Hey guys i'm getting my 350 engine back bored.30 over w/ forged internals...

stock top end for now... i definitly before i put it back in want to get a cam but don't know which one is good.. then later on match it up w/ some heads.. what kind of cam can i get now and get some power out of it. .then later get the heads and intake to match to get the full effect?

i'm on a tight budget as it is.. but i can spend some if i need to... the goal is to have the camaro drivable by end of NOvember this month.. tranny is set just have to order the torque converter.. (ne suggestions on that would be great) i want something in the range of 400hp and intend on spraying the car possibly this summer.

any ideas would be great

John

 

What induction? Carb? Computer controlled? TPI?

What exhaust?

Emissions testing or inspection required?

What heads do you have now?

Roller or flat-tappet lifters?

Mostly street, or mostly track? (If you say "street racing", I'm going to delete all my input)

Most likely the cam you can run now and what you can/should run with different heads will be different. What you should run NA vs. spray will also be different.

 

i'm not worried about emission in NYC... its a carb setup and the carb is going to be a 600 cfm holley. I definitly want roller lifters.. and no not for streetracing (i've out grown that)..but street/track mostly street though this car is for fun for me and my father. the heads believe are stock but i'd buy a cam and lifter kit..

Later i'd like to buy heads to match. the intake im not sure i would b willing to get n intake also but i'm more interested in the cam first just so i can get the motor in the car about i'm buying this motor from a friend and don't know all the details yet except its .30 over
and the bottom end is completly new.

Exhaust is no cat. single into dual in the rear. Flow Tech Headers and y pipe. No forced induction but i might run spray later on. Goal is 400hp NA

 

Don't bet the farm on that.

I can think of FEW WORSE ways to start out designing a motor build, than with a carburetor (and one that's way too small for the stated goal, at that). Maybe, start with spark plugs or something. Stuff like that comes at THE VERY BACK END of the design process.That's where you needto start, right there. That should be THE VERY FIRST THING YOU DO. Not only because that's where power lives, not in the carb; but also, because EVERTHING ELSE, depends on the heads.

Pick a realistic goal of some sort; you've got that coverd, 400 HP is doable. Then pick heads consistent with that goal. Then design the bottom end to give the compression, quench, and whatever else, that the heads need. Then pick a cam. Then pick an intake. Then pick a carb.

Make sure you get your block "zero decked" to whatever pistons you're using. That's one of the things that makes the difference between seemingly identical motors built out of identical parts, where one runs like a scalded dog, and the other is a slug. It's alot cheeeeper to do it now, than to DISCOVER after you get it all put together, that the pistons are .045" down in the hole at TDC; and you can't get your compression up over 9:1.

Converter will depend on the cam you pick. See the order of engine parts selection above.

 

ok so say i just want to do a cam on a completley stock 350 motor only its .30 over.. everything else is stock... what would you suggest then? the goal is 400hp NA

 

That would depend on EXACTLY WHICH "completely stock 350" it is.

Is it a "completely stock" for a 76 Impala 350 2-barrel? "completely stock" for a 88 350 TPI? "completely stock" for a 70 LT1? "completely stock" for a 91 Caprice with TBI? "completely stock" for a 97 truck (Vortec heads)?

You're looking at a "completely stock" range of power from about 160 HP up to around 325 HP in that group there.

But your motor isn't "completely stock"; it's been rebuilt. So that throws yet another variable into the mix, that prevents me (or anybody else) from predicting what it's capable of.

Needless to say, NO CAM in the world, is going to make that 76 smogger motor, put out 400 HP. Or the TPI motor either, as long as it has the stock TPI on it. Some of the others.... maybe.

A better way to ask the question would be to establish EXACTLY what the short block ACTUALLY is, and EXACTLY what heads are ACTUALLY on it. Those are the things that determine what you can get out of it with by choice of a cam.

For the short block, the things that will matter are the piston configuration - dome, flat-top, dish; the material they're made out of - cast, forged, or hypereutectic; the dome, dish or valve relief volume; and as mentioned above, the deck clearance (often not taken into consideration) which stock, would have been about 025" but rebuilt, who knows, but it has about 90%+ odds that it's more than .040".

For heads, we need the casting #, what size valves are in them, and what port work has been done.

 

Its a early 80's 2 piece rear 350 (out of a vette i believe).. its carbed and emissions have been removed i do not know anything else about the motor yet as i have not picked it up. i'd like to get suggestions though on what i can do to is on budget. i.e. edelbrock power packaget etc..

 

bump

 

The "Vette" thing is not helpful. Last time I checked, there are at least 40 times as many motors running around that are "out of a Vette", than there have ever been Vettes. Not that any of that matters; the instant the block came out of the car, whatever magic there might have been that drifted out of the bodywork and infused itself into the block, went away. A block is a block is a block is a block, no matter what kind of car it is said to have been in before. Doesn't matter what kind of sheet metal (or even fiberglass!) was wrapped around it at any point in its life. What matters NOW, is what machine work has been done to it, what parts are inside it, and what heads are on it.

When you can get a look at it, get the pieces of info as requested, and we can help you figure out where to go, from whatever point it then turns out you happen to be at. Without knowing what you ACTUALLY have, it's totally impossible to make any useful or meaningful recommendations that are anything beyond pure guesswork and throwing buzzwords or brand names around.