I might be overthinking this crap and it's driving me stupid, but I don't wanna have my car off the road long when I swap. I have a 91 rs, 305 t5, is it cheaper and easier to swap in an old school 350 or new school 350? What's needed for the old school vs new school or other way around?

 

easist and quickest way is to swap in a long block (engine without an intake) and put your stock intake on it. do a search on 350 tbis on here and youll see what all is needed.

 

It has to be a 350 that accepts center bolt heads though right? Or does the block accept both?

 

a newer 350 will have either provisions for a roller cam, or have a roller cam in it. and if you get one from a 90s truck itll have vortec heads.

 

block will take either centerbolt or perimeter bolt heads, makes no difference.

 

Ok, so what matters is the intake has to match the heads, centerbolt vs perameter? Bc of the angle of the heads right? That's awesome, sounds pretty simple. How do you do a specified search on here?

 

intake matches heads, pre86, post 86, and vortec. pre or post 86 can be modded to fit either, vortec is vortec only.

 

Simple enough thanks

 

If you get an older 2 piece rear main seal block you'll need a different flywheel.

 

How do you know if it's a 2-piece, or whatever the other choices may be?

 

I believe 86 and older are 2 piece, 87 and up one piece. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

So, like stated before, I need to find a 90's 350 and swap the long block, followed by modding the injection system to that of a 5.7. Such as, bigger injectors, ECM, knock sensor, (anyone know specifically bout the fuel pump? Mines brand new). Anything I missed?

 

you can get a 350 tbi truck drop out from a junk yard for not a whole lot. and itll be the complete engine/wiring harness/ and computer. that will drop right in place of the 305 and its wiring harness and ecm. stock pump will work fine as long as its not on its last leg.

 

That's what I needed to know.... Funny thing, I'm in the middle of selling a 94 350 tbi truck, wish I wasn't..... I'd swap the motors, but what's done is done, thanks

 

vortec heads didnt come around till 96-99, so it wouldnt be vortec. otherwise itd be perfect for what you want

 

Im going vortec, more power, better heads

 

thats why ive got a set

 

Lol nice, what's your set up?

 

before i pulled it back out. a 70's 350 bored .060 over and stroked to 3.75" with forged srp pistons, eagle crank and h beam 6" rods, an vortec heads. ive got the short block up for sale actually. and im building a roller 383 that the heads are going on.

 

The good news for me, well kinda, I found a guy selling 2 350 motors. One is assembled one isn't, both are 250$, 125 each. Idk what year the blocks are yet, but I hope at least an 87, that way I don't have to change my flywheel. But at our pick n pull I can get a set of vortec heads for 40$, that's what I wanna use. The intake I need is 170$, the roller rockers I need are 170$, and I havent decided on a cam yet. The headers I want, I have a guy selling them for 180, but I have to buy the y pipe and 3" exaust all separate. I can get a 3.42 rear end for 200$ and then I need to look into a better fuel injection set up. Idk if I wanna stick with tbi, I want more out of tbi, but don't wanna risk down time

 

run the tbi on it for now to get it running and back on the road. then save the pennies to get something better.

 

Yeah, thats what I was planning on doing. Seems the best route, and instant power

 

One question, it is possible to run 1.6 rr on 350 vortec heads right? What about springs and a cam? Any info on that route?

 

And do they need to be self aligning or not?

 

i ran 1.6 on vortec heads. i only ran them because i had them. it just gives a little more lift than 1.5 rockers. if you dont already have 1.6 rockers or already have a cam that could use a tad more lift, its not really worth it to buy them over 1.5 rockers with a slightly larger cam.

 

Ok, no I dont have 1.6 already, but I know where to get them cheap that's why I asked. If I don't touch the rr, what cam would be good to safely use and if I did decide 1.6, what's a good cam with that and are the 1.6 rr needing to be self aligning and narrow or does it matter?

 

cam would depend on everything else in the setup. stock L31 cam(vortec truck engines) is 191 intake and 196 exh. with 414/428 lift on 1.5 rockers. and they made 255hp and 330ft lbs of torque in the hd 4x4 version.

i was running a 224/230 477/480 lift cam in my 388 and it had some good power. ive actually been advised to up that to a cam in the 230 intake duration range if i rebuild it instead of sell it. (which looks like the rebuild might happen afterall)

 

You think 350-400 hp CRANK hp is possible? With the set up I plotted? I'm not looking but for about that. Or if not, you know what combo would, with a 350 vortec?

 

like i said, stock l31 put down 255/330 with a small cam and restrictive stock intake. you can easily hit 300 with a good cam and free flowing intake and exhaust. probably more if you loose the stock dished pistons and bump up the compression.

 

Yepper-that is where my 383 got it's start.L31 roller.A part of me through does have some regret.A LS or a SHP block is what I am talking about.Maybe the next one.

 

Just some other questions.... Do you have to run center bolt heads on a 87+ year camaro? Are center bolt heads better? I'm planning on keeping the tbi system, don't know if that's a factor or not.

 

All Vortec heads are centerbolt. And you will also need a Vortec Intake Manifold.

 

No, misunderstanding the question.... If I have an 87 or newer motor, 350, do I have to use center bolt heads? Or are center bolt heads better? What's the advantage of running them vs perameter bolt heads? I didn't know if keeping the tbi system, I would HAVE to keep the center bolt or not.

 

You don't have to run centre bolt heads. Just need the matching valve cover type. There is no one specific centre bolt head.

 

valve cover type depends on the head. older heads have perimeter bolts, newer heads have center bolts. aftermarket heads can be either or. either way the heads you have will be one or the other.

all STOCK gm casting vortec heads are centerbolt heads, but not all centerbolt heads are vortec.

 

I like centerbolt valve covers better because they leak less. The downside is that they require narrow-body rocker arms.

 

I know that much, just making sure that I had more options than just center bolt on my motor, that's all. I know a lot of ppl selling really good parameter bolt heads and if I wanted to veer from the center bolt heads, I wanted to know it'd be ok to do so. Center bolt valve covers are also more expensive, doesn't matter really though. I found a set of 1.6 rr that are made specifically for center bolt valve covers, but aren't narrow body, set is 209$. Problem is waiting, lol. I can't buy anything until December... I'm impatient, especially knowing everything I need and want is within reach.

 

1.6rr will give you a .030 boost in lift on top of the 1.5 rockers. be sure to take that into account when selecting the cam. dont wanna wind up with too much lift and cause coil bind.

 

That's a funny thing too. This is my first motor build. I have owned 8 camaros. I always build the body, do cold air kit and headers or k and n and headers, all with nice exhaust then sell them. Very stupid o me looking back on it, but I really regreted it when I let my 92 rs heritage go, but my wife needed a car so I traded mine to get her what she wanted, seeing as I had a 94 z28.... I missed it so bad I sold my 94 and searched until I found this 91 no leaks, almost perfect condition. Decided, I'm building a motor for it and restoring it. So, that long story was said to say.... I know nothing about cams, lol. I know I don't wanna go above .480, but not below .450... With 1.6 rr what cam, I know it's hard to specifically answer, but would give me close to that lift?

 

if u use the cam that came in the L31, youd be at .444 intake/.458 exhaust with the 1.6rr. but like i said, the cam choice would depend on the head choice and a bunch of other things. the cam should be the last major engine part you pick based on everything else.

 

The OEM cam of choice with a smooth idle and was nicknamed the 383 cam for a L31 roller is part number 14097395.

Lift:431/451
Duration:288/308@050 tappet lift
Max lift 1.5.1 rocker ratio:196/206
centerline:109

This was used on a TBI.LOL-was kind of a sleeper cam that has a strong bottom and given what it is a pretty wide torque band.

 

Yeah I heard of that, they paired it with 1.6 rr, the ramjet 350 cam, read about it last night