Originally Posted by capev86 (Post 3653690)

i'd stick with the big boy 292 and hop it up a bit (they have 4 barrel manifolds for these) but if you need a new engine anyway, a 305 would make a great stepping stone. my dad replaced the tired 350 in his 72 burb back in the 80's with a 305 out of a '77 monte carlo. he installed a camaro oil pump, an rv grind cam and rebuilt the stock 4 barrel as well as upgraded the ignition to electronic (hei). we used it to pull our 71 holiday 6,000 lb camper all over the place.

i'd prefer a 305 to the 307 in my 72 burb because it has the longer stroke from the 350, just small pistons which make for a more efficient power plant. i'd love to do a stroker kit in a 305 and work the cyl heads for better flow. but i have my bad boy 406sbc to go in my truck. i have a 3/4 ton with the 4.57 rear gear (i have the 3rd member to swap to a 4.10) so i feel your pain on fuel economy as my best on a tank has been 11.1mpg. i want to add the (rare) factory OD unit to the saginaw 3 on the tree eventually and that with the softer rear gear should get me in the 16-18mpg range. right now the truck screams on the highway and even around town it has too much rpm, even with that puny 307.

we still have that old holiday camper and i will be hauling it around everywhere with my burb next summer!!