350 build up help

OK guys I am new here... have searched and can't find what I am looking for... so here goes....
I have a 72 nova that I am in the process of building up. I have a 350 engine that I am going to build to put in her. I want a good street engine that will run on pump gas (93 pump gas) idle in traffic and be dependable for 100 years with good power. Power is secondary to good street manors but I still don't want to build a slug and of course money is a factor. My question... what parts do I need and what kind of power can I get? I don't much about cams and all but I want a good lick so it sounds good and runs strong. I know most of your power comes from good matched heads and cam. So give me what kind of pistons, crank, heads, carb, distributor, and so "stuff" I need to build a good 350 please. Like I say 72 nova, 700r4 trans, good street manors and runs strong. Thanks for the help. Kevin

Hmmm I can recall a motor, that would suit you that was put out in an article a few years ago. How much do you want to spend on machining and parts ?

They used stock chevy parts a good matched cam to run with the chevy open chamber iron heads, had a broad torque curve and the whole idea was to achieve 1 HP per cubic inch which they did, and the motor was built with the criteria that it run in a street car with good street manners.:D

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Originally Posted by super10brss

OK guys I am new here... have searched and can't find what I am looking for... so here goes....
I have a 72 nova that I am in the process of building up. I have a 350 engine that I am going to build to put in her. I want a good street engine that will run on pump gas (93 pump gas) idle in traffic and be dependable for 100 years with good power. Power is secondary to good street manors but I still don't want to build a slug and of course money is a factor. My question... what parts do I need and what kind of power can I get? I don't much about cams and all but I want a good lick so it sounds good and runs strong. I know most of your power comes from good matched heads and cam. So give me what kind of pistons, crank, heads, carb, distributor, and so "stuff" I need to build a good 350 please. Like I say 72 nova, 700r4 trans, good street manors and runs strong. Thanks for the help. Kevin

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What gear do you have? what is your stall speed?

no gear yet, no stall.... probably going to run 3:42 or some where there abouts, and stall nothing to high... but what ever, give me your thoughts on what I need. Also southerner... find that article! thanks guys Kevin

If you aren't looking for something with over the top power then you might want to look at some of the crate engines that are offered with 350-375 hp, and you have the benifit of a warrenty. It sort of takes away all the fun though. **)

I would use the 350 block and build a 383. It is not than much more expensive and the power increase would be significant while still retaining good street manners:

Eagle or SCAT rotating assemby with flat top or dished pistons (depending on your heads) for $1200-1300. If you have to bore your block, you will have to get new pistons anyway, and you should by all means put aftermarket rod bolts in your rods and have them resized; and if you have to have the crank turned--well you can see how the new assembly makes sense in the long run.

You don't say whether your 350 block is a roller block or not, and what kind of heads you are planning to run. Without knowing this, it is not possible to make any recommendations.

lynn, don't think my 350 is a roller motor. About the heads, don't know what I am going to run. I thought I could find a list with this part... that part... so on and so forth for this cost and this horse power.
Kevin

:toocool: Okay found that article, it is from a 1994 issue mag. This motor is best used with a gearing of 3.08 to 2.78 ratios for a fun to drive car.Even at 1500 rpm the engine produced 312 ft/lbs of torque and dipped slightly at 2000 rpm and then quickly regained ground and leveled off, making approximately 380 ft/lbs from 3500 to 4250 rpm. Final tuning and jetting changes saw the HP figures at 364 HP at 5500 rpm and 396 FT/lb at 4000 rpm.

This article lists all parts, right down to distributor timing and type of spark plugs ! So it is pretty detailed if interested let me know.

Oh yeah, running 2 bolt block, cast iron chevy crank, 487X head castings (common) machined down to a 70 cc chamber giving a static compression ratio of 9.8 to 1 with TRW flat top L2417 flat top pistons. The static compression ratio is high but the excellent cam matched with this engine gives a bang on dynamic compression ratio.:D

This article is big so who wants it up on the forums ?:)

I DO I DO... now thats what I am talking about. post her up southerner. Thanks Kevin

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Originally Posted by southerner

:toocool: Okay found that article, it is from a 1994 issue mag. This motor is best used with a gearing of 3.08 to 2.78 ratios for a fun to drive car.Even at 1500 rpm the engine produced 312 ft/lbs of torque and dipped slightly at 2000 rpm and then quickly regained ground and leveled off, making approximately 380 ft/lbs from 3500 to 4250 rpm. Final tuning and jetting changes saw the HP figures at 364 HP at 5500 rpm and 396 FT/lb at 4000 rpm.

This article lists all parts, right down to distributor timing and type of spark plugs ! So it is pretty detailed if interested let me know.

Oh yeah, running 2 bolt block, cast iron chevy crank, 487X head castings (common) machined down to a 70 cc chamber giving a static compression ratio of 9.8 to 1 with TRW flat top L2417 flat top pistons. The static compression ratio is high but the excellent cam matched with this engine gives a bang on dynamic compression ratio.:D

This article is big so who wants it up on the forums ?:)

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Not trying to take anything away from the southerner but I would never put any money in a stock head when you can buy brand new cast iron heads for less than $ 600 already with screw-in studs and guide plates not to mention they are much stronger and will make more hp.
I also doubt if you need forged pistons for what you are doing.
I would try a set of Hypereutectic instead.

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Originally Posted by erik erikson

Not trying to take anything away from the southerner but I would never put any money in a stock head when you can buy brand new cast iron heads for less than $ 600 already with screw-in studs and guide plates not to mention they are much stronger and will make more hp.
I also doubt if you need forged pistons for what you are doing.
I would try a set of Hypereutectic instead.

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I agree this article was printed in 1994 so forged pistons were cheaper then. And you can also get a good set of rods cheaper than rebuilding the old chevy rods. And there wern't that many aftermarket heads around either. BUT... The only machining jobs on the heads were a 3 angle valve job and the heads planed, and the valve guides redone.

What I will do is get the article formated and and up under heading 350 350 HP buildup.:)

:) Okay thread and photos is up and running

350 Horsepower 350 engine buildup:D

Choose your weapons from this list. It has been a while since I linked it on here, but it is still the best list I've ever seen for building a SBC.http://www.ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos1.html

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Originally Posted by techinspector1

Choose your weapons from this list. It has been a while since I linked it on here, but it is still the best list I've ever seen for building a SBC.http://www.ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos1.html

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Some of these builds look very good.Other builds use to large a cyilnder head.Be carefull not to "over head" the engine.

:HMMM: Now that the tread is back up again, did you get a look at that 350 HP thread ?

If i were you, i would get nice pair vortec heads from summit racing or jegs peformance parts for $500 for a pair, which is pretty good deal.Then buy or self nice set or hypereutectic pistons with a flat top with valve notches and with a matching moly ring set. Use Lunati voodoo or Comp cams extreme energy camshfts. The voodoo cams are very good cams, they make very good power, but also have excellent street maners, and they give that awesome lobe to the idle, but its not radical to affect your idle quality.get the camshaft approximatley 262 or 268 advertised duration with about .470 or .480 lift try not get too much lift- there is limit on how lift vortec can receive. use your stock crank, but maybe put a light polish on the journals. stock rods should be fine, but keep the revs below 6500rpms. Too be on the save side, put some ARP bolt in the rods and have your local machine shop recondition them. don't go overboard on the header sizes, small chevy do like smaller headers sizes-hooker 1-5/8 is good choice. use a edelbrock or weiand intake-both very good-make sure they fit vortec heads!!! and use a edlebrock- or holley 600cfm- 650cfm is the limit otherwise your engine will be doggy. This combo will have about 9.5:1 compression and you'll be able run pump gas all day long without problems, it will also have a nice lobey idle, but not too rough where you have trouble keeping it running, and you also have vacuum to run power brakes and so on. The vortec heads will make this engine churn out over 380hp and 430ft torque with out a sweat. what ever this motor is going in, it will probably haul ass and get decent 15mpg city and 18mpg highway depending your gears. well good luck!!

Well I know I tend to look for the low buck way and that is not always best but if you can find a local library with back issues of HOT ROD magazine, take a look at this article.

HOT ROD magazine, December 1995, page 26

They got a little over 300 HP at 5000 rpm using the H.C. Master rebuild kit which comes with a performance cam. They did it for $800 in 1995, but I doubt if you could do it for much under $1500 today. In particular they reused/rebuilt the rods and I would opt for new rods along with the pistons. Also the cam they used was quite long in duration as a way to get high rpm HP and maybe the low rpm torque suffered, although they reported 295 ft. lb. at 1500 rpm which is not bad. I got suckered into this idea back when my expenses cramped my income a lot but now I wish I had put out a bit more and purchased a crate 383, although that usually requires high test gas. If you look around on the Internet you should be able to find a crate 383 for about $2000-2200.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Well I have decided to go another way. I bought a LT1, trans, wiring harness and computer from a local salvae yard for $900. The car had around 84,xxx miles on it. I guess I will get that thing running and build a LT4 if I am not satisfied with the power. The way I see it 3 grand for motor and you still have to pump the gas pedle in the morning. LT1 fuel injected.... get r done.... Thanks for the replys guys. Kevin

Hey fellas should I invest my money in my stock heads to port them out to 190 cc intake runners and shave them down to 64 chambers or should I buy new heads? The thing is though is that I want this to be a Edelbrock Performer RPM chevy and Edelbrock does not make one as I want, I could buy one of those but then Id be putting money in them to port them out.

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Originally Posted by #1firebird

Hey fellas should I invest my money in my stock heads to port them out to 190 cc intake runners and shave them down to 64 chambers or should I buy new heads? The thing is though is that I want this to be a Edelbrock Performer RPM chevy and Edelbrock does not make one as I want, I could buy one of those but then Id be putting money in them to port them out.

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Why do you think you need a cylinder head that has a port volume of 190 cc?

Firebird, check out this site for a review of how SBC heads flow. When you say you might port your stock heads to 190 cc for better flow you need to tell us the head numbers that are down in between the rockers and springs near the center of the head. If the last three numbers are 883 then you have the "best of the worst" stock heads. The old 327 double-hump 461 heads had much better flow but may not have bolt hole bosses in the end for accessories. If you have the 883 heads, they probably have thin walls and cannot be enlarged much. You would be better off taking a look at stock Vortec heads or one of several aftermarket heads. The AFR heads are very good but expensive. If you are going to run a compression ratio over 10:1 as you said previously the only way you might ( ? ) beat the need for high octane gas would be to get aluminum heads like the ones on a late model Corvette. In my experience you can safely smooth out the 883 exhaust ports but the intake walls are thin and they are not going to get you much over 300 HP. I already sent you a link to Ryan's Dyno tests and in there around example 45 or so there is a dyno run for a totally modified set of GM 883 heads which does not come up to aftermarket HP numbers for other heads.

Check out: http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te...ench_database/

I am using 883 heads with just exhaust ports smoothed and leaving the tiny 155 cc intakes alone with rough walls to maintain fuel-air mixing and good low rpm torque along with slightly better mpg. If you want HP in the 400+ Range you will have to go to higher volume intake ports but for the street maybe 190 ccs is too large and folks on this Forum tend to favor 170-180 cc port volume for an engine which is run on the street. If I were doing it over again I would buy the stock late model Vortec heads for about $600 a set. I spent $300 on rebuilding the 883 heads and another $200 to smooth the exhaust ports so for another $100 I could have had the Vortec heads. You will notice that most of the 383 crate motors have Vortec heads because they are the best breathing stock heads. Read through the flow tests in the site I give above and you will see that there is a tradeoff in that large port volume is needed for high HP as you say, but then you may get bad bog at low rpm when you need to keep the ports small enough to get good flow velocity to pack the combustion chambers and smaller port volumes will do that, so maybe 190 cc ports are too large? You need to study up more and or find a shop guy you think you can trust and let him build the engine. Remember the Farmer who said to his wife, "Martha, I don't trust anybody but me and thee, and I'm not so sure about thee either!"

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Excellent post Don :)

Tech1, I'm learning, but you forgot more than I know! Take your laptop to Nicauragua and keep in touch because it's going to get cold sooner than you think in Wisc.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder