Now that ill be graduating soon i wont have to drive xyz miles per week to get back and forth to college so im going to try to get some performance out of this SOB since i wont be using it as a commuter car. I was thinking of doing the following:

-Cast iron L98 heads: Im thinking of picking up a set of these and maybe doing some porting to clean them up a bit and setting them up with screw in studs and semi-decent springs. Ive seen sets of them going for around 150/pair. I also hear that the l69 heads flow just as well in stock form with comprable valves as a stock L98 head but are they worth the extra work to make them perform on my 350?

-Comp Cams XE262 cam: Might make emmisions a problem...

-650 CFM carb: Ideally, id like to keep to carbs that can still get reasonable emmissions because at some point, ill have to pass emmisions. Have a friend that runs a station so he wont be to stringent about not having some of the minor stuff/not being all stock but he'll expect it to pass the sniffer here in NJ. havnt really decided who's carb to use, yet. Maybe an edlebrock performer or a street legal holley. I was thinking of using a non-cc q-jet but i dont know much about carbs yet since im an efi guy and id like to avoid rebulding it.

-S10 TC (2200 rpm stall?)

-3.73 gears + carrier: My friend has a mint gear carrier + 3.73 gears (all together with new bearings, or coarse) that i beleive will fit the 26 spline shafts. Doesnt seem like he wants much for it. Dont know about using 26 spline shafts and a small carrier, though. Guess ill see what happens to it behind the 350. Another thing is how high the ratio is but like i said, their in great shape and they wont cost much.

What are your opinions on this? Does it sound like a reasonable combo? I thought id ask others who know rather then work in a vacuum all by myself. Id like to keep the cost as low as absolutly possible since this car is pretty ragged out and i dont want to flush large sums of money down the drain on it. The body is still in good shape so id like to make a fun street car out of it. Id also like the car to have something resembling decent road manners since i will still drive it hear and there. Wont see tons of highway use like it does now, though. Thanks for any imput you may have.

 

well....hows things in old Moorestown. I was there a few years ago as an Army Recruiter in Willingboro. I would call www.goautocenter.com for a take off ram jet cam for a 125.00. get a Weiand Stealth intake and 650 holley with vac sec and older HEI style distributor (you cant use the distributor you have now for the TBI for a carb) and look for a set of 416 heads from a Monte or Malibu with a 305. Port and polish them and put in larger intake valve. Go to a junk yard and get a torque converter from a corvettte or s-10 I think they stall around 2200. Headman headers fit nicely but get the 3" collectors and get a custom y-pipe made. The dynomax cat-back is the cheapest I found with a 3" I pipe and dueal 2.50 tail pipes. Hope this helps.

 

lol.. about need ing a vac adv. dist., my brother found that out the hard way when he switched to a non cc carb and kept the cc dist. So the 416's are better overall tehn the tpi heads, you think? Hmm... wonder how much itll cost to work a set over. Also, i was looking at the ramjet cams available and the one that looks to be a non-roller looks awfully puny. The current cam i have now is better. The roller one looks like it has some omph but i dont have roller block. Bit too much lift as well. Waht durations/lift did you have in mind whith the one you suggested?

 

well if you go anything over a 480 lift your looking at new springs and screw in studs. You said you wanted to keep it cheap. I ported my own heads about 20 dollars bought a set of valves at www.enginekits.com cheapest I could find after I ported and polished my heads took them to the machine shop with new valves and said how much? I bet you can get them worked over for less than 200 for the pair. since you had an 88 I thought you had a roller block. I dont have a roller block either I bought the k1103 cam kit from Summit. Its a good cam. I like it alot in my 305 f-bird88 used the same cam in a 350 and liked it alot. I think the highest lift is like .440 or.460. My 305 has plenty of *****. It hangs with most stock 350. The good thing is this cam should pass the sniffer if the engine is tuned right. I went with the holley carb and like it alot. Easy to tune and parts are everywhere for it. I'm lucky I have Sallee Chevrolet just ten minutes away and they have an awesome speed shop. Oh yeah tbi heads are garbage 416s with a good port and polish job will do your 350 justice they are 58cc heads great for high compression

 

Sorry just noticed you have TPI and not TBI. Get the casting numbers off the heads and then PM RB83l69 or f-bird88 they have a wealth of info on this subject so does www.moretec.com

 

The s-10 converter is a bad Idea. From what people on this board say....if you are shopping wrecking yards, go with the vette stall, it stalls around 2400....my .02

 

hmm... the 1103 is the cam thats a step above the one i have now. Its an idea, hell its cheap enough. Im still kinda hooked on the aggressive profile that the XE262 has but ill probably have to get better valve springs along witht the screw-in studs to cope with the cam. I guess those are things ill have to weigh in my selection of parts. Oh, what is wrong with teh s-10 converter? My 4.3 seems to do well with it and it doesnt feel too bad but my 4.3 is only 3/4 of a 350.

 

it looks like 95 and above L35 s-10 converters are pretty good bang for the buck. I guess ill avoid the older ones.

 

the same friend who has the gears had a good idea. He suggested the use of vortec heads with my present cam. By using my present cam with 1.6 ratio rockers on the intake, ill be able to use the heads as is without having to do lots of work to them (still will clean them up a bit) and the increased flow will match the power outut of the XE262 cam paired to a lesser set of heads. I personally think its a recepie for a low revving mega-torque motor but it should make some decent HP numbers on the side. Definatly would be a fun street setup.

 

You have it right go with the l35 tc 95 and up. A set of 416's ported and polished should out flow vortecs. 416 are what I would go for if I was on a budget. Besides the intake for vortec heads will set you back an additional 60 dollars because of the center bolt pattern. Dont forget you will still need to modify your tranny for tc lockup. I got my complete kit at www.700r4.com. Great prices and great tech support. They have the lockup tc for you for less than 200.00 I think it was

 

not to mention the cost of screwin studs and stronger springs...I think the 416's are a good "budget" Idea...but of course ...thats what I'm doing! ..I paid 500.00 for mine with 2.02 /1.60 valves screwin studs and guideplates included....
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=150604

 

good ideas, guys... Im getting cold feet about running a carb so im going to stick with the tbi and get a BB tbi unit and run a single plane intake to make up for the smallish bores that the tbi units have. Dont have to worry about fuel dist. so i should be able to run it w/o much trouble. I guess ill go with the 1103 cam kit, 416 heads, L35 TC, and use 1/3 the money that i would have spent going to carb on prom burning equipment to recalibrate the computer.

 

i saw there that the L98 heads in stock form are supposed to be comprable to the 416's in stock form, any truth to that? Also, the 305 heads are 58 cc so off the top of my head that will bump my CR up to 9.8:1 with all else constant. Im one of those guys who fills up with whatever is cheapest at the pump at cheapest station in town so that may create some problems. Id like to stick to 64 cc heads if im running a set thats cast iron, where there any versions that had 64 cc heads? If not, are the L98's indeed comprable and can similar results be had with them?

 

the l98's already have the 1.94/1.60 valves.....a little less expence...the 416's hogged out for the larger valves are between 62-64cc Mine are at 64cc...For what you have planned , I would go with the L98's...just my opinion..