unknown 383 purchased

[grumpyvette]

heres what I can tell you guys by now....I bought a never ran, new build, 383 sbc from an estate sale..it came with 2.02 World heads.... cast iron... screw in studs, pushrod guides.. engines never been started . the guy who built it died during build... left it too wife. air gap manifold,,,??
looks alright from out side and just general handiwork around the block and stuff. don't know what kinda cam is in it... got something like heavy duty stamped rocker arms on the heads
how do I know what size they are..? 1.5,1.6 etc.
is there any way to tell without pulling cam what kind...lift etc is in it?
any way to know what compression ,pistons, are in it with out tearing it apart.. probably not ..don't have a problem with that but if you guys have any ideas on what you would do if you bought a built motor without any papers info what would you do to start getting your core info to set it up

What you have now is or could be, just a great place to start, but a unknown list of components and your not sure of the clearances, that's something you can easily correct and should correct so your not dealing with an unknown commodity and guessing, or working blindly,IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA!
personally I would simply stick the engine on a engine stand and carefully disassemble it, carefully measure every component and reassemble it using the same used components you have PROVIDED the clearances and condition of the components and the valve train geometry checked out, after all that's only going to cost you a set of gaskets and a full weekend of work to verify everything's correctly fitted, matched and clearance, the bolts and studs are correctly torqued and all the threaded holes are carefully cleaned, the quench is correct, the bearing clearances are correct, the compression, piston side clearance, ring gap,and cam index, lift and duration, piston to valve clearance and a dozen other clearances and component measurements are a known factor NOT something your making a wild guess at!
yes you might find you need new bearings or rings,or machine work, or clearance work, done, but if you do its going to be far cheaper to find that out and correct that before you have an engine fail during operation than after a component fails.

HERES SOME THREADS ON ENGINE BUILDS WITH A GREAT DEAL OF LINKS TO USE AS REFERENCES
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