In no way is the battle of the 383 cubic inch engines that Engine Masters put together a fair fight, despite what Freiburger keeps claiming. Why? Simple: a small-block Chevy stroker is a rev-happy beast that makes power from the mid-range on, and the big-block Mopar motor was designed to move tons of land barge, so it has a torque wave that is enviable. So don’t look at this episode of Engine Masters as a comparison…that doesn’t work. Look at it as dyno porn, because let’s face facts: it’s winter, and now is project build time for a lot of us. Both engines are in the deep 400s on both horsepower and torque, and put into the right project car, will make for an entertaining driver that will leave tell-tale stripes around the county roads. That 383 would be perfect stuffed into a late 1980s Firebird, and as for that 383….well, Dulcich, let’s be honest: you know damn well where I’d shove that block. I’ve got a nice, seasoned 400ci block I could send your way…I’d even deliver it in person. Think about it, will you?
The weird thing is, on paper, with it’s larger bore and shorter stroke, the Mopar 383 should be the high-revving one and the 383 Chevy should be the torque-ier one of the two.
Still, not much of a comparison, considering the Mopar had more displacement (Was actually a 393, bored 0.060″ over) and the cam had more lift.
Really just shows that with very similar specs, similar size and similar flowing heads they are just air pumps. With almost identical numbers and this was a reassuring test of how big block vs small block, brand etc don’t matter all things being pretty much equal.
I don’t think the mopar heads flow quite as good as the vortec do, hence the number with the slightly larger cam and displacement. Really not a bad test at all.
I like this engine masters show so far.
Even if the Mopar is a little bigger, the “383” Chevy is a 385… .040 overbore. Interesting to see the torque curve on the Mopar, who’s heads haven’t seen any R&D time since the 70’s… particularly with a much shorter stroke and comparatively huge bore. Love this stuff.