where to start motor mods

[AK70SWB]

NEW GUY QUESTION-- I'M NEW TO THE TRUCK AND V-8 SCENE BUT HAVE BEEN INTO HALF-A-MOTOR PERFORMANCE FOR AWHILE. ANYWAY JUST WONDERING WHERE TO START. THE TRUCK IS STOCK(70SWB S.B. 350) EXHAUST ON THE WAY- BUT AFTER THAT I'M NOT REALLY SURE WHERE TO GO . THE MOTOR HAS ONLY 75,000 ON THE TICKER SO MOTOR REBUILD IS NOT NEEDED RIGHT AWAY. ANY CARB-INTAKE AND CAM SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE OF GREAT HELP. IS IT TRUE THAT CAMS ARE CHOOSEN BY TORQUE CONVERTER SIZE? I GUESS I JUST DO KNOW HOW TO PICK THE RIGHT SET UP--I HAVE CONFLICTING ADVISE--ABOUT WHAT MODS TO DO AND WHEN. THE TRUCK IS NOT A DAILY DRIVER AND WILL NEVER BE, BUT I WANT A SLEEPER. I KNOW YOU GUYS HAVE ANSWERED THESE QUESTIONS A THOUSAND TIMES BUT I CAN'T FIND ANY ON THE SEARCH. THANKS THE NEW GUY

[Big69C20 Toy]

Welcome from cali. So you want a sleeper... hmm well exhaust is a good one. if you want a racin type motor go for edelbrock victor intake, heads and a demon carb along with a nice big cam. cant really hide a blower so that'd be a tough one but always great power once you get power you'll need traction, and lots of fellas here got ideas fer that.

[67Fleetsidedream]

First off, since you are new to the v-8 world. The best advise that I can give you is to learn as much about v-8 engines. Go buy a book about Chevy V-8 rebuilding and performance. Getting advise from the board is a great way to get started. But there is alot more to it.

Ben

[brennecke]

I strongly suggest that you get any book you can by David Vizard on small block Chevy's.
http://half.ebay.com/search/search.j...d=David+Vizard

How to Build Max Performance Chevy Small Blocks on a Budget Is the book to start with. It has some great formulas(put this part with that part), and tons of horsepower saving/creating tips.

[Blue68]

These guys are correct about learning to build the engine, BUT keep in mind that the engine isn't the only thing that makes a truck go fast. You can put a 400 hp engine in a truck and be slower (in some regards) than the same truck with a 300 hp engine.

It's a system. You need to match the engine's power bands (torque and HP) to the transmission and rearend ratios. The same goes with the engine itself. Putting in a cam that makes power from 3000 - 5500 rpm and an intake that makes power from 1500-4000 is a mismatch and you will be very dissapointed. As for the converter question, again you neet to make a match. If your engine is to make power high in the rmp range, then your converter needs to wait to lock up until you get into that rpm range.

And above all else, don't forget that it is a nearly 4000lb truck. You will have some traction issues, and it will take considerable power to get it moving. And don't forget you've got to stop too.

You mention not wanting to tear the engine apart. You are very limited to how much more power you will make otherwise (unless you go to NOS). A good head, cam, intake package will be a must to get sleeper levels of power. To truly blow off some doors, consider a stroker.

I'm assuming you are talking a drag sleeper. High speed in a brick is difficult.

[Smooth68]

Welcome to the board! You've got the exhaust covered - Get a decent dual plane aluminum intake and carb, (possibly something like the Edelbrock performer or Torker power package which comes with cam/lifters) or mid range cam (comp cams 270H or 280H), then splurge for a good set of big valve heads(Dart II or similar).

This will get you a stout little sb, then you can start playing with gears, tranny and such.

Hey your just a hour or two up the road from me. My half brother is going to school there. Too bad the Super Shops went out of business huh....

[Huck]

The further you go from stock, the more difficult it becomes to have a nice driver and great high performance. You can easily swap exhaust to headers and duals----then also do ignition to HEI. So far you are probably into it for a few hundred. Next do the intake and carb (Edelbrock or ?) which will be another few hundred without screwing up it's nice driving capability. Once you go inside---cams, lifters, etc. it gets a little dicey in that you need to know what you are doing. Nitros-NOS can give you oodles of instant power that is only there when you need it and once turned off, you are back to simple stock like drive. A good solid 350 will handle NOS if not overdone. You will have a sleeper that will blow the doors off most modified non- NOS trucks and yours will run nice when you are done. Good luck~~~Huck

[COBALT]

There's a good article in Super Chevy right now about Nitrous Oxide (I think that's the mag). After reading this article, which just barely scratches the surface it occurred to me to pay attention to things that are NOT compatable.

For instance the article mentioned staying away from dual plane intakes if you plan on using Nitrous Oxide. The danger with the dual plane setup is accidentally running your engine too lean while introducing Nitrous Oxide can burn your pistons up and ruin your engine. Dual plane intakes may not allow a rich fuel mixture (which is what you need) to be introduced properly.

Just some things to think about. I'm sort of after the same thing, but I've resigned myself to take my time and learn. Try rebuilding your engine to stock as sort of a prerequisite for building your performance motor. Who cares if it REALLY needs to be rebult. Take the opportunity to learn.

Learn about valve trains, and learn how cams work, and how they are ground. Learn about carburetors, and how they manage fuel and air. Rebuild your carburetor. Read up on how transmissions can be rebuilt, then learn about shift kits and torque converters, and learn about differentials, axles, suspension, and braking systems. Hell, I even bought an extra transmission to practice on! Go find a cheap 4bolt main block and practice rebuilding it if you want to. Have fun.

The more you learn both book-wise and from experience the more you'll be prepared to handle some of these tough issues. I believe that you'll actually save money in the long run if you practice some of these techniques before tearing into the stuff you really want to do a good job on, even though you may make mistakes and trash a block or ruin hard parts in a tranny.

I have also found the reason there's so many different opinions out there is that a lot of people have skipped the funtamentals and spend all their time playing with stuff. If you follow the people who really know what they're doing the advice and opinions will start to all sound alike. That's when you know you're talking to experts.

My .02

[jku72]

The first thing I do on all my older trucks is replace the geeky points with a good HEI, ACCEL makes a good one, but even a junkyard unit is 100 times better than points. The next thing I did was add power brakes, so simple a monkey could do it, and parts are cheap, then I added power steering, ditto on the easyness, but be sure to get all BRACKETS right beforehand, then thirdly, exhaust system.
Ignore all this if you have 10000 bucks to build a whole setup at once.
I like the truck to drive well first, then start addons, one at a time.

[AK70SWB]

THANK YOU ALL!
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP AND YOUR TIME
GREAT TO HEAR EVERYONE'S NOT THE SAME AS FAR AS HOW TO SET UP YOUR TRUCK. SO AS LONG AS YOU HAVE FUN AND LEARN I GUESS YOU CAN'T GO WRONG!
THANKS AGAIN
ANDY

[Paul Clark]

HEI
Dual-plane intake (Weiand or Edelbrock) will give good torque. Victor/Jr. if it's for the strip, 'cause it works best at high RPM.
My Edelbrock carb is great. Just bolt it on and it works! Smaller one for the street and everyday driving - bigger one for the strip. Electric choke is cool. Starts every morning. (at least it did when the truck was in one piece)
Posi rear end if you get serious. No more "one wheel wonder"
Valve springs. Do the guides and seals too.
Some "RV" cams work pretty good.
Better have some good gas in there.
Shift kit for the tranny, and adjust the detent (sp?) cable so it shifts when you want it to.
Headers are great, but they are a PITA (my opinion) for a daily driver.
Big open filament air cleaner (K&N)
Sticky street tires/slicks and, if you have coil springs, air bags. What happens at the end of the strip depends a lot on what happens at the start. You gotta have traction, Jackson.
Before you do any of this, make sure what you have is running at 100 percent. Change all the fluids and tighten all the bolts. Speaking of which, new U-joints, shocks, and bushings.
Then get John Force to drive it and Austin Coil (sp?) to set it up.