting number would tell you is if the ports are oval or rectangular shaped, and if they were a performance type head,, or just something that should be on a truck. 

Right now I am running the Bosch platinum plus plugs. The HR9BPX. I decided to take a look at a couple tonight, seeing as I put em in about 3 or 4 years ago and haven't checked them since. They are a rust color almost brown, and the gap is at 45 to 46 now. If I remember right I gapped them at 40 to begin with, not sure cause it's been so long. Should I replace them???  Opinions are like assholes everyones got one, so let's hear it guys!!   

I use standard,, cheapy conventional spark plugs for normally aspirated recreational marine engines,, usually about 2 heat ranges colder than stock due to the difference between the way the engines are used in a boat from a conventional, low rpm street engine, and usually Autolites that can be purchased at your local parts store for under $2 each

For forced induction or race engines, I tend to use NGK plugs, as I had fine success running them in my own super charged and turbo charged engines in my old Schiada ski race boat. 

As far as I know, the rare metal plugs were developed to meet increasing demands for lower maintenance vehicles, and do not offer any advantage for your boat engine. 

Last chance before it's assembled and costs more.  Probably $1800 assembled.