Wondering how cheap you guys have bolted on some superchargers. I know people have made some turbo setups, but if i can bolt up a used supercharger setup for cheap enough to get my 350 pushing 300+ fwhp.

FYI, the 350 is out of a 76 LT Camaro. I know this engine is a dog, but it has a new intake/headers on it. Will the heads allow 300+fwhp, also I'm thinking about going to the summit cam for 80$, pretty good price and will smoke the piece of crap cam in there.

Any idea's on making power cheaply is great, thanks again.

 

300 flywheel horsepower could easily be obtained without a blower. Take a decent cylinder head like a vortec, the XE274 cam and a vortec intake with a decent carb, and you will have well over 400 horsepower and will be into the project for far less $$$ than a blower, not to mention that your bottom end will appreciate cam and heads moreso than a blower...

 

I concur. You'll do a more than 300 with a blower man. Heads/Cam and a small nitrous shot would work wonders.

Blower on a budget is about as scary as a volvo with a gun rack. It doesn't work well. :lala:

 

Hey, thats why I ask the pro's!

Okay, you somewhat listed the setup, but 400hp seems really optimistic about the combo listed. Remember this is an older 350 with 8.5:1 compression and tons of miles. You are saying some vortec heads/intake with a decent cam will push me 400hp, i highly doubt it.

Please list the parts and prices, also if you could, where to buy them at, thanks a ton. BTW I just bought the car today, and I love it, it is dog slow, but loud and white trashy, YAY!

 

With the lower compression I would go with a XE268 cam, but if you went with vortecs they have a 64cc chamber and your motor probably has 76cc chambers so it would be about 9.5-10:1 compression with a head swap. You can get the modified vortecs (for more lift, .525" compared to stock .480") from SDPC, Summit or Jegs, for about $640, but you can find them on ebay and in the classifieds for around $500 or so (I picked up a set once for $400! and they were modified for higher lift). The cam you can get at any of the above places, they not listed on ebay much, IIRC they go for about $180 for the cam and lifter kit. Intakes can also be ordered from the same places, but you can find them on ebay all the time. I'd look for an Edelbrock Performer RPM, or a Weiand Stealth intake. They did a setup like this, but with 9.5:1 compression in CHP and got 420hp out of it.

 

I guess someone failed to tell me...

 

8.5:1 compression with 76/72cc heads. Vortecs are 64 cc (actually closer to 62) so you will gain a full point just by swapping on the cylinder heads. Thats 9.5:1 compression. Run the Fel Pro .015 gaskets and you are looking at 9.8-10:1 compression depending on what your old head gaskets were. 10:1 compression, the XE274 cam and vortec heads is worth at least 400 horsepower. Car Craft got well over 400 horsepower with that setup, and there are several people on here in the 12's to prove that this combo works .

 

I am a fan of your twin setup! I do believe you got beyond lucky on the prices of those chargers.

Either way, heads/cam would do nothing but benefit the motor. Good luck.

 

Heads I agree, But I do have a nice blower happy cam.

And you can pick up Eatons for 200-300 all day off the sccoa site.

Ebay is overpriced.. BW

 

Never heard that one before....but whats so funny...I actually SAW one in my shop...lol

 

heh, my brother bought his m90 for $190 with some ducting and an intercooler... sold the ducting and intercooler off for $190...

Free blower

 

Me too, It's certainly possible to do a blower on a budget, but you will have to be creative and think outside the box. I did the whole novi project for under $2000. The way I look at it now that the blower is done, if I blow the engine I can find a small block chevy around here for a dime a dozen, bolt on the blower and have instant high performance. I'm in the process of putting together the parts for a proper blown engine, but if the worst were to happen tomorrow I already have a backup in the garage.

 

Would World S/R Torquers have a better effect than the modified vortecs? They have a .560 max lift, 2.02x1.6 valves, and 170 CC intake runners. I am thinking about buying the Goodwrench 350, the XE274 cam, and the world heads. Would this put me around 400hp? Thanks

 

Any other cheap standard SBC heads that might work? I prefer not to use vortecs because it limits my choice of intake manifolds.

 

Sportsman II's would work, or Iron Eagles if you're looking aftermarket. If you're looking for stock style heads, the next best would probably be aluminum l98 heads from the vette's. Vortecs are still the best bang for the buck though, and that includes having to buy the special intake manifold.

 

Vortecs flow better than S/R Torquers?

 

Yep.

 

GM actually did something right? Guess you learn something new everyday. lol

 

Yep, they're the best stock GM casting, they can make well over 400hp on a 350 right out of the box. BTW, the S/R Torquers are just copies of one of GM's older heads, but it's a thicker casting and has screw in studs and the other stuff that is desirable in an aftermarket head.

 

S/R = Stock replacement not a performance head..

 

Cheapest boost you can buy is a Weiand 142 roots blower, IMHO. $1495 for the complete kit new from Summit. It'll bolt right onto an older 86-down carbureted 350 Chevy no problems at all. I installed mine in about 6 hours, going slow and listening to a ball game at the same time. About the only difficult part, aside from needing a taller hood (4-5" cowl hood should clear it OK on a 3rd gen) the only difficult part is getting the throttle cable and kickdown cable hooked up. You'll need a longer kickdown cable, probably as well, but B&M sells an adjustable length one.

It's about as truly bolt-on a kit as I've ever found. Increases in HP are big, as you'd expect but the torque increase is even more impressive.

Personally, I think increasing HP on any high-mileage motor is dicey but it'll probably live longer by increasing the torque output (blower) than if you try to build power by stretching it's rev range (heads & cam). Those old low compression smogger motors are actually ideal candidates for a blower.

If you want to go that way shoot me an email and I'll give you the whole story plus install tips, etc.

 

I disagree, with a blower comes higher cylinder pressures that would never be seen with a naturally aspirated motor.

 

The cheapest solution is getting whatever approximately correctly sized compressor you can find cheapest and building what you need to make it work on that engine. Assuming that you can make these things yourself.

never measured to make sure, but using cables from a TPI car seems like the quick fix. They are longer then the carbureted linkages since the TB is at the front of the engine…

 

I got my blower for free (came with the car), but thats pretty rare. Cheapest I've seen recently was a used Vortech S-Trim V1 kit for 86-92 F-Bodies minus the T-Rex fuel pump for $1400 on Ebay. I'd say unless you are a DIY guy, blower on a budget wont happen. But if you are a DIY guy, I'm sure it can be done for cheap.

 

Didn't know that about the S/R heads. I won't waste my money then. Thanks people.

 

Host- yes, a blower will have higher cylinder pressures. The alternative is to have the same cylinder pressures at a higher RPM. Both will make more power. But higher RPMs will kill an older motor much more quickly than increased torque in my expereince. Old engines with a lot of miles that are used to never seeing the high side of 4500 RPMs will usually blow up quickly if the rev range is suddenly extended to, say 6000 RPMs.

Crossfire- true. If you can strike a killer deal on a used blower you will always be money ahead. But just about ANY centrifugal setup will take a lot more parts to make functional than just the blower and mounting bracket. Even a used roots blower will eat you up in miscellaneous parts costs in many cases. The Weaind kit is all new and contains all necessary parts to make it work on an 86-down carbureted engine, with my noted exceptions.