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Is my engine setup a good one?

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Old Mar 11, 2010 | 05:24 PM
  #1  
TigerChris's Avatar
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
From: North Alabama
Car: 1984 Camaro Z28
Engine: 350cid from 68-69 SS now 383stroker
Transmission: 5 speed what else?
Axle/Gears: Don't know.
Is my engine setup a good one?

I got my 84 z28 on a trade deal from a co-worker. I got the engine and head numbers and looked them up. This info was found online using the serial numbers on the heads and block.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Block
1969-79 3970010 350 185 HP-370 car, truck, Vette

Heads:
"041" – 3947041, also 3947041X. High performance heads . They were found on 1969-1970 302 and 350 engines. They had either 1.94/1.50" or 2.02/1.60" valves,
64CC combustion chambers, DO have accessory holes, I don't have port volume data for the regular 041, the 041X intake port should be 165CC's, the 041X exhaust port
should be 65CC's. These heads have a single somewhat triangular shaped casting mark (slope on the upper left).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The car came with a Victor Jr. intake, roller rockers, Holley double pumper, and Hedman headers. Its a 5 speed car. It had a bent pushrod when I got it because the timing chain was put in wrong and the guy didn't want to deal with engine damage. So I traded for it and put a Lunati 60101LK cam kit in.

My question is about the block and heads. Are they a good combo? Do I need a bigger cam? This car is EXTREMELY powerful compared to my previous 2000 mustang gt.

OHhh and BTW. I traded an 80's honda 4wheeler for the car straight up. The 4wheeler was given to me so all I have invested in the car is the lunati cam kit.

Last edited by TigerChris; Mar 11, 2010 at 05:31 PM.
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Old Mar 11, 2010 | 06:02 PM
  #2  
Rolling Thunder's Avatar
Supreme Member
 
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,549
Likes: 1
From: CT
Car: 86 T/A, 83 Z/28
Engine: 5.0 TPI, 350 2 X 4 bbl
Transmission: 4 speed auto, 5 speed manual
Axle/Gears: 3.23 posi, 3.73 std
Re: Is my engine setup a good one?

Well my biggest concern would be the motor damage. If he put in a timing chain wrong that resulted in a bent push rod my guess is that he installed the cam wrong and a piston hit a valve which as you can probably already guess isnt a very good thing. However I'm assuming youve checked that all out and all well beyond that the block is a fine nothing really special i want to say it probably has the 4 bolt mains which is good and the truck blocks had a higher nickel content which made them stronger also good. Its not machiened for roller lifters which kinda sucks but isnt that big a deal. The heads although I don't have the flow data from them or anything like that even the best heads of yesterday would get destroyed by a decent set of aftermarket heads or even factory vortec heads. That being said as far as factory heads go those are some of the better one. Assuming your not competitively racing they may be just fine for what you want. The intake i dont like because its meant for the high RPMs and is usually reserved for pretty radical street strip cars on up. Edelbrock rates them to perform best for the 3.5k-8k region so you can kinda see what im getting at. For the cam the cam is fine for the motor you could have gone larger if you wanted without sacraficeing too much drive ability. If you should and how big are up to your preferences of what you expect from it. However even with a little more cam that intake still wouldn't be a good match.
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Old Mar 11, 2010 | 07:21 PM
  #3  
jpw83's Avatar
Junior Member
 
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
From: Palm Valley, FL. 32082
Car: 83 CAMARO
Engine: 305
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.43
Re: Is my engine setup a good one?

The heads you have are sought after heads for racing. The "X" heads are the best high Performance, small chamber heads I know of. They are valuable. Check craigslist.com for comparisons. Yours' will be an awesome engine if built right. Too much cam can be a mistake. See LT-1 cam for a good comparison. If you have flat-top pistons it will will have a higher compression ratio, perhaps 9.5-1. Try to keep the RPM below 6500 and it will live a long life.
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Old Mar 11, 2010 | 09:21 PM
  #4  
TigerChris's Avatar
Thread Starter
Junior Member
 
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
From: North Alabama
Car: 1984 Camaro Z28
Engine: 350cid from 68-69 SS now 383stroker
Transmission: 5 speed what else?
Axle/Gears: Don't know.
Re: Is my engine setup a good one?

I forgot to mention, the only damage was 3 push rods upon fire-up. He never ran it after that. After the cam and lifter kit, I've ran the car for about 8 months with no problems. Ohh yeah, remember, I only got about 200 bucks in the entire car. And the interior is completely restored. you can see it from my other post in the car audio section.
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