OKay, I recently in the last two months purchased a third gen at an almost unbeatable price. The interior needs the most work, but the drive-train is better than what you could ask for under 3000. No leaks, near brand new tranny, no oil burning. Only mechanical problem is I need to upgrade the Edelbrock carb because of a dead spot near the low end. But it still runs like a scalded dog. And absolutely zero rust.

What I know: 350 5.7L V8 coupled with vortec heads, an edelbrock carb and intake, headers, and a TH350 transmission. The rear end gear ratio is 3.73.

When I purchased the car I was doing every bit of 4500 RPM at 60MPH, but after my family mechanic gave it a good tune up I'm running about 2100 RPM at 55. For the record he replaced the plugs, wires, distributor cap, and changed all the fluids. He also tuned the carb the best he could; runs great except for the dead spot near the idle speeds. Doesnt stall though.

My question is: with no mechanical background, is there anyway to estimate what kind of Cam set-up and converter stall I have? I'm ready to start doing some work on this car but I'm not ready to tear it down to the bone to see whats what. I know I won't be able to tell exactly what's what, but hopefully I'll be able to get an idea so I can start looking for parts. (new cam, new carb, ect, ect)

 

I think there would be some guys here that would tell you, believe it or not, to throw the stock q-jet back on because it would probably run better. There's a lot of information missing here about what you actually have. If it has the air pump going into the headers and all that other stock stuff still, I think the stock carb on the edelbrock intake is what I have seen most guys running.

 

Well, its far from a stock car. Probably as far as you can get. It was a strip-street car for several years before the last owner bought it.We're taking ac/heater delete, oversized radiator, and a fuel cell that fills up the "trunk space". I believe he said it was running a 400 until that owner blew the engine and sold it to the previous owner who put a good quality 350 in it. Nothings computerized, nor does the computer even exist.

What I'm trying to figure out is roughly what range my cam is running in, and hopefully I'll be able to narrow it down and begin deciding what I want to do with the car. Unfortunely i don't have the time or the skill to tear my engine down to check everything.

Is there a way to gauge the range of my Cam or stall converter? Perhaps checking comparing the RPM levels at a given speed?