Chevy SB: spend my money!!!

I just picked up a '75 Chevy 1/2 ton that I want to pull the engine and trans. out to put in a Rat Rod. I think it has the 4 bolt mains and a t400. I'm gonna tear it down completely and I was hoping to get some input on where to spend money. Going for a street engine with good torque. The car should be quite light as it will be pretty bare bones. I don't mind spending money for something that's gonna help, but it is a Rat and I don't think I need 500HP!! On the other hand it would be nice to school a rice rocket now and then (even though my chopper is a Honda). Oh yea, and it has to sound good too.

Thanks for any input,
SGO

How many miles are on this engine? And how does it sound any knocks or was it over heated ? If this is the factory engine it is a 4 bolt main 350. You will be using the short block only . The heads are #882 or #624 not good castings for a build up . You will want to go with Vortec heads or S/R world heads . Does it matter if you use center bolt valve covers on your rat rod . I think the GEN 1 4 bolt type look better for a rat rod build ? Let us know more about your engine so we can help you pick out your cam intake carb . The TH400 trans should be a short shaft 400 that will work out for you . Also what rear gear are you running ?

Well, for lightwieght and look factor I would go with aluminum heads. Around a 180cc runner and 64cc chamber. If you have the money go with AFR's. If not, go with the Dart Iron eagle heads. Throw a single pattern cam like the 270H Comp Magnum in it(224 duration, .470 lift). It's small enough for street and will still sound good. If you want a little bigger go the 280H(230 duration, .480 lift.) Will lope a little more but you're getting a little closer to street/strip. If the budget allows, buy a hydraulic roller cam about the same duration as I listed. Run a flattop piston or small dish piston, run at least 9-1 compression. No more than 10-1. Use a dualplane intake. Anyway you do it should make over 400 horsepower. Closer to 450 when tuned.

How about roller lifters???

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Originally Posted by sgo70

How about roller lifters???

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No need for roller lifters or a large cam . This is a light car and you want it to be fun to drive . Go with a Comp Cams 268H cam its 218 dur at 050 and 454 lift with 110 lobe sep . And for an intake go with the Holley 300-36 Dual plane intake with a Edelbrock Performer 600cfm carb . And use a GM high cap distributor with a Pertronix ignitor kit . This will give that engine that so cool old school look . And these parts with the right heads will make 360HP . And you will have more torque with this cam then a larger one that may give you 15 more HP .

One of my posts didn't show up???

327 with 6 inch rods 1.94 1.6 heads headers say 10:5-1 11:-1 compression comp cams 280h course i forgot it was for a truck :D

A 75 1/2 ton truck is a light vehichle...........:HMMM:

Compared to an ARMY TANK yes it is a lite vehicle. He also said it was going in a (i hate the word and look) RAT ROD. But it is his to choose what he will do. Have fun. Also don,t take this personal i just don,t like them myself it,s yours do what you will.

Keep the heads that came with the engine. Aquire which pistons that fit your build. Head work should simply be bowl work and possibly rework (slightly) the intake gasket area. You said torque, run with what you have and fulfill your need to have a fun go getter. Cam? stay within the 480 total lift area keeping the .050 duration close to 220 and run the mutha!. You put high dollar heads on it, you will have to wind it to have TOTAL satisfaction from the build. Light weight equals less over build.

you try an 836 kit from tommy?

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Originally Posted by shawnlee28

A 75 1/2 ton truck is a light vehichle...........:HMMM:

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The Engine is coming out of a truck and going into a Rat Rod ! :p

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Originally Posted by nitrowarrior

Keep the heads that came with the engine. Aquire which pistons that fit your build. Head work should simply be bowl work and possibly rework (slightly) the intake gasket area. You said torque, run with what you have and fulfill your need to have a fun go getter. Cam? stay within the 480 total lift area keeping the .050 duration close to 220 and run the mutha!. You put high dollar heads on it, you will have to wind it to have TOTAL satisfaction from the build. Light weight equals less over build.

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The heads that are on it are thin casting smog heads . And the only way to make them work with a 220 at 050 480 lift cam is to use dome pistons . This never is as good as a flat top piston build with 64 to 67 cc heads . And the heads that are on it most likly need new guides and valves and springs with retainers . I have a 327 that I am building with domed pistons . But I picked up the pistons and rod for a cheap price . And I have a set of full ported #882 76cc heads that came off an engine I pick up that some one dumped lots of cash into these heads . No need to over cam a street SB 350 . That 220 dur at 050 with 480 lift should be a max for your build . COOL TANGO :cool:

I would try a set of the Dart Iron Eagle S/S heads.
I would also run a smaller split pattern XR264HR cam.
Try to get your comp. ratio to 9.5.
I would run a Performer intake.
I would run a 570 cfm Street Avenger carb.

I was looking for that XR264HR cam ? I think the one you are talking about is the XE262H Comp Cams Xtreme Energy . This is a good street power cam . It is 218/224 dur at 050 and 462/469 lift and 110 lobe sep . I have heard that this cam in some engines will make more power then the larger XE268H cam . But for a carb I think the 670cfm Avenger will help the high end HP . :cool:

That xe 262 is what I put in my 305 ........it sounds pretty mean for a small cam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld4vfbizOBI
I also used rhodes lifters for that little extra down low.

Wow thanks for the response. Gotta start looking for this stuff now.

No offense takin' Oletrucker, if you saw the shape of this truck you'd probably be happy I was building a Rod out of it!:LOL:

Bigredtrucker, you must be from Hondachopper, what's you name over there? Yea it's got an 836 from LRT, cam, dual carbs and a bunch of other stuff.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1281721...n/photostream/

It's a fun ride.

Thanks,
SGO

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Originally Posted by erik erikson

I would try a set of the Dart Iron Eagle S/S heads.
I would also run a smaller split pattern XR264HR cam.
Try to get your comp. ratio to 9.5.
I would run a Performer intake.
I would run a 570 cfm Street Avenger carb.

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I found a build close to that one with dyno results... same cam, almost the same heads. They probably used the world s/r torquers, those things flow less then camel humps outta the box... good if you know how to port heads though.



Camshaft Part # 12-412-8 Designation XR264HR-10
Duration @ 0.006" 264 / 270 Duration @ 0.050" 212 / 218
Max Lift w/ 1.5RR 487 / .495 Lobe Separation 110
Lobe ID#'s 3312 / 3313 Intake Centerline 106
Engine Type Chevrolet 350 Small Block
Bore 4.040" Stroke 3.480"
Displacement 356 Compression 9.25:1
Heads Dart S/R Intake Edelbrock Performer
Carburetor Holley #3310 Vac. Sec. Exhaust 1 5/8" Headers
Max Torque 421 ft*lbs @ 4000 RPM Max Power 335 HP @ 4900 RPM
Manifold Vacuum 15.5" Hg @ 800 RPM & 17" Hg @ 1000 RPM w/ no load.

Here's the link......http://www.compcams.com/information/...4HR-10_001.asp

If he's got a little more money to spend on good heads and save a lil money on a hydraulic cam...

Here's the link...http://airflowresearch.com/chevy_dyno.php


430 HP at 5500rpm
470 torque
355ci
AFR Street 180 Cylinder Heads
9.5
Holley 0-80779 750 cfm
MSD Distributor 34° Timing
Comp Cams 270 Magnum Hyd. Cam
1 5/8" Headers
93 Octane Pump Gas
AFR #5028

Engine built and dyno tested by AFR

The engine that Erik posted would be extremely reliable with the roller cam and low RPM's. If you are looking for a little more power with a little less reliability of course then go with the AFR setup.

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Originally Posted by shawnlee28

A 75 1/2 ton truck is a light vehichle...........:HMMM:

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3200 and under?

Hmmmmm.....this is tough to decide.

I found this site today and read through it, priced everything out in test #34 to $2500, and then maybe get a new rotating assembly wondered if cast would be okay for about $6-800. Might be a little too much though.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/eng...ine/index.html

Whoops, fogot the link, here it is.

The truck is just an engine doner $275, It's not light at all!! The car I'm putting it into will be though.:)

Keep it coming, thanks,
Sean.

Test 34-Vic Jr. heads, COMP XR280R cam:
Max 441 tq, 504 hp
Avg 404 tq, 359 hp
Next we tried Edelbrock's Victor Jr. heads @ 10:1cr, (64cc chambers, 215cc runners, 2.08" intake valves, 1.60" exhaust valves), with a Vic Jr. manifold and one of COMP's Xtreme Energy Street Roller camshafts (242/248 @ .050, 280/286 adv, .600/.606 lift w/ COMP 1.6:1 rockers, 110 LS), and a 650cfm Mighty Demon 650 carb. The results were 504hp and 441 lb-ft tq!

...The stock bottom end of that motor you have would be at it's limits. If you go cheap you can buy a Scat cast steel crank and i-beam rods and forged pistons for about $1000, it will handle the power. This isn't the lowend torque monster that you were talking about though.

Yea your right I'd rather have it down low. So ya think that AFR set up would be better. I was looking at some of the top end kits Summit racing has also, still not sure.

Sean

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Originally Posted by sgo70

Bigredtrucker, you must be from Hondachopper, what's you name over there?

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Christian (yeah, I know, REAL creative using my first name)

Okay tell me what you think:

AFR heads-180, 64
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...56115_-1_10187

Edelbrock Performer 600cfm carb
Edelbrock Performer Air-Gap intake
Comp Cams xr264hr-10
Scat Rotating assembly (10:1 comp.)
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...71035_-1_10759
Comp Magnum roller rockers and pushrods
Lifters ?????

All this is about $3800:eek: . I figure I could save a few dollars here and there, but unless I can build a strong engine for around $2000 I figure I might as well go for it. The Dart heads seem to be within $500 of the AFR. The carb is for ease of tuning, and the rotating assembly is only if I don't have a forged crank in there already. That Cam costs a fortune by the time you get the lifters in there ($460 for rollers, unless I'm missing something). I keep reading that Roller rockers will give 15-20HP gains, so $175 seemed OK.

Any more input to this would be great, maybe it's going too far. I don't even know what the stock HP/Torque is???

Thanks for your help, now I got to go work some overtime!!!!!

Sean

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sgo70

Okay tell me what you think:

AFR heads-180, 64
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...56115_-1_10187

Edelbrock Performer 600cfm carb
Edelbrock Performer Air-Gap intake
Comp Cams xr264hr-10
Scat Rotating assembly (10:1 comp.)
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...71035_-1_10759
Comp Magnum roller rockers and pushrods
Lifters ?????

All this is about $3800:eek: . I figure I could save a few dollars here and there, but unless I can build a strong engine for around $2000 I figure I might as well go for it. The Dart heads seem to be within $500 of the AFR. The carb is for ease of tuning, and the rotating assembly is only if I don't have a forged crank in there already. That Cam costs a fortune by the time you get the lifters in there ($460 for rollers, unless I'm missing something). I keep reading that Roller rockers will give 15-20HP gains, so $175 seemed OK.

Any more input to this would be great, maybe it's going too far. I don't even know what the stock HP/Torque is???

Thanks for your help, now I got to go work some overtime!!!!!

Sean

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I need more info. about the rat rod.
Weight,gear ratio,manual or auto. tranny,stall speed?

Weight I don't know what it will be, I haven't thought about gearing yet, I'll have to see if the rear end off my 1/2 ton will fit properly, it's an auto th400 that I have so far. I wanted to get the engine done while I wait for my suspension parts. I started to think that will be too much and it wouldn't hook up anyways. Is one of the Edelbrock power packages a better way to go.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...8&autoview=sku

I figure all I'd need is pushrods, rockers, carb, and then a rotating assembly. Probably about $3000 complete.

Man, motorbikes are easy compared to this! Maybe I should have asked for a budget build.

Sean

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Originally Posted by sgo70

Weight I don't know what it will be, I haven't thought about gearing yet, I'll have to see if the rear end off my 1/2 ton will fit properly, it's an auto th400 that I have so far. I wanted to get the engine done while I wait for my suspension parts. I started to think that will be too much and it wouldn't hook up anyways. Is one of the Edelbrock power packages a better way to go.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...8&autoview=sku

I figure all I'd need is pushrods, rockers, carb, and then a rotating assembly. Probably about $3000 complete.

Man, motorbikes are easy compared to this! Maybe I should have asked for a budget build.

Sean

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If you have an idea about your gear ratio it makes a big difference on choosing a cam as does stall speed if you have an automatic.

I'd imagine I would gear it low as I don't need to go 100 mph, just enough to make it drivable on the highway. I'm not sure on stall speed but I think I can work on that later, not sure what stock would be.