whats up guys,

i just bought a 85 z28 minus engine and tranny,and im trying to decide which powerplant to drop in it i have 2 blocks one a late model vortech engine with a turned crank(includes everything i need , heads, rods, pistons, but no intake). the other a early model 4 bolt main with a set of 2.02 heads and intake. both motors need to be brought to a machine shop and be line bored and have the cranks turned, im also going to go 60 on the cylinders with a set of 10:1 flattops, which gets me to my question, which one would be the best to build??



thanks for the help

mark

 

I'd take the older 4 bolt main, and use the vortec heads on it. you could go 60 over but 30 over's probably better in the long run, you can bore it again.

A hot ticket is the vortec heads, flattop pistons, and a comp XE 268 cam. with a performer rpm or an airgap intake, and a set of headers, it's good for appox 400hp give or take a few.

send the block and the heads to the machine shop have them both dipped and checked for crack.

Rotating assembly, stock stuff is ok for those power levels as far as the crank, and rods go, Flattop hypereutectic pistons, or flattop forged ones, will get your compression to 10.0 or a bit higher.

you can run more compression with those heads because of the chamber shape and not have to worry bout detonation on street gas.

The only oddball expenses will be the need for narrowbody self aligning rockers. the Crane race gold ones are ver nice, however they cary a 300buck price tag, but... it's something your not going to worry about down the road. 1.5 ratio is fine. suitable springs for that cam are in the 45-55 dollar range.

a budget motor that's got some real punch.

as far as the trans goes, if you build the 700R with late model internals it will hold up well. and the OD is nice.

if you are not concerned as concerned about the milage a th350 is less likely to destroy vital components.

need 3.73 gears as well.

very potent combination that is, with a 2800-3000 stall converter.

 

thanks for the help as soon as my tax return gets here im sending the motor off to one of the local machine shops,im ready to get this car on the road.

thanks mark