As soon as the holidays are over, I am going to swap the tired 305 on my vert . I would like to know what is the best 350 combination wich you can get the most hp out of. I have been looking on ebay and found quite a few long blocks for a good price. But I am still not sure wich way to go. What do you guys recomend?????????

 

It really depends on how much you want to spend and how streetable you want the engine to be.

If you plan on making under 500hp and no power adder I would do a cheap 383
eagle cast crank
eagle I beam rods
KB pistons
main studs and windage tray.

As far as the heads and cam selection depends on money and how radical you want the engine to be.My friends combo has a small roller cam with good heads. I don't have a dyno but it pulls hard all the way to 6K RPM.

AFR 195cc
1.5 roller rockers
Comp Cams 222/230 509/522 112
9.5 compression
1 3/4 slp headers with 3" flowmaster
stealth ram with 52mm TB
24 lb/hr SVO injectors

He has 3.08 reargears and a T5 and he recently took out a local EVO that has ran 12.6 at Great Lakes. His is only a 355 not even a 383. Proof that you don't have to spend a whole lot and kick ***.

 

That is what Im considering, a 350 or 355. My vert is my daily driver to and from school and work. So a 383 is going to drain my wallet on gas. A 350 with a good combination of components is what I have been researching. I also want to keep the engine bay looking as stock as possible. I was thinking of installing the vortec heads and the special TPI intake from sdpc. with a mild cam. I cannot wait until the holidays are over.

 

If your wanting to stay on a smaller budget, then i would recomend the Vortec head and intake base combo. Add a Comp XE268 cam, and use the FelPro .015 MLS head gaskets. That should get you close to 300RWHP on the 350.

A 383 wont use much more gas, if its even noticeable. The bigger difference in economy is going to be just how fast you want to accell .

If you want an awsome performer, get the AFR 195 heads and a better flowing intake set up. Have you considered exhaust and intake work yet? No use in building a powerfull 350/383 if it isnt giong to breathe well.

 

Yes, I am going to replace the stock exhaust. I am going with some shortie headers, not sure what brand. And a 3" pipe all the way out. The cat,mmmmmmmmmmmmm not sure on that, I might skip that step. Also with the muffler will be something with a 3" inlet and 3" outlet. Also not sure on the brand. Now about the engine, I have not decided if Im going to buy the long block already put together, or buy the part and try to do it myself. I have all the tools, and I have some knowledge of engines. But I have never done any work like that. I work for an airline as an aircraft mechanic, and I can install a 5 million dollar Rolls Royce turbo fan engine, but I'll probably be sweating bullets if I try to do the engine building myself. I also have a 68 camaro sitting in my driveway that needs a lot of work. But no time to accomplish both projects as fast as I would like to. Money wise, right now I dont think is a problem, I can spend 2 to 3 thousand on the engine. What do you guys think, Should I buy the longblock from some retailer or would it be cheaper to build it myself???????????????????????????????????????????????????

 

If you want to build it on the cheap and you already have a tpt system why go vortec when you will have to spend another 400 on the intake? Modified vortec heads plus intake is around 1100.00 you could get a set of TFS heads or Edlebrock rpm heads for that.
For a cheap build use the stock crank = 0.00, GM PM rods = 250.00 (good to 500hp), Sealed power hyper piston kit =206.00 , Crane mild roller 214/222 488/509 112 = 300.00, 1.52 roller tip rockers = 192.00, TFS heads = 1116.00, port the stock base manifold and plenum and add some slp runners = 275.00. Compression should be between 9.5 and 10.0.

This combo should make anywhere from 370-385 hp and have an idle very close to stock. All prices are from summit however search the web and you kind find cheaper prices. Total cost under 2400.00 with bearings, gaskets, timing chain, oil pump and maching the block you could build this for under 3000.00.

 

Since when was a .5xx lift, roller cam considered "small?"

 

i think that's a medium cam, definately not stock small, but small enough to be streetable. it's not a .6XX lift cam like most of my buddies run, that would be more wild

 

It was small compared to cam I talked him out of running. However I agree this should be considered a medium cam. Not a big deal I was just giving a running example of what can be done with a motor that will idle at 800 decent and pull to 6K. Who cares really about what is considered small and wild, that differs from person to person.

 

Heads and cam are where you want to spend your money.

Get a good set of heads, and have a cam matched to them.