whats ur set up? do u like it? whats ur base timing?

my current set up:
91 350 1 piece rear main stock 55k
416 heads ported polished, 194's/150'
lunati Duration 270/280, Lift .420/.443,
was a team g now a edelbrock performer
holley 650dp
timing set at 12-14btdc
need a high tq starter.

now my car has ok power but i think there is more there. i also think the performer was the worst intake to put on.

 

Unless you have a super dished set of pistons you can step up on the cam with that probably. Just saying. The cam you have is dirt tame and you're running a lot of compression which should let you size up fairly considerably. I'd keep it closer to 220-225@050 duration and below .5 lift.

 

You can find more mid-range and top-end with an RPM AirGap, but the Performer is plenty of intake for the cam you have. You won't find much help with the RPM AirGap until you change the cam. The Performer is plenty for 394 hp at 5600 rpm.
Your first move, then, is a 216/228-112, 454/480 cam. You can get a good new one, with quality American lifters, for $103 from CP, pn is E1166M

 

Mine runs good, its reliable, and makes decent power(for now). It definitely runs out of breath above 5K or so. Once I can get a stronger tranny to replace the V6 T5 I'm running I plan on changing the cam and valves if not the heads themselves. The engine is nothing special, I put it together on a VERY limited budget.

Current setup:

Stock 350 bottom end
Used Cam - measured lift at .416 exh/.408 int, 110 LSA, unknown duration
Self-ported heads, still have stock valve sizes
Stock Chevy intake manifold
Holley 650 VS carb
Dynomax headers/no cats/true duals with Thrush glasspacks

 

i know my cam is nothing special, i started this motor with the tbi heads thats why. i actually just got my heads finished and installed. i do plan to swap the cam soon. i paid 89$ shipped with lifters,

 

In your case, the first move is a better intake manifold. Just putting a Performer on there will get you 25 horses, for sure.

 

Thanks, I thought about the Performer, and was also looking at Weiand intakes for when I get back to engine mods. This winter though I'm swapping in a 3.73 Posi disc rear I pulled from a 4thgen at the yard earlier this summer. And if I have enough time I will be upgrading to C4 fronts as well. The car needs some better brakes as it is before any HP increases.

I actually found a couple pairs of Vortec heads the last time I was at the U-Pull that I am going to grab when I go back next week. I was thinking of grabbing the intake manifold as well and seeing if I can adapt it to fit my carb but I don't think it will fit under the stock hood.

One thing I forgot to mention in my post regarding the OP's question is why I went with the 305 heads. I had 2 sets of heads that I could have used when I built my engine, the 305 heads I used(416's) and a pair of 350 heads(882's). While I knew I wouldn't get great top end out of the 305 heads, I knew I would get a much better compression ratio than with the 350 heads. And from what I had read on here, those 350 heads are pretty crappy. If I had flat-top pistons in my engine I would have been forced to go with the 350 heads just to keep the compression ratio to a manageable level.

 

i actally think i lost some power with the performer.

 

You swapped from a Team G, not from a stock production Q-Jet intake manifold.

 

Apologies to the OP if we're getting too far off topic, but leave the stock production L31 intakes alone. Weiand's Street Warriors are fine for 416 heads. The Stealth AirStrike Vortec is great with the L31 heads. With Vortecs, you'll need to change cams to a dual pattern, with a good bit more exhaust duration, even if you do the stage 1 porting in the sticky thread on how to port SBC heads.

 

yea i figured i would swap to a performer because its closer to my power range, it seems to be more snappy but over all power is not the same. nice thing is my timing does not need to be at 14btdc to have good throttle response. i think its just time for a new

 

i think i know where i messed up, my heads are ported and polished with teh 194's i did not port match the intake, now all i hear is the carb sucking air and fuel... i think i am going to find another peformer, with a square boar flange (mines is spread with a edelbrock spacer and square holley 650dp) port match and spray a 100shot.

 

First, those heads still can't move enough air to benefit from port matching, so leave that alone. Second, Edelbrock hasn't made any spread-bore-only Performer intakes. They use a dual-pattern carb pad that'll take either. If your int. man. will not accept a square-bore, then it isn't an Edelbrock. Period. Third, it's better if the intake manifold's port exits are slightly smaller than the heads' port-entries, it helps fight reversion.

 

thanks, and it does have the holes for both carbs. i am actally running a edelbrock spacer that goes from square to spread, u think it would be better to get rid of the spacer and just run a square gasket on the intake?

 

4-hole spacers tend to help, but the best spacers have neat features added to spray nitrogen, oxygen, and extra gasoline :-) I just wouldn't run an open spacer that wasn't plumbed for Nitrous.