blew up the 383 today . terrible thing. but anyway, does anyone have an estimate of how much it would take to rebuild this one?

 

I will guess without knowing what damage is done that you will probably save money by finding a fresh new start with another block.

 

Check into a 400 stroker

 

What exactly is damaged? Is the motor stock or built up some? Is the block cracked?

 

I was driving down the freeway, went to go pass someone, kicked it into second and all of a sudden the inside fills with smoke. I lost about a quart of oil. And now there's a really bad knock. It barely wants to run.

 

Don't run it anymore there could be numerous things that happened. I would yank the motor and disasemble it and find out what really happened.

 

Bad knock is not good but it needs disassembled to find the true problem

 

Agree dont run it anymore, there is 1 bright spot tho... All the internals sounds like they are still internal.... Pull it drain the pan and pull the oil pan... Figure what part(s) are wanting out then make the determination of how to proceed.

 

I would start by checking the rocker arms- push rod cup. I had one break long time ago, made a terrible noise.

 

A friend of mine (real big mopar guy) said that it sounds like the torque converter is coming apart.

 

Kinda still scary losing a quart of oil and torque convertor going bad at the same time. I would have to question that conclusion. Whatever you do don't run it anymore. The torque convertor can be cut open and diagnosed. If it did come apart so will your tranny to clean all the trash out of it.

 

well it might have been low on oil to begin with. i changed it and now it sounds fine. so i really don't know what to do.

 

Sounds ok ?? What is the oil pressure ?? I would at least drop the pan and inspect the bearings
I had a 360 street car and I sucked the pan dry and lost oil pressure at the strip. Motor sounded fine afterwards BUT the oil pressure was much lower. I ignored it and a while later the crank broke. I think with the bearing clearances the crank was flexing too much until it broke

 

Spend some coin and let someone check it out. Can't go from knocking to good with just adding oil.

 

Depends on how far you want to go with the rebuild, probably want to get the blocked check out after you tear it down before doing anything to it. Depending how far you go with the rebuild expect 2-3 grand

 

I was in Woodland, CA (by Sacramento) last weekend and I know where there is a complete fresh 318 Poly, a complete 360 with a thermoquad with the torqueflite still attached and a complete 400/2bbl without a carb but, with a 727 behind it.
I don't know what the guy wants for any of them but, they're not in pieces....