I was just curious here. I have a Carbureted 350 with a cam and a performer intake. Is getting 350WHP a pipe dream? Well, on a budget anyways. Im sure members here far surpass that.
What would your shopping list look like to bring a Carbed 350 into the 350WHP range with a built 7004r?
Also, if you have this, what did YOU do?

Food for though, i guess.

 

350rwhp is about 440crank hp. So look at motor builds that have made around that. I will give you one clue heads, heads, heads, heads, and heads!

I'm not going to give you a shopping list per-say because there are several different way and differing opions on how to achieve that.

1. Build a mild motor and use a power adder (N20, Turbo, Superchager)
2. Build a high revving radical motor with a flat-tappet cam.
3. Build a less radical motor with a roller cam.

I would choice #3, but thats me, others have other opinions.

I was going to build a 383 with Protopline Iron Lightning heads, 10.5:1 compression and a comp XR274R-12 solid roller cam. This would be a pretty mild motor by 440hp standards.

 

I'd probably assume N20 as my power adder. You have to really beef up the bottom end to be able to sustain good amounts of boost, right?

 

Well, seeing how that Q was A'ed, might as well *sort* of keep on the same topic. Would Vortec heads be a good budget choice? What would you recommend? I want to go heads, but i dont have thousands to spend on the best. What do you think a decent set of heads would be for my 350?

 

budget heads, I see vortecs, and aluminium L98.
There are others but these 2 come up often.

 

It's going to be kinda tough to build 440 hp with those heads and still be able to drive it on the street, especially the 183 Al L98 heads. They do not flow very well at all.

For a budget i would look at some Protopline Iron Lightnings, they are reasonably cheap and flow really good. You can make plenty of power with them even with a mild cam. This is why i bought mine for my build, but my plans fell through, so they are forsale at the bottom of my sig and in the classifieds.

 

GSGZLR has is making around that amount of power(I think 330rwhp) and he is running vortecs(modified to handle a high lift cam of course), Lt4 hot cam with 1.5 rockers instead of the advertised 1.6, RPM or RPM air gap intake, edelbrocke carb, headers and full exhuast, 3.42 gears, And a world class T-5. I believe he was running 12.2's N/A. I havent seen him post on here in a while though. You should do a search on his name. Good Luck.

 

Yeah but Vortecs are not "budget" anymore once you have to spend the money to have them modified to work in performance applications.

I know a lot of people that make good numbers with Vortecs, but they actually spend alot of them to get there. If your going to spend all that money why not get some aftermarket heads to begin with. Also Vortecs are know for cracking and having a certain amount of life in them.

 

Looked at the heads in your sig.. Thats not really something for a novice tho is it? Adjusting the valve train and installing something like that? What would you say the difficulty would be?
Also, im running stock manifolds, which would provide a pretty big bottleneck no?

 

I wouldnt even be thinking about engine modifications to get 350 rwhp, until I had everything else right. The first step should be headers and a full 3" cat back. No engine is going to perform to its max potential without that.

 

Yea, i figured it would be an excersise in futility to make a high performance engine with such a bottleneck.

 

350 RWHP is a little out of reach with stock manifolds! IMO.


Hey, this is my 100th post!!!! I am now a senior!!!! Bust out the champagne and confetti!

 

This level of hp will cost money from stem to stern on a thirdgen. You will need a very well built tranny and an extra strong rear end to live for long with that much hp.

 

Yep = /

Well, In a perfect world i could afford to make my dream-3rdgen.
thanks for all the input though.

 

Dart Iron Eagles or World Products iron's are good and cheap. Momar ported his out (World Products) and is gussing at a flow of 240-250 on the intake. Search for some combos or search over some Car Craft or Super Chevy website for their budget buildups. They almost always dyno them.

 

one other option for heads would be to do the "Sitting Bull Way" and get a set of older 305 Heads and port/polish them... he has a post in here with pictures showing you EXACTLY what to do, pretty budget, and a nice set of 416's can flow as good as vortecs.. for a LOT less money. That and i see youre from Santa Barbara, the CA smog board doesnt take too kindly to people who dont keep a stock motor... You have to have the Internal EGR and all that stuff in-tact so Vortecs are kind of out of the question anyway

 

On a side note, Is there a way to temporarily disable the smog pump and other emissions equipment for a short term? Say a week or so?

 

you can re-route your serpentine belt around the smog pump, but i dunno how to 90RS305 did it, i dunno if it helps performance at all, but you might PM him... he prolly has your answers

 

Yes. EGR is basically a mercury switch. When it gets hot enough it turns a switch "on." What you would have to do is remove the egr and put a block off plate their. Then pull out the switch and braze it to a manifold or screw it in the head.

 

Of course the best way would be to burn a new chip though.

 

Like these other guys are saying you really need a good set of heads. I had worked over 416's and 601's and compared to the Dart IE head theres no comparison. Save your cash and buy some heads.