i am going to be building up a chevy 350 or 383 soon, and I wanted to know if people could post their engine set-up, how much it cost them, and their dyno numbers. i ask for the cost because i don't have much money to spend, but i have a need for speed. if nitrous comes into the picture, it will be later on, once i've got a nicely built engine.

 

I suppose we could do that, but between speed, low price, and safety/reliability, you can only have two.

Which two are most important to you?

 

I like to think I have speed, and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg, and my motor uses GM's "durability tested" parts. I think it will last no problem. You can have a lot of all three at least.

 

Okay, let's define "don't have much money to spend" and "didn't cost me an arm and a leg".

One man's crazy money is another man's fortune.

 

well, i have about 2500 to spend on a car right now, and i am going to have another 2, 3 grand accumulated in the next 10 months

so i need the most bang for my buck besides nitrous. i would like to have a high 300's ci engine. stroked 350/destroked 400.

 

Ahmen to that. :hail: Can't even count high enough to list all the times I've read posts on this board talking about "cheap" buildup's making great power and such and then finding out that their definition of a cheap buildup is several thousand + above what I would call cheap and include such items and AFR 195's..

 

Boomaceboom,

Bridging all your various posts, I'm gathering the notion that you want roughly 450-500 NA hp off the crank for about a $5000 total budget. Using the little traingle presented by five7, sounds llike you want "power" and "cheap." Don't expect the motor to be the most reliable or longest lasting.

 

Spending 5 grand on an engine isn't unreasonable for good power and reliability. What is unreasonable is expecting the rest of the car to be able to handle it without spending another 5 grand on that (Where's exhaust in your budget? Subframe connectors? Transmission upgrade? [there's an easy 2 grand.] 12-bolt or 9" rear end? [Another 2 grand]).

Plan on spending an equal amount of money on the engine and the rest of the car. Spend a grand on the engine, spend another on the car. Spend 2 grand on the engine, spend 2 grand on the rest of the car. Sounds like you have $2500 for engine upgrades - not enough for stroker power and reliability. Forget nitrous.

 

gotta be balanced, as stated above. figure on spending as much on the rest of the car as the engine. Unless this is a weekend toy that you can afford to fix then don't go for power over durability. It is mind boggling, how much money you end up spending after you decide on an upgrade or 2. i went from a carbed stock 350 to a FI 383 w afr heads. That of course necessitated a tremec TKO, lakewood bellhousing, better suspension, hurst shifter freeer flowing exhaust, better tires etc etc etc. its a vicious cycle.

 

Sorry, i just have no experience with buying stuff for my car. i was thinking that i would get a 305, do you think i could get a used 350, stroke it, and drop it in for under 2500? if not, i will focus on little things.

 

just built a 402 "on a budget" and i have a little over 4000 in it.
as for nitrous "coming later" before you build is the time to plan for it and buy the parts you need to optomize preformance. you can't build a NA engine and add NO2 later and have a good set up with both. pick up a jegs catalog and start making a list of parts and prices. call a machine shop or two and get prices on machine work. read a lot on here, try the search option, and as a few specific questions from your reading and research.

 

if you are on a limited budget but have long term plans, i would suggest (as ede did) that you determine what it is you want to ultimately do. If you want to use nitrous or Forced induction now is the time to decide. If i were you and i intended to have the car for a long time, i would put my money into a really good shortblock (really good depends on how far you want to go powerwise) then add heads and cam later on. In my case i did not intend to use nitrous, forced induction, or race my car often so i settled on a blueprinted 383 with cast steel crank 5140 rods and Hyper pistons. I put the rest of my money into goodies like a roller cam, afr heads and slp headers. Build/buy a 350. Blueprint it thouroughly. Pick your pistons with an eye toward upgrading heads later on. Buy a catback (i buy stainless because it will never rust out). Then go from there

 

THIS is under 5k. if u don't want that much then i'm sure THIS would be better. i havn't used either but i've heard good things about the ZZ4. if u get the ZZ4 u'll have money left over for THIS then get some sub frames

edit: just thoughts i had, please, correct me if i'm wrong about them