350 combo help

[Just-in-credible]

Hey guys! First time poster here!

So Here's the deal, I just bought a 65 step side with a stock-ish 350. It's my first project, and I'm bit by the go fast bug. Any advice on a combo that would be a strong street combo? I found this article, and have ben thinking of using this as the base for my mods.

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te...d/viewall.html


About the only thing that I might change is to go to a FAST EZ EFI set up, or something similar. But I'm open to advice! Is the 280 too much cam? I'm not going to be driving it everyday, just a weekend cruiser. I also need some advice about stall speed. It currently has a TH 350 with 3.73's.

Cant wait to get started on this thing...

[PoDuck]

I guess the best question to ask is how limited is your budget? You could get 350-400 hp with less than $1000 worth of parts.

[Just-in-credible]

I dont really want to cheap out on the important stuff. having said that, I don't have a problem spending the money in the right places.

[PoDuck]

There's no cheaping out on important stuff. If you have a gen I 350, you can upgrade the heads and intake to the newer vortec heads from a '96-00 truck ~$150-$400 (junkyard), and use a fel pro 7733SH1 or fel pro 1094, which are .015" thick. ~$10

The vortec heads have a 62cc chamber, compared to your 70-74cc stock heads, which should bring your compression ratio to between 9.4:1-9.5:1.

A crane power max 272-2 cam (272/284, 216/228 @ .050", 112 LSA, .454"/.480" lift) ~$150 will work rather nice for that. Don't go over .480 lift though or you'll run into retainer guide clearance problems.

A pro products crosswind intake for vortec will work nice at ~$175.

Use the stock rockers and Howard 98212 springs ~$50

Use a stock 600 cfm 4 barrel, recurve your distributor to full mech. advance at 3k rpms. Set timing to 34 degrees total advance without vacuum line hooked up.

That will give you about 350-380 hp by itself.

Follow that up with a 2600-2800 stall torque converter and a set of 3.42 rear end gears and you'll end up with a solid street machine that will run on pump gas, have excellent acceleration, and top speed for a street machine, as well as decent fuel mileage for around $800.

I don't see the point of putting a whole butt load of money into a gen I 350 when the price of ls motors is coming down so much lately. You could get an lq4 from the junkyard for less than $1500 that comes stock with 300-335 hp, and you can go up from there. I've not cracked open an ls style motor yet that needed more than a new set of bearings and rings. They wear very well.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum

The engine in that build article would be a nice strong streetable engine IMO. If you are going to build your 350, I would definitely go with a roller cam. If you could find a '96-'02 L31 Vortec engine to build, that would save you some money on the roller cam part of it. You could also use the Vortec heads and still get close to the output of the engine in that article. CHP has also done a few build articles on 350's with the Vortec heads.

[1restorick]

I have the Air Flow Reseach Heads listed in the article. I built my engine in 1992 and used a 1969 block out of a Chevy Impala. I needed my mill to have a broad power curve becuase a have an overdrive transmission and I didn't want the engine to be "loping" while I'm cruising down the highway. I used a Crane cam with 278 intake duration, 290 exhaust duration, .484 intake lift and .494 exhaust lift. It was ground with a 114 lobe separation angle. I went with a Performer intake and a 650 cfm spreadbore Holley carb. I used Rhodes lifters to bleed down the ill effects of the cam at low speeds. My truck runs real strong from 1800 rpm to 6000 rpm. At a warm idle I have 18 inches of vacuum.
If I had to build it over with todays parts, I would run a roller cam with a tighter lobe separation, and less duration. The heads are so efficient that I don't think you need a big cam for the street. I really like some of the Comp cams Extreme Energy offerings. Good luck with your build.
Rick

[Just-in-credible]

Sweet! Thanks for the input guys. This gives me a great starting point. I keep reading advice that says a good set of heads is key. I'm kind of leaning towards the AFR's or vortec's with a 270-280ish cam. I do hear a lot about switching to a roller cam, which has my interest, so I'll keep digging through forums and magazines and such. Again, thanks so much for the input guys. It's really great to hear from people who actually have this stuff and know what it is like in the real world.

restorick, since you have these heads, do you think the extra cash is worth spending on the AFR heads over the vortecs??

[travz500]

Originally Posted by Just-in-credible

Sweet! Thanks for the input guys. This gives me a great starting point. I keep reading advice that says a good set of heads is key. I'm kind of leaning towards the AFR's or vortec's with a 270-280ish cam. I do hear a lot about switching to a roller cam, which has my interest, so I'll keep digging through forums and magazines and such. Again, thanks so much for the input guys. It's really great to hear from people who actually have this stuff and know what it is like in the real world.

restorick, since you have these heads, do you think the extra cash is worth spending on the AFR heads over the vortecs??

well I am in the process of building a roller 383 with all forged bottom end rotating assembly and a set of vortec heads that are at the head guys place to get a full port job and bigger valves shooting for 550hp or at least as close as we can get but mine is a 65 4x4 with 8" of lift

[Just-in-credible]

so I guess i should update this and let you all know what i did.

I put a set of e street heads and a comp xe268 cam in. The thing runs awesome. I'm sure there are other combos that would be better, but for around $1200 for lifters, gaskets, cam, heads and all, it was pretty good bang for the buck! I got it dyno tuned, and it ran amazing! Now I'm planing the next mods, lol. I put a 700R4 in with a lockup 2400 stall and 3.73's. The thing is awesome.

[1963c-10]

Where are the pics....you can't give us all the good info with no pics