engine building advice
 

here in the next few months i will be building a 350 that will be cruising the country. it will be going into a chevy van. i need some advice on building a very efficient motor. im thinking of a 350 with 882 heads, factory iron intake, new quadrajet, factory cam (or any cam that could get better mpg/power), HEI, open element air filter, and hoping for headers and chrome sidepipes. what do you guys think? is there a better cam other than factory (.390/.410) that could get better mpg? are there any better heads to go with for mpg? im going for fuel efficient only.

Re: engine building advice
 

rv cam, vortec heads, and a edelbrock performer intake. Do not run an open element air cleaner, find a good one from a truck and vent it from the front.

Re: engine building advice
 

get some 87 up heads and tbi setup off a pickup good gas mileage and decent performance for a daily driver. o by the way don't use roloc disc for cleaning mating surfaces on engine debris from the disc will tear up the bearings

Re: engine building advice
 

I aggree with cooters, making alittle more power over some of the stock pieces will actually be more pocket freindly in the end. example- parts he listed. As long as you don't go crazy. there are pluses and minuses to the open element air cleaner. I think what cooters (correct me if I'm wrong) is trying to say is tha on a van there's alot of trapped hot air more so than on a pick-up and designing a good cold air intake would be a very good choice.

Re: engine building advice
 

If it were me, I'd go to Randys ring and pinion ( http://www.ringpinion.com/Calc_RPM.aspx ), and use there calculators to figure what RPM the engine will be operating in the majority of the time and find a cam, intake, and head package that makes peak HP at that RPM. that is where you will get the best MPG from. and definatly make good big cold air intake system to a duel snorkel air cleaner. David

BTW Im speaking from experence i built a .060 over 383 big block Mopar in a 3900# '69 Plymouth Satalite that made extremely nice HP and insane torque and got 23MPG from it.

Re: engine building advice
 

Small-chamber heads with good swirl, D-cup pistons, itty bitty cam, something like a TBI 350.

Re: engine building advice
 

I agree with the engine stuff cooters suggested.Then go to an OD tranny or a gear vendors unit.Tire hieght will make a difference also.Unfortunately you will probably not get very good milage pushing a "wall" down the road.If you are really looking to get a van as efficient as possible you might also consider lowering the suspension a bit to lower wind resistance,maybe a front air dam,use narrow tires to reduce rolling resistance.Unless it's a passenger van a wall behind the seats will enable you to cool it on a lower AC setting.Maybe look into underdrive pulleys to free up some horsepower.
You might also look into whether the extra torque from a stroker might give you a better chance of meeting your goal since you are looking at using it in a heavyvehicle that is only slightly more aerodynamic than a "brick".Volumetric Efficiency is the key to power and making the engine a better "air pump" in the rpm range you need is the key.

Re: engine building advice
 

^ I agree.. with all of it, gm had a TSB on the roloc discs a few years back

go with TBI, will take more time to setup, but in the end you will have much better fuel mileage as well as being easier to diagnose

Re: engine building advice
 

well this is actually a swb chevy sport van. the engine compartment on this thing is like an air funnel. i wont have enough money to do a whole lot. the route i think im going to have to take is having a th350 with a 2.73-3.08 gearing.

Re: engine building advice
 

I agree with this too. low gears are good, skinny tires are good, but I think a van shaped like a door wedge would be best.

Re: engine building advice
 

i agree with what all as been said, any pics of the van by chance? and if it has dual head lights you can make a nice intake system using the inside light holes

Re: engine building advice
 

Re: engine building advice
 

Lots of dueling advice!!
If you keep 350cid, the cast vortec heads are a good deal. Use a true dual plane intake and a 600cfm quadrajet. I like crane cam's MPG series carb. MPG/RV type cams will float the valves at around 5,500 rpm, so you don,t need any intake that says it makes power after that.

Otherwise, k&n filters are pretty good. Regular HEI is just fine, but maybe the money you save by not retrofitting TBI could go to something like a jacobs ignition, but then you add an electronic failure mode to your engine (but they are supposed to be reliable). Or the 700r4. A well tuned q-jet is wonderful, and the vacuum secondaries make it very efficient, not much less than TBI. The difference in price would well put a 700r4 under your rig, even if you wait a few months to accumulate the cash for it.

Re: engine building advice
 

well this has all been good advice. i appreciate it alot. i will do alot of research this weekend.