about how much ho could i be making with a 350 with 041 heads? it will have something like a comp XE262-H cam, 9.5-10:1 compression, performer intake, short tube headers, and performer 1406 carb(600cfm)?

how will the gas milage be? this is for a daily driver, do you think i'l be around 15-20mpg?

i have a 283 with this setup but it has a very restictive y-pipe with a bent 2" pipe after the y or "T" so that's robbing it a lot. its making about 250hp right now with a melling cam with 204 214 duration and .422 .444 lift. its getting pretty good milage, i don't know exactly because my tank has a hole in the top so i can't fill it up and the guage it terrible and goes all over the place. it also has no lockup and i'd fix that so it would work if i put a 350 in.

 

I have a set of 041 heads that I've used on a number of different project motors since the '80s. They're ported and they've got the 1.94/ 1.50 valves. With flattop pistons the comp. will be pretty high for the cam that you mentioned and it will probabally ping, but with the right spark curve and 93 octane you might be able to get by. I had a setup just like that in a chevelle and if I had to downshift to keep the R's up above 3200 or so if I wanted to give it much gas, but if I was cruising with a steady foot on the pedal it could burn 87 octane and it would give me about 22 mpg on the freeway. I'm not sure about exact hp or torque #'s, but it would put a stock 350 4bbl to shame.
At the present time I'm using those same heads on my pickup with dished pistons and I fill up with 87 only, it never pings, it gets about 19 mpg on the hwy and it has a lot more power than it did with the stock heads, that's using a performer intake , a holley vs 600 and an MSD 6a with a recurved GM HEI.
I'd say if you've got a set of those heads go ahead and use them, you'll probably be happy. The smaller valves work well in combination with the performer intake and the 262 cam too.
Hope this is helpful.

 

thx, i'm thinking of either swaping my 283 out for a 350 and that cam or keep the 283 like it is or put a little bigger cam in and a converter. my main concern is gas milage with the 350. the 283 dosn't have neck snapping power like a 350 would but when you get on the gas at about 35-45mph it downshifts and jumps to about 4500-5000, the front comes up and and it pushes you back in the seat. when it dosn't downshift it picks up speed quick but dosn't FEEL very fast. compared to a stock lg4 it has a little bit better bottom end but a ton more midrange.

i've heard of people putting in a well built 350 or 400 and getting better milage than a stock 305 because of the extra trq the engine dosn't have to work as hard. would this be true for me? i would be doing mostly city stop and go driving.

 

I didn't have access to a computer til today, or I would have replied earlier.
There was a thread awhile back where some of the guys were making some pretty impressive MPG claims (about 25 MPG) I'm not sure how to look that up but it seems like most of those were hwy figures anyway.
I looked at some data over the weekend and dug up some HP figures for a motor like yours.
Originally the 041 heads were used on the '69/'70 4bbl 350s, they came with 10.25/1 CR, a cam of 195/202 duration @ .050 and were rated at 300hp.
They discontinued them as soon as leaded gas was banned cause with that kind of C/R the would ping seriously.
I honestly can't say what your in town MPG might be, the cam you've got isn't optimal for around town economy but it would probably be okay for hwy. It seems like your engine would be good for about 340hp, if you're interested in better in town economy a smaller cam would be a good move, also dished pistons to get the CR down to about 9/1.
Just guessing I think that the 350 with that cam and 041 heads would give you 10-12 MPG in town and at least 22 hwy. But a lot of that depends on other stuff like gears and most importantly the way you drive.
What kind of pistons are you using? What is your gearing? Is the cam bought yet?
If you put a bigger cam in your 283 it may hurt the mileage, a good bet might be a cam like you've got in your 283, for the 350.

Later, good luck