Stekman

Alright, the time has come. I think I have decided what I want to to for my "makeshift engine." So I need some feedback/thoughts:

Block is a 350 +.030 that I'm just going to hone and clean up. it's been sitting and covered and developed a slight surface glazing. Stock deck.
Some crank and rods with ARP bolts. Not the most critical thing to be determined, but leaving it out there. Will be 5.7" rods, though.
Pistons will be flat tops, probably the Speed Pro H345NP piston of appropriate size.
Heads will be Vortec castings. 1.94/1.6 valves, worked over mildly, taken to a shop and made better component-wise (studs, spring pockets, etc).
For the valve train, I'm looking at a Xe268h or similar grind. (that solid roller equipment on my floor sure looks tempting)
I'll use some intake and some carb. Ignition will be up to snuff.
Cooling system and oiling system are good to go.
This is all in front of a th350 with a 2000 stall.

It's not intended to be a race engine. It's designed to get my car out of storage. I'm not looking for all-out raw power. I'm after a decent amount of reliability. This engine has to last me 1 year (it will be making several distance trips, hence the reliability). I am building it's replacement over the summer and will drop it in over the winter months.

Open to thoughts now.

Rockin-Iroc

Sounds like a very good street engine. The power will be excellent and I'd be surprised if you're not deep in the 13's with this 350. The Vortech heads are excellent, but if you're over 0.450" lift on the cam, you'll need to give a machinist a $100 dollar bill or so to machine for larger springs. Check out the beehive springs from Comp, they don't float like conventional springs and dyno tests show they do make better power.

I'd suggest strongly using the excellent Edelbrock RPM Air Gap dual plane manifold. You probably want something in the order of a 600 to 650 vacuum secondary carb, but you could get away with a 750 vacuum secondary, because the engine will pull what it needs.

Are you planning on headers? Single exhaust or dual? Edelbrock makes probably the easiest header, and they feed into a 3" single. I've got a Hooker dual exhaust set up, but Hookers are traditionally very hard to install and work with. Plus the dual is purely custom work. But the "butt-o-meter" did indicate an improvement in performance against the 3" single I had previously.

I LOVE these thirdgen F-bodies. Some of the prettiest iron Detroit ever put out. Excellent looks and handling, excellent aerodynamics, nice wide tires, but the only thing they didn't give us is enough room around the engine and for a dual exhaust.

sellmanb

Looks like it'll make the Camaro move again, and a little quicker than your Crapiece

Rockin-Iroc

:lala:

Stekman

Rockin, yea, I plan to mess with a true dual idea. I have a set of Hedman LT's that I plan on using, so some time I'm going to get those in. If it WERE to be shorties, I have a set of SLP headers that i would use...

As for the springs, thats up in the air. I'm not even sure about the cam type. We'll see.

Yea, I had looks at the Edel. RPM, and still am. Carb is still TBD.

Sellman, that's the plan

Rockin-Iroc

Some people may have done it differently, but what I did to make a dual exhaust is to basically follow the path of the single exhaust. Instead of a Y-pipe after the headers, I installed an X-pipe crossover, right where the pipes bend under the passenger footwell and went into two universal Catco cats straddled where the single original cat went. Then shoot down the driveshaft tunnel and pass through the panhard rod over the rear axle where the original single pipe goes. There's barely room for two mufflers. You'll have to use your imagination here.