i have a lot of questions so bare with me.
ok i have an 86 silverado i want to drag(no streat). i have a standard 4bolt main 350 in it now. i want the most possible hp i can get out of it. it will be carberated. and most likely forced induction. i plan on sonnic checking the block. i read that you can fill your jornals before you bore to get more cubes.
-how dose that work with cooling?
-and how many cubes can i get out of bore and stroke and still run a power adder?(with the jornals filled if need be). then what will my over all cid be.
-and last i have 5500 lbs truck, i can strip some weight but its still gonna be heavy, how should i build the motor for the quickest 1/4 time?(build for top end and get my bottom with gears, or build for mid range because of the weight, but what gears should i run?)

i understand a lot of this will depend on my block, so lets assume its a real solid, typlical 350.
i also plan on running a th 400 with a tranny break maybe a 4000-4500stall, but i have'nt purchased a tranny yet so its still up in the air.

ok i know thats a lot but any help would be great.

 

Read the thread " 1/4 miler under $ 4000 ".Yea it's a motor swap but there's alot of info as far as NHRA//IHRA safety rules,& not to mention track// sanctioning body safety rules.
There was mention of comparing bigblock//smallblock money investment. Give it a visit & see what applies to you. A 350 CAN be made into a sweet motor.
When you said "...journals filled..." are you meaning water passages? There are a couple ways to do it. Summit//Jegs has the stuff-- you can get 1/2 fill & full fill. This stuff adds weight. Yes it will help keep cylinders true.A friend used the 1/2 fill in his 502 SuperComp motor.
Water does flow real good and doesn't get too hot.IDK more than that.
Fast truck =

 

wow pie in the sky... silverado? kids and thier funny names for 3rdgens...

be prepaired to spend alot of money as it sounds like you want to play with the big big boys most of which arent running race fuel but some type of alcohol and have aftermarket blocks way bigger than 350

check this guys site http://www.hardtail.com/ hes a mod on these forums get some ideas of what your up against before taking this route

 

yeah your right its not a 3rdgen but i'm trying to get all the info i can from everyone i can. but a small block is a small block. it just so happens i want to put it in a truck. but thanks for the references. a lot of good info.
and yes i do want to run with the big boys. im shooting for 11s, on pump gas. we'll see what i come up with. i know its not gonna be cheap but i'm trying to use what i got. i dont want to buy a bb when i have a sb i can make use of.

as far as the journal fill stuff, i was reading about filling the coolent journals to give more room to bore, my question was how dose that work with cooling the engine? i have never heard of this untill a few days ago, so please clue me in on this. also how dose that work on raceing application.(high rev engines, and power adders).

 

for it even to be possible to bore a small block for decent displacement gain you would have to do a complete fill so NO cooling on top of that you are severely weakening the block probably cost you less to buy 1 aftermarket block at the size you want than to destroy an engine that you just dumped $1000s into because you were cheap

there are NO water journals in a SBC...

 

You can only bore so far before you get into the water jackets the block filler will just keep the bores true. If you fill the block full of the stuff you can bore a little closer to the water jackets. You are going to have to make some big power and hook up on top of that. You could bore and stroke it and put a turbo on it.

 

ok so just as i thought, boreing out that much is just a bad idea. i think i'm gonna try to bour 30 maybe 40 over and stroke it as much as possible. this way i should still be good to blow it. i think thats going to be about all i can do as far as cubes go. now if i can get to the ground and shed about 1500 lbs i should be good.
-any suggestions on a tranny? i'm thinking th 400 or 700r4 with a tranny brake. i'm not sure witch one is better for my application.

 

no one knows what your application is! besides a SBC with as much stroke as possible... you know that a 400sbc would be better than your 350 stroked and a 400 stroked would be better than that... see what i am saying

this is obviously your first build... while i am not saying it is wrong to want a fire breathing turbocharged engine of death... it is NOT a good idea for your first build

try simple first take your block to a local engine machine shop... make sure they do thier own machining and arent planning on sending the block out themselfs to be machined

have them look it over they will check it for like $25-75 if its good they can tell you how much they want to remove from the cylinder walls so you can buy the right oversize pistons and they can check the piston clearances and get your rotating assembly balanced... always a good idea to balance you should also think about having the block zero decked so you have a good clean sealing surface for the head gaskets and a nice square and flat deck for the best seal possible...

the people on this site know A LOT about building engines and are always willing to help but we see this kind of I want a 1 bagillion HP engine nonsense all the time...

start asking real questions that have a specific answer and non open ended ones and make a plan to follow we can even help with the plan and GOALS how ever PIE in the SKY i want to dominate top fuel for under $5000 people ignore

 

Don't get me wrong you can get some crazy power with a "junk yard engine". I have a friend who built a 302 and made 550 to the wheels with 15 psi of boost, but it only lasted for two pulls. If you want to be competitive you're going to need to buy a racing block like a dart big m or a little m block, but it's going to cost about 2500. Then you can stroke it out to what you want to. For 5000 youre not going to dominate. Think about this too, if you can't afford wreck you can't afford race it. For that much you could build a pretty nasty street engine, but that's my

 

is the rest of the truck built to handle a race motor? I have a 83 that is my beater/parts runner. It only has a warmed over v6,and it wont hook up, let alone steer and stop at 100+.

 

ok your right this is my first RACE ENGINE and there is a lot i dont know, however your not telling me anything i dont know. i have actually been a diesel mech. for 6 yrs, and i have a deploma from wytech for collishion/refenishing. i never said i could build anything for under $5000 thats race worthy. i had very resonable questions about specific bore and stroke specs for a production sbc. i may go with a performance block anyway. i just wanted some advice on what my block could safely put out. i'm not some retard that expects to get an insane amount of hp for nothing. a 400 would clearly be a better choice, and a 572 would be better than that. and i bet a 600 would be even better than that. but like i said i wanted to know what my engine could do. so just stick to answering the questions and keep your oppinions about me to yourself.

 

no not yet, but i do understand that there is a lot more to racing than a big engine. the entire truck will be built to race from the chassis to the roll cage, the suspention, the axles, etc... i havent started building yet nor have i done any research on the exact safty requierments. i want to find out what its going to take under the hood to get this big heavy truck down the track. then i can decide on a tranny to handle the hp, then i can build the suspention to handle that. i have my work cut out for me.

 

imho, build the 350 to a 383 all forged on the bottom end. a nice set of heads and a 100 shot. It will get you in the 11s and be a reliable engine to get you racing. Then you can start building the truck for a wicked combo in future seasons.

 

pretty sure i didn't state any personal opinion about "you" personally

or make any comment as to your education either

but you are asking/telling people things like "i was reading about filling the coolant journals to give more room to bore, my question was how dose that work with cooling the engine?"

you have filled the passages can no longer use them to cool the block

HERE IS WHAT YOU DO... before anything else you NEED to decide on the BLOCK then ON THE DISPLACEMENT or else this entire thread is USELESS TO ANYONE AND ESPECIALLY USELESS as it is about drag racing a SILVERADO!

and i believe you mean Wyotech as apparently Wytech is a medical supply company

and june 6 years ago you were how old? 17 still in highschool?

 

ok thanks for the help. and yes i was 17, i've been a 62b (construction equipment mech.) in the army reserve sence then. you can join when your 17. in which time i did go to WYOTECH(thanks for the correction) then i went active duty did one tour in afghanistan, i've been back sence may. and yes i do want to drag a silverado. now if your done challenging my credibility, lets get back on topic. i've never heard of filling the journals so yes i did ask about it. i'm sorry if that seems like a stupid question to you. and as far as deciding on a block, i thought i made that clear. i want to use the 350 that is in it now. i wanted informal advice on how much i can safely bore and still run a power adder. i was also asking about the stroke, i can put a 400 crank in it and get 3.75 out of it. can i run shorter rod though? i know i may not be able to stroke as much on this block as i may on a performance block. so if you have any helpful insight please let me know. if not leave it alone!

 

The best thing would be to stroke it out to a 383. With that you can get some nice stroker kits. Get you a set of performance heads like some cnc ported aluminum heads. With the bottom end make sure it is all balanced and everything. When you do all that you could build a turbo set, blower, or spray. For the trans you could do a powerglide.

 

If it's just gonna be ar ace motor, you could do a 396 sbc if you wanted. But that has some costs and disadvantages.

 

yes you can put a 3.75 stroke crank in the 350 with a .030 overbore will get you a 383

i would tell you to get a stroker crank designed to go into the 350 as there would be less clearancing and moddifications

you would still run 5.7' or 6.0' rods you will need special pistons designed for this IE 383 with 5.7 rods move the wrist pin closer to the piston face and the 6.0 rods even closer to the face which ensures that the piston wont be going higher than the deck

as for forced induction no reason why you would want to go bigger on the over bore keep it as small as necessary the small amount of CI gained from going .060 over instead of .030 over could be compensated for with PSI say like 3PSI and you would still be able to re bore the block incase of anything catastrophic

but if money is a issue you want to have this thing together quick and have never played with a gasoline engine under these conditions i wouldnt go 383 yet pistons are more expensive and the cranks tend to be also...

for the best advice about forced induction builds you should head over to
www.turbomustangs.com they arent strictly a mustange board they will take anything and will have more detailed knowledge about the forced induction system you plan on using

 

so a blown 383 seems to be a logical choice. this is what i had in mind originally just wanted to see if i could get a little more out of it. i think this is the way i'm gonna go. thanks for all the input.