Ive heard that sbc 2 bolt is actually stronger then a 4 bolt main. I guess the 4 bolt crack easier. Im wantin to put a 350 in ym camaro, and i allready have a 2 bolt block. So what shoudl i do?
Printable View
Ive heard that sbc 2 bolt is actually stronger then a 4 bolt main. I guess the 4 bolt crack easier. Im wantin to put a 350 in ym camaro, and i allready have a 2 bolt block. So what shoudl i do?
The 010 2 bolt block has more nickel in the casting....use the 2 bolt & have it spayed....4 bolts will crack, but you got to really throw it to it to crack a block. So I say - build the 2 bolt.
yea.. i heard you can get something called hard coat or something coated in teh water jackets to strenthten teh block. I am wanting a engine, that is capable of producing high horsepower, but still a daily runner. I am expecting about 650 hp, with a blower, and maybe a lil spary here n there.. is that too much for a 2 bolt?
lol.. i do read alot of magazines.. it gets my brains agoin. Do you think that is possible?
Anythings possible, just depends on your wallet.... Buttttttt 650 horses ain't very streetable...
lol.. ok.. but what about 600? heeh
well what do you think the max is..
550 HP, is streetable and a 2 bolt should take it, there are 4 bolt conversions for 2 bolt's anyway. I'd trade that Gen 3 for a late Gen 2 if you want that kinda HP, they look cooler and take the power very well, I coulden't gaurentte that on a Gen 3, I think there sub frame is built lighter and may not take that kinda power as well.
yea.. i would like to get a older maro.. but they are expensive, adn there dosent seem to be any around here
We recently went through this same question on another thread where I visited the shop of local racer Joe Butler who showed me the bottom of the cylinders of several different blocks lined up for boring and honing. Joe emphatically stated he would not use a 4-bolt 400 block for his racer and I casually transferred that to the case for a 350 4-bolt. It doesn't matter to me since I will be lucky to get 300 H.P. (probably not) and certainly not 400+ with my mild 350, but as usual Techinspector1 may have said something important in that there is a difference between the 350 and 400 bearing webs. Anyhow it looks to me that maybe the 400 block is stronger without the two extra holes and that case is clear. For the 350 the debate rages on, but reading I have done recently seems to indicate that a 2-bolt 350 with the 10-degree splayed extra bolts for a splayed-4 bolt is really the very best, but again as I say it looks like up to 400 H.P. it really doesn't matter. On the web site called something like "Ryan's Dynoed Chevy" results (I have lost the URL for that site but it is easily found) there are documented cases of streetable 350s OVER 500 H.P. and of course more is always better (????) but I would think anything over 500 H.P. on the street would be tough to handle, prone to traffic tickets and also require considerable chassis improvement for street handling in cases other than straight line runs. I am just chatting, but I wish I had read Ryans 109 Dyno Runs before I bought the parts. There is more information there than in a closet full of old Hot Rod magazines!
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
In your case, there is a few options. 1) go with a few less HP. 550? your kidding matt. im leaning towards 400 as the limit if you live in/near a city. 2) build a good frame under your camaro and bolt the shell over it. Pro70 is the local expert on this approach. 3) locate an older beater camaro and use it as a template. Salvage titles are Always an option if their clean enough. With the 2 bolt block, a 4 bolt conversion is always a good idea. Forged/cast iron cranks shouldnt be that hard to get your hands on, so get one asap. Forged is always better-of course.
True, maby in a heavier car ( Chevelle, Impala or other such large car ) it may be streetable with the right amount of traction but, not practical because of the heat and noise as you said but deffinetly not in your pail, it's way to light.Quote:
Originally posted by Streets
Well Matt, IF you think 550 HP is "streetable", I'll put the Huffered 383 stroker back in my Pail and take out a million dollar life insurance policy on YOU and you can take the pail down the street with the pedal to the medal.. (IT Gets kinda squirrely from 70 to around 160 and more so if ya happen to just let off it quick like) I'll be 1 mill richer and you'll be pushin up daiseys.. ON the track its fine with the 555HP But, that's only a ¼ mile and a ½ mile shutdown.. Besides with THAT much HP ya got tons of heat and noise and the cops would love ya.. They'd get writer's cramp in their fingers!! 550 HP Is NOT "streetable" at all!!:p
thanks for the help fellas. I called teh machine shop, they said ti would cost about 450 bucks to get the block converted to a 4 bolt main, which with that much money, i could easily find a nice 4bolt 350, and sell the 2 bolt i allready have. Which by teh way, if anyone is interested, make an offer. Thanks!
Ok Streets, I belive ya. The more and more I think about how much 550 Hp really is, that is Excessive for a street car but what about a pro street that is still road legal? like proz is doing.Quote:
Originally posted by Streets
Sorry matt, you don't idle off the crosswalk/stop light with 550HP in anythang!:(
what do you think teh 350 2 bolt block it worth? its bored 30 over, and is in good shape
I get it now, so it's not exzactly legal but if you know the cops, you get away with it. I knew proz's Camero wasn't gonna be his daily driver. Thanks for clearing that up for me.:)Quote:
Originally posted by Streets
Prozzzz'z 'Maro is not gonna be a "daily driver" Matt...and he may find that he may get into some deep doo doo when he does drive it, IF he goes out of town... BUT, He has an "IN" because of the type of business he is in.. Same as I know all the fuzz around here and they "overlook" some of my extensive "light to light" burnouts and shenanigan's.. One of the guys in the 'Cruiszer's has a 475 inch Mustang and he's a Batavia City Cop.... Get the picture?? :p
Streets has make an excellent comment......550 hp is not streetable.
That is complete and utter BS. 550 HP is sooo streetable. You just have to find a good HP/weight ratio. For example, for a 3000 pound car, 300-350HP is streetable. 10/lbs to 1hp. so, for 550, just add a zero. What weigh 5500 lbs that you can stuff a 350 in??? :LOL:
ok great guys.. thanks for the info.. and another thing, i was lookin in the ads today in teh paper. And this guys is parting out a 91 camaro with a five speed. Its the whole thing, to go frm a automatic to a manual, how much do you think its work. He didnt tell em how many miles, but he said its in good shape.
There are several points here. First the idea of performance implies high power and low weight and eventually the extreme cases result in dragsters with long wheelbases and loss of racing classes like short wheelbase "Altereds", so Streets point is well taken that a T-bucket with 550 H.P. would be hard to handle. On the other hand I recently read an article where Jay Lenno had a '54 Buick sedan restored and added a GM special engine rated at 650 H.P.(!!!) Now that's a sleeper! Still Lenno has so many cars that it is probably not his daily driver and he certainly doesn't have much room in the city to open it up more than a little. Probably that is a case of a heavier car, but still it seems like a beast to me even in the heavier car.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
Extreme illustrations are always a method for trying to prove anyone’s point of view, however if one takes into consideration all the factors, the true picture comes into focus. As has already been posted, to install 550 h.p. into a suicide contraption called a bucket, might well be a little off the deep end. I am surprised that no one has gone as far as to say that a motor of this caliber in a two wheel motorcycle,...would be too hairy. Get real. Of course it would be.
I have all of 550 h.p. in my daily driver and I must say, it is user friendly. It is easy to start, it idles great at 850 r.p.m. in gear, 1000 r.p.m. in neutral, when I shut it off, it does not run-on, it never over heats in traffic,... even at this time of the year, and traction is never a problem. I can use most of my power off any light. In the rain I have to ease into it over a two second time frame.
So, in conclusion, for anyone to say that 550 h.p. is not streetable, obviously they are ill informed.
Oh, b.t.w, I have an additional 225 h.p. at the flick of a switch available, just in case.
lol
This comment is meant only in humor, a quality I detect on many of these threads. First, you can search the Internet and find for roughly $10,000 a crate engine in the 600+ H.P. range (that leaves me out as usual) so somebody is buying these and probably installing into something that may be out there on the street. What motivates my comment is that it brought to mind the guy who used to put a 283 SBC crossways in a Harley chassis with a chain sproket on the end of the crankshaft and then burn up a rear tire every 1/4 mile run. What was his name? Does anyone remember that guy's name? More to the point is he still alive? I recall he used to drive the tire companies crazy by bringing in a shred of a tire after one run and try to get a free new tire under the warranty. I don't think he was related to Mr. Knievel, but surely they enjoyed a similar frame of mind. I guess I would say that if you can afford a 600 H.P. engine and pay for the gas AND find insurance for it then "It''s America, be free to do what you want as long as you hurt noone else." The article about Lenno's Buick said the GM engineers set the shift points on a test track while four of them rode in the car and tested up to 140 mph with all four in the car! For me my mind was frozen in 1954 when as a gas station attendent I lifted the hood on a Chrysler 300 and saw those hemi valve covers and that means that with my limited high speed experience on the street, 300 H.P. seems enough for me, but you know "testosterone" is the real fuel here so if you got it then I guess you can flaunt it, but I am on the other side of 60 and 300 H.P. sounds like a lot to me. Just some humor??
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder :LOL:
Note added in Edit: Was it not just a few days ago that on another thread there was a lament that the new factory hemi was no longer in production? As I recall that hemi was rated at 750 H.P. so wherever they went there are 750 H.P. engines out there somewhere, certainly in the high hundreds in number. Who has one? (I wonder what mileage they get?) :LOL:
That's it! E. J. Potter, thanks Streets! I wonder if he is still alive, maybe Techinspector1 has heard of him? Well in the same magazine I have been using to rebuild a mild SBC 350 (December 1995 Hot Rod) there is a very nice article on page 64 of the same issue showing a Dick Landy assembled/built Mopar 426 hemi rated at 750 H.P., probably the article is available on microfiche in public libraries. Was it Bob Parmenter who said they are out of production again? That engine was intended for installation in "Project Bumblebee" but I do not know what became of the car or the final performance, maybe Streets has every article that was ever written and knows the performance of the Bumblebee? Anyway that was apparently a STREET/strip car.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
Horsepower is in the eyes of the beholder.How about a 1000 hp flywheel and 720 rwhp as a daily driver aka my buddies ride.Duttwieler said it was the most horsepower he had ever seen in a daily driver when he got it all dialed in for my buddie,sure people thought it was funny when the tunnel ram shot 3 foot flames out they even would bring stix out and act like they were roastin marshmallows when he started it and sure u had to adjust the solid lifter cam every 4 days,but it was his daily driver,u could hear him 3 blocks away with the solid cam tappin and good exuast and sure every cop and his brother gave him the evil eye but he did it and he liked it,personally I would never do that but he liked it and has plans to do another !anything this high of horsepower takes tons of tunin and adjustments weekly and is a major pain in the watuzy,not to mention constantly breakin parts and tunnin,be prepared for massive tunnin sessions and lots of fine adjustments and nobody will work on it either!!!!!!also hire a attorney for yer tickets
build the 2 bolt! there's nothing wrong with them, you'll have plenty of strength, just dont plan on revving the shit outta it..or u may end up with some problems and a bit of a bill.
and end up testing the durability of yer oil pan.Quote:
Originally posted by americanpower88
build the 2 bolt! there's nothing wrong with them, you'll have plenty of strength, just dont plan on revving the shit outta it..or u may end up with some problems and a bit of a bill.
You mean like this?Quote:
Originally posted by Tommycat
and end up testing the durability of yer oil pan.
I bet that sckeered ya when it let loose ,lol bet it was rather loud too!!:D
To be honest with you, no, I didn't hear a thing. I did feel alot of shaking, like I lost a wheel weight of something, but oddly enough, no noise. Oh ya, and quite a bit of smoke!:D This was one of those dreaded 4 bolt main 400's. Wait till I upload the pictures of the pistons after I gave them numerous 530hp shots of juice this season.Quote:
Originally posted by shawnlee28
I bet that sckeered ya when it let loose ,lol bet it was rather loud too!!:D
Pro60
I didn't see what exactly gave out in your engine, I assume a rod? What rods were you running and what length were they, if you don't mind me asking.
I haven't pulled the engine out of the car yet, I'm making it suffer a little bit longer before I do. The rods were originally 5.7" Eagle. Now one is 3". The other half of the broken rod is still in the bottom of the pan. From what I can see thru the hole in the pan, the crank looks nice and smooth on that journal. The big problem is the block is cracked on the outside as well as the number 7 bore.Quote:
Originally posted by 73RS
Pro60
I didn't see what exactly gave out in your engine, I assume a rod? What rods were you running and what length were they, if you don't mind me asking.
That's ok, I won't be needin no small block no more. :DQuote:
Originally posted by Streets
Gee, and I just tossed out a 400 block whilst do'in muh fall cleanin'.. brought $47.30 at the scrapper......... and there weren't nuthin' wrong wif it.... just ran too hot fer me.. :LOL:
Hmm, are these free to good home Streets? Im planning on making Cutlass 2, and a Chevy SB might shake things up a bit, as its current 307 is smoked. But its a pretty white @ 800!:LOL: