Dano78 said:
I do know that there are two different kinds of stroker kits out there. One that blows oil and one that doesn't. The main difference in each kit is the rods and pistons. The oil burner kits are the ones that have the oil rings located over the wristpins and using a 5.400 connecting rod. Typically they use Keith Black, Mahle, Probe or JE/SRP Piston. Yeah they mention that they include "ring supports" but you just can't polish a TURD.
The best setup is one that uses a 5.315 connecting rod and prodominately Probe Pistons (they make pistons for both rod lengths) are used. Rumor has it that JE/SRP offers a piston for this rod too, but I have yet to find a part number for them.
I don't run the 5.4 rods, I use eagle H-beam 5.5 rods with full floating wrist pins and spiralocks. I run lightweight forged pistons from JE specifically made to run a 5.5 rod with 3.25" stroke and with valve reliefs for the canted valve TFS track-heat heads. The JE pistons are the best combination of strength and weight and use a very effective oil ring support plug for the pin area. I have between 4 and 5 thousand miles on the 332 motor and it has never burned oil at all.
The rod to stroke ratio with a 5.5 rod and 3.25 stroke is 1.69:1, which is identical to the stock 302, and is therefore perfect for the 332 stroker.
A 347 has a 3.4" stroke, which means you can't get a good rod to stroke ratio from it, there's just not enough room. (The 3.4" stroke with 5.315" rods yields only a 1.56:1 ratio) One reason for the oil consumption problem you mentioned is due to such poor rod to stroke ratios, which causes excessive piston to cylinder wall side-load and leads to piston skirt wear and cracking, loss of engine efficiency and ultimately engine failure. (For this reason, I never recommend the 347" combination unless the car is strictly to be used for the strip, where street longevity isnt an issue.)
Even the stock 302 has a fairly low rod to stroke ratio, but Ford engineering found it to be acceptable for street use, so I try to stick with that number as the bare minimum. (The 289 is a slightly more efficent and more durable engine than the 302 for no other reason than its superior rod to stroke ratio. Although the ribbed rod caps help, too.)
It's not the oil ring crossing through the piston pin that causes problems, but rather inferior product quality of most stroker "kits", where the seller is trying to throw together an inexpensive package for the masses.
Lastly, if you want to build any type of stroker, it's important to know that the newer style (late 81 and up) 302 blocks are a *lot* lighter than the older blocks, due to Ford reducing the mass of the webbing in the main bearing support areas. They wanted to save money in the casting process as well as try to lighten the 302, to make the new Fox body cars handle and perform better. Years of various dyno testing and racing the small blocks has revealed that the older blocks can deal with roughly 700 hp before the block splits between the crank and cam and the crankshaft exits through the oilpan. The newer 302 blocks can deal with perhaps 450hp before the same thing happens. (And that's with a stock 3" stroke) A mainstud girdle(a billet STEEL unit, not aluminum) will help eleviate the block weakness, but when investing a lot of cash into a stroker motor, why start with a weaker block?
I would suggest getting the steel stroker crankshaft designed for the older block, complete with the rear oil seal flange, and also running a steel mainstud girdle to hold everything together. An older block with the girdle is pretty well bulletproof. I would also suggest not buying any "kits" unless you can call them and modify the kit specifications, otherwise you're going to get some cheap stuff that won't be anywhere near as durable as a custom selected setup.