Mystery Diagnosis 3

[2772]

Hey folks, in short, I'm getting burnt at the light. I was the latest victim of a Dodge Caravan. Really embarrassing when you sound really good (40 series flowmasters) but constantly come up short on the street. OK, here's what we're dealing with, 1/2 ton 72 c10 with a 305 from a 78, rebuilt TH350 with shift kit, and I'm guessing 327 gears. What the heck is the problem and what can I do to end this (besides and obvious motor swap)?
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[Boog]

The obvious, a motor swap. 305's just aint' power houses. You can throw cam and headers, exhausst at it and gain a few horses but not much. Anything you can do to a 350 or 400 you can do to a 305 just with less power increase. A lower rear gear will help with the little motor blues. Make sure your ignition is up to snuff.

[PanelDeland]

Go find a good 350 roller block,check Jegs and Summit for a stroker kit,pay the machine shop and assemble a Caravan eater.Or you can just go to GM Performance for their new 383 engine.Either way you'll only see the mini vans for a few seconds and that in the rear veiw.

BTW Your rear gear ratio is probaly a 3:73 if the truck was originally a standard shift or 3.08 if auto.

[dwarf717]

who really cares about a mini van? Seriously???

[VetteVet]

The best answer is STOP STREET RACING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[trac209]

Well not that I agree with street racing but a small sprint to get up to speed is something I'd be guilty of doing myself. A 305 will respond to the same changes any sbc will. Especially heads. My friend took a basically junkyard 305 and with a mild cam intake headers,stall and was able to get his truck to go 13.75 in the 1/4 mile.
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[cdowns]

put nice turbo mufflers on and have a nice running quiet vehicle rather than the blowmaster all noise no go syndrome that is far too prevalent at stoplights/// tho i do love leavin them in the dust with my little HHR

[2772]

Originally Posted by PanelDeland

Go find a good 350 roller block,check Jegs and Summit for a stroker kit,pay the machine shop and assemble a Caravan eater.Or you can just go to GM Performance for their new 383 engine.Either way you'll only see the mini vans for a few seconds and that in the rear veiw.

BTW Your rear gear ratio is probaly a 3:73 if the truck was originally a standard shift or 3.08 if auto.

Its auto
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[2772]

Originally Posted by PanelDeland

Go find a good 350 roller block,check Jegs and Summit for a stroker kit,pay the machine shop and assemble a Caravan eater.Or you can just go to GM Performance for their new 383 engine.Either way you'll only see the mini vans for a few seconds and that in the rear veiw.

BTW Your rear gear ratio is probaly a 3:73 if the truck was originally a standard shift or 3.08 if auto.

Money is always an issue. I'm apart of what you call the "POOR, BUT WORKING" class. How much is all that gonna cost me?
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[trac209]

Originally Posted by 2772

Money is always an issue. I'm apart of what you call the "POOR, BUT WORKING" class. How much is all that gonna cost me?
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with gas prices the way they are you'll be happier with the 305 it has now. A 383 is not only going to cost you at least 4000 bucks it will drink fuel.

[GMCJOE]

My truck sounds good and is loud, and I have people try to toy with me to get me to race them. I don't care to do it, but the truck flat out get's it with the 96 LT1 motor, TH400, and 4:11's. I just cruise, but know if I want to get on it and go it will do it. I got a lot of young military kids that think they are the ****, and the get pretty heated when you don't take them up on a little street racing...lol I don't have the money to be paying tickets for that kinda stuff.

For what I gather, you just want to have the power to be able to out run a mini-van if the occasion presents itself. I suggest just picking up a early 90's vortec 350. You can find them fairly priced as a complete engine. Build it over time is what I suggest. I am working class as you, and have to do the same. Tear it down, send the block off to be bored .030. Purchase the pistons. Get a nice performance cam. The nice thing about the newer blocks, they went to hydraulic roller cams, so the roller lifters are reusable. The vortec heads are a decent head to run for low budget building, so you can keep those. Then pick up a carburated intake for it.

With a build like that, you will learn quite a bit about what you are doing and be able to keep your budget down. I picked up a couple vortec 350's in high school from $150-300. I was probably putting up to $1500 into them (not sure, bought parts as I got paid and didn't keep track). Not sure the HP and torque I was getting out of them, but the older gent that let me work out of his shop back then was thinking 300-350HP. He told me I was pretty much just building a GM Performance Crate engine.

I also recommend checking to see what gear ratio you are running in that rear end. If you got 3.08's, you aren't going to get a jump on that mini-van. 3.73's probably be what you wanna run. It's all opinions though. Do a ton of research before you start doing anything to see what you want to do.

[Ol69C10]

4.11 rear gears. That'll help at the light. Other than that, engine work. You don't even have to go 383. Just put a .030 overbore on that 305, clean up the heads, put a little bigger cam in with a dual plane and carb.

Depends on the shop but I was quoted $500 for a .030over. Head work can range on what youre willing to pay for; you porbably only need to clean them up and get a set of valve springs installed. Cam's from summit are $75 w/lifters.

I paid $1200 for a longblock 355ci with a comp280h cam installed.

[GMCJOE]

I don't suggest running 4:11's. Not very street friendly without overdrive. And highway driving is about 3400 rpm's at 70 with my setup. If you use it as a daily driver, not recommended.

[2772]

You two guys are awesome. I do use it as a daily driver. What do you guys suggest?
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[GMCJOE]

I would do a vortec build like I suggested above. Depending on how much you can get a long block for would be how much your end cost of the build would be. I don't know how much machine shops around you charge for boring, but it is $10 a hole where I am from.

I don't think you be more than $1200-1500 into it at the end. With a motor like that and 3.73's you should have a nice combo. If you choose to do 4:11's, you will want to get a 700r4 or 200r4 for street driving. But that is adding more money to a budget that is low already.

[2772]

Originally Posted by GMCJOE

I would do a vortec build like I suggested above. Depending on how much you can get a long block for would be how much your end cost of the build would be. I don't know how much machine shops around you charge for boring, but it is $10 a hole where I am from.

I don't think you be more than $1200-1500 into it at the end. With a motor like that and 3.73's you should have a nice combo. If you choose to do 4:11's, you will want to get a 700r4 or 200r4 for street driving. But that is adding more money to a budget that is low already.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Seriously.
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[GMCJOE]

Biggest thing is to figure out what pistons, cam, intake, oil pump, and other parts you are going to buy to put into it. Make a list, you don't have to purchase the high priced name brand stuff. Just find the quality stuff at a good price. Do up that list and start checking stuff off when you can afford to. I been doing it since 2008 on my truck.

This is just my opinion. There are many option to choose from on how to get some good performance out of your truck. Only reason I suggest going with another block is because you still have to drive your truck, and building an engine isn't a one day process when you don't have the parts.

No problem with the suggestions... That's what this sight is about.

[special-K]

Cheapest way to go is buy a mini van

[2772]

Originally Posted by special-K

Cheapest way to go is buy a mini van

Yes I know, LOL, tragic. Gonna have to see your man in Manchester soon about at least getting my heat to work at least
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[steelhorse]

Sad but true. Most modern V6s make way more power than the V8s of the mid 70s to early 2000s.

[1970 C10 MJW]

i am running a vortec 350 block, big cam, air gap intake and roller rockers, headers edelbrock carb, and its faster then a mini van thats for sure, im running a th350 trans built, shift kit and 2200 stall conv. its still not fast.... :/ but i spank most of the ricer imports around my town, im in the engine about 1,000... i got the engine for 200 with a car that i sold for 200 after i pulled the engine...

[2772]

Originally Posted by steelhorse

Sad but true. Most modern V6s make way more power than the V8s of the mid 70s to early 2000s.

Yeah my 04 LS Monte Carlo will beat the dog crap out of my truck.
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[yuccales]

I wouldn't worry about it to much. Can that Caravan haul a ton of firewood, or pull a 2 axle trailer with another Chevy truck on it?

[ChevLoRay]

Back in the early Seventies....I bought a new '71 VW. EMPI extractor exhaust made it "noticeable". What I didn't understand was why "everybody" wanted to race me....or, maybe it was me trying to prove that it would run. 40 years later....it's all a blur.

In another 40 years...it won't even matter. And, you'll probably have a different engine.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by 2772

Yes I know, LOL, tragic. Gonna have to see your man in Manchester soon about at least getting my heat to work at least
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He'd fix that in a flash. He'd help you get more pep the cheapest way,too. Right now he has a 345 out of a customer's '80 Scout II he's going to rebuild all peppy. The guy wants to stay all International,so he's doing magic to get more revs out of a low revvin' truck engine (that has little to no aftermarket performance support).
He has built-up a few 305 Monte Carlo SSs. I'm sure he could help your truck outrun a mini van.