I picked up a pretty slick Camaro a few months back. I've owned several over the years and always wanted to build one as a drag car.

This car will never see the street again, it's a trailer queen from here on out.

Bearing that in mind, here's the setup I have.

350, 4-bolt mains, 1 piece rear main seal
Vortec heads
Some made in japan dual plane carb intake
600 cfm Edeljunk carb
Factory bottom end, factory cam
Hooker long tube headers
Mr. Gasket Hilborn style scoop, stickin through the hood making the car look faster than it is.

The car ran 16.30s last season. I've added the scoop and the headers since then. (I'm not expecting to realize any gains from the scoop, but I picked it up for $50 and it looks badass)

So, the motor is out of the car for the off season and I've started doing some homework, and trying to figure out how I want to build this thing. I've run into a few issues and I'm having trouble deciding where to start with this thing.

I'd really like to build a 383, but I think that's probably outside my budget for between now and next season. So the factory bottom end will probably stay intact for now.

I have no previous experience with the Vortec heads. I've been reading lots of good things about them, but they're beginning to frustrate me. I know the intake has to be designed for Vortec heads, and they seem hard to find. It also seems you can't put roller rockers in them without machine work that I'm not sure I can afford. Many head experts seem to agree that there are minimal gains to be had at best from a port and polish job on them, and some people have reported worse flow after the work is done.

So my question is, where can I find a good intake, (I'm thinking dual carb tunnel ram) that will work with these heads, or should I just ditch them? If it's best to keep the heads, can anyone who has some experience with the Vortecs suggest some good cam numbers?

Also, one final question. I realize this is getting long, sorry. I have a nitrous setup laying around that I got out of a Jeg's catalog for a different Camaro, and never ended up using. It's adjustable for a 50, 100, or 150 shot. Would I be fairly safe running a 50 shot on the factory bottom end, or should I just keep it in the box until I get the new bottom end and build the 383?

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer.

 

Without the right cam, heads, valve train, and ignition a tunnel ram will do absolutely no good... They work best from 3500 to 9000 rpm unless you're getting one of the little street tunnel rams, then they're just for looks.....

Probably best to just run it as is, start building a 383 or whatever as money permits..... A big inch big block cammed for good low end torque makes one heck of a good bracket engine... Makes lots of torque down low, you don't have to zing it to make power which means the engine lasts a lot longer.... Takes torque to get all that weight moving.....

 

Vortecs are one of the best bang for $$ heads around.No porting is needed because they are so good as cast.The problem is not roller rockers but the amount of valve lift you can run without machining the valve guide.Way around is to fit different springs; no machining needed
See
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...ortec-lt4.html

Tunnel ram is for show like your hood scoop.A dual plane intake and smallish carb will kick **** in the bottom end which is what you want at the drags; no good waiting for the tunnel ram to kick in a 4K+
Dual Plane Vortec intakes on eBay now for $100 ,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-S...=p4506.c0.m245
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2116-...=p4506.c0.m245

Vic Jnr single plane copy for $150
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-S...=p4506.c0.m245

 

Thanks for the info, that gives me some hope as well as some direction for this motor.

 

After doing some more homework, I found a kit with new valve springs and thinner seals for the Vortec heads. It's reportedly good for up to .575 lift.

The Vortecs are supposed to make their max flow around .500, so I decided to go with a cam with .520 lift to keep them there a little longer.

I picked a Comp Cams Comp Cams Xtreme Energy, XR288HR PART #08-433-8
The numbers are 288 Intake/294 Exhaust, 110 LSA, .520 intake lift, .540 exhaust lift

Then I picked out a Weiand Stealth Air Strike Part #: 8502C. I was looking at the Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap intakes too, but the Weiand unit seems to be pretty much the same, comes in a little cheaper, and looks nicer in my opinion.

Any thoughts on my choices here?