have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

hey guys so im selling a pickup and if i do im guna dump the 1500 that i make off of it into my 72 gmc 1/2 ton 2wd longbox 350 that has 14 thousand miles since a complete overhaul. thats just the engine that had the overhaul. anyways im looking for a 350hp range. im thinking headers, cam, heads, carb. it had a quadrajet on it now. ill try to get parts used so i can to cut down on costs. i would like to not do any internal work since it was just rebuilt but i dont want anything to break also. so if everyone could give some advice on what parts to get that would be awsome! like if i should get long or shorty headers. vortec heads? what cam? different carb or keep the one i have? im not going to take it to the drags(well mabey street racing....shhhhh! :) ) its my DD 40 miles everyday so i would like to keep it around the 15 mpg range. running on whatever octane 87, 91, 93. (i think those are the numbers) also i rev it pretty high so build it for mid-top end power. also i would like to put a POSI with higher gears in it. i dont know what gears it has but it has a 4 speed stick and the fastest ive gone was 85mph and it was reving really high. (dont have a tach yet). any thoughts on gear ratios? i would like it to do atleast 100. thanks for your time and any input is greatly appreciated.
-chad

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

Hokay,

My 2 cents... keep the quadrajet and buy the best long tube headers that you can afford. The Q-jet gets a bad rap, but it's perfect for a DD/Street Pounder duties because the small primaries give it great gas mileage and most will flow up to 750cfm. Cam and heads are salt to taste. Personally I would stay away from the vortec heads and get a good set of standard Trick Flows or Darts or World Products. There are so many options. I think a set of 180-190cc heads and a cam duration of 268 or so should get you exactly what you're looking for.

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

1HP per cubic inch is as easy as picking up the phone, and emptying your wallet :)
An 'HONEST' 350HP 350 is going to take some work. Remember the 70 Z28 350 had a 360HP 350,,, To make that they used 11:1 compression, the 186 casting heads that flowed an honest 225cfm @ 0.50, a mechanical lifter cam to make the RPMs to get to 360HP,,, and recomended 96 octane.

In short that was the BEST of the muscle car era that gave a daily drivable 350HP smallblock. Today (and I do not say this to insult anyone) you will find about 99% of the smallblocks you hear about that make "about 400HP" are really making more like 325 as installed, with all the accessories and 'real' conditions.

Today things are much easier, technology has gave us a lot,, BUT.... if your wanting to spend $1500 on a stock 350-, and expecting a honest 350HP, and 15MPG.. I think your going to fall somewhat short of the goal.

To do that in a heavy chassis like a 72 LWB,, your asking a LOT!!!

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

Keep the Q-Jet and yeah what Marv D said....

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

ok so what can i expect from $1500? im thinking long tube headers, i checked out the dart heads and there spendy! so if i can find some used vortecs for cheap i might go that way. a guy has a muther thumper cam for $100 but idk if thats any good. i heard it was for a street rod with an automatic transmission? also should i invest in any internal stuff like pistons, ect? i dont want to go all out but i want to be able to keep up with newer vehicles. ive raced like 5 newer pickups and lost every time. still fun thou. oh and one more thing should i get a new HEI or just find a used one? also what size?
the more i think about this the more there is i dont know! thats how it usually is thou, right? thanks for your help guys!
-chad

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

if you want performance steer clear of the 'thumper' line.

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

1500 just doesnt last long ,a few hundred just for all the small stuff ,save up another 1500 and build a nice 383 carb to pan with headers

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

I agree with Marv - 'everyone' (esp. online) has a 400hp 350 or a 500hp 383 these days... But that's another matter altogether. It seems like you are set on getting some heads, but what castings are on the engine now? Having that info would be a good start, so would knowing what rear gears you have. You could always start with the basic E'brock manifold, an HEI and long tube headers/exhaust. This and a decent cam and some valvesprings would eat up a lot of that $1500, but may not meet that 350hp goal, depending on your current heads and compression ratio.

As others here can vouch for this, anytime you do something like this a lot of little stuff will pop up along the way that will eat into your budget, so be prepared.

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

Don't get stuck on the Horsepower numbers; you're after torque and all the questions are going to depend on what you have now... what heads? What pistons and overbore? What trans, rear gears, tire size, real world use etc.....

Depending on which exhaust manifolds you have it might be wiser to just have a nice, efficient exhaust system done. I definitely recommend going to a quality HEI as others have stated. The Qjet does get a bad rap and if it works properly might be in your best interest to keep...

Gotta know more to really give sound advice as far as camshaft etc...

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

You've received some really good advice and keep in mind that your truck has the SM420 trans (or did). It's a great "truck" transmission, a lousy performance transmission and you'll break it if you can actually shift it fast enough to make use of 350HP. If you can't you'll eventually miss a gear and hurt your engine.

If I were in your shoes and mileage is a concern first thing I'd do is look into an overdrive trans to replace the 4 speed in it now. Personally I'd go with a 700R4, most of the affordable manual OD trannies won't hold up to much abuse. Then if you have enough left get a set of headers and at least dual exhaust and HEI ignition. If it's in good shape the Q-Jet is going to give you good performance and about the best MPG you can hope for with a carb.

After that you can think about cams but stay on the mild side. I like the Performer cam and it 2 dozen or so clones for daily drivers. It won't sound racy but it works.

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

hey guys thanks for all the input! ill look into the parts you guys recomended and ill make a list and see what you guys think. also winola73 i would like to keep a manual in the pickup. and yes i have the sm420. i was thinking 5 speed. can i steal one out of a newer pickup? also blackedoutharley you said keep the manifolds and just run exhaust depending on the numbers. would that give me as good of HP as just getting some long headers? also do i want straight pipes or mufflers? and im assuming dual exhaust. right now i have the manifolds and a 2 into 1 pipe with about 3 feet of 2.5 pipe behind that(no muffler of course!) now i have enough pipe to not mess up the valves right?
thanks for putting up with my questions that are common knowledge to all you gear heads. i really appreciate it!
-chad

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

If you have the "ramhorn" style manifolds you can run those, again depending on the other questions related to engine etc... with a good dual exhaust system. Don't run straight pipes, you will need backpressure and you'll get tired of the straight pipes quickly. Any reputable exhaust shop should be able to install a complete exhaust system in a couple of hours. I wouldn't go anything bigger than 2.5" pipes though... Don't let anybody talk you into spending $$$ for 3", its not needed.

Headers will flow better; my suggestion for keeping the ramhorns is in the interest of cost. There are too many other items that we don't know about your engine for me to advise this part or that part.

As far as the SM420: they will hold a lot of torque and HP provided you maintain them with fresh oil and remember that it is a truck transmission as previously stated. That said, I have (in my younger days) been able to bark the tires in 3rd.
See the video in this thread of my truck which still has the OEM sm420 installed. It also has Hooker full length headers and 2.5" exhaust with an "H" pipe installed.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=473017

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

hey blackedoutharley your pickup sounds NICE! what mufflers are you running? also i found i couple high rise intakes(i have a 4in cowl hood) and one of the intakes is on ebay and theres no numbers and no maker but its a used aluminum and its like 27 bucks buy it now. think i should get it? also im reading a hotrod online article and there using a muther thumper cam in there 350 and its working good. that guys still got that cam so do you think it would be worth it? and i also found a couple HEIs on ebay(see links) which one would you recomend?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SMALL...#ht_4708wt_968
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-B...#ht_4664wt_968
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-3...#ht_4079wt_951
-chad

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

[QUOTE=ya it is a classic;4772239]hey blackedoutharley your pickup sounds NICE! what mufflers are you running? also i found i couple high rise intakes(i have a 4in cowl hood) and one of the intakes is on ebay and theres no numbers and no maker but its a used aluminum and its like 27 bucks buy it now. think i should get it? also im reading a hotrod online article and there using a muther thumper cam in there 350 and its working good. that guys still got that cam so do you think it would be worth it? and i also found a couple HEIs on ebay(see links) which one would you recomend?

Thanks...

Those mufflers are "Flo-Pro" brand that have been on there for about 15 years.

I don't buy no-name parts as important as an intake. I have an Edelbrock Performer RPM on my truck and it works good in my opinion. They are hard to beat.

I would not recommend the Muther Thumper line of cams in any truck. The cam that is in my truck is a Comp High Energy 268h. I am going to pull this motor soon and go through it and will be going to the Extreme Energy XE268H.

As far as buying a new HEI stick to Summit or Jegs. I know you can buy a completely new MSD HEI for under $140 complete.

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

[quote=blackedoutharley;4772262]Yes, avoid the no name intake regardless of price, I've heard countless horror stories about fit, port alignment, etc. It's 100% Edelbrock for me although I do have one used Weiand and a GMPP intake but the Weiand was made back in the early 80's and I'm told the GMPP was actually designed and manufactured by Edelbrock for GM.

The Mother Thumper cams rate right up there with noisy gear drives. Great for "fairgrounds racers" that just want to sound cool while idling to their parking spot at the local cruise night. The Comp 268HE has become pretty much a "standard", it has a nice lope at idle and it works well in a broad range of applications. The Performer RPM and 268HE is a classic and well proven combo.

I hope I don't start an argument with this one but here's a personal observation. I bought one of the "Skip White" eBay no name HEI's for my old Monte Carlo about 5 years ago and it worked so well I bought 2 more just to have on hand. A friend bought an MSD Street Fire from Summit last year and I was thinking how similar it looked to mine so I grabbed one of the spares and took it over to his place. We pulled the caps and rotors on each and put them side by side and we could not tell the difference. I have pictures to prove it and I'd be happy to post them. They had identical components, tooling marks and the wires were routed and secured exactly the same. There was virtually no difference. My friend was PO'd as he had paid $100 more for the MSD name. Someone here mentioned in another post that their Streetfire had roller bearings and maybe they did at one time but my friend's does NOT. That's not to say that you could buy one of each today and find the same thing but at some point in time you could so do your homework before shelling out big bucks for brand name ignition and make sure you're really getting what you're paying for. The MSD Streetfire is good but it is clearly made offshore and they may not be the exclusive or cheapest distributors of that distributor. ( "distributors of that distributor", that sounds odd doesn't it? )

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

If your looking for a block to build, id buy a 96+ roller for sure!

So is everyone recommending the 268H or the 268XE?

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

The 268H is a great cam but keep in mind that it has been around for many, many years (the one in my truck, shown in the video, was installed in 1995 and has 125K on it (with regular old Kendall 15/40 GT1 oil!)). As with most things, technology has improved and the new 268XE probably has some improvements in lobe profile etc... They still make the 268h and depending on the specs on your engine you can't go wrong with either. I am going to the XE based on higher valve lift and the fact that I got the cam new in box for $25.

XE has .477/.480 valve lift vs the 268H lift of .454 on both intake and exhaust. So if valve lift is a concern always defer to the lesser of the two examples.

And if you're buying or building a roller block all this means nothing... roller cams are far better overall except the initial cost.

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

ok what do you guys think about these headers? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G9006/?rtype=10
-chad

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

Summits headers are cheap knockoffs... Again... save the cash and get a set of good headers. Hookers or Heddman...

Gary

Re: have some questions about 350 performance parts
 

alright ill get some hookers. (just so i can say i got hookers in my truck!) so what kind of HP gains can i expect? unfortunately the pickup didnt sell so the only thing ive done is build an open element air filter out of the original filter. oh and ive totally redone the cowl hood. almost got it done.
so funny story my three feet of exhaust pipe that i kinda had to rig on to make it work fell off this morning. so i was driving around town all sneaky like and came up to a stop sign coming on to main street. a hopped up newer mustang went by me and i kinda revved the engine and waved. anyways there was a car next to me parked there and when i revved the engine the alarm started going off! lets just say i didnt stick around to see when it got shut off haha