Hey guys, so instead of throwing more money at my 305 in my 83 z28, I decided to do a 350 swap. I have acquired an L98 350 minus the tune port set up from my friend. It was originally in an 87 Camaro, and it currently still has the stock roller cam. I got the 350 cheap but the motor is tired. That being said, I plan on using a bunch of the parts that I already have lying around my garage including: non center bolt heads and a carb/intake combo to match. I plan on doing all of the needed maintanance while it's on my stand.

Here is my question: I plan on putting in a new cam and timing chain but can't afford a roller cam. Can I put a gen 1 flat tappet cam in this motor without any problems?

-Thanks, Chris

 

yes you can use a standard flat tappet cam. not sure if the timing chains are differant or not. but some 350 trucks of this same era are roller blocks with flat tappet cams.

 

what's the rush? Why put together junk when you could take your time and do it correctly?

You state that the engine is tired as would be expected with such an old engine. I'd wait until I could afford to send it to a machine shop. Why invest all of that time and effort just to put a tired engine into your car? it makes no sense.

 

I guess tired might not have been the best way to phrase it. The bottom end is good, as are all internals with low miles, and the block. Motor ran with good compression as well. It was gone through and dropped in an 84 Caprice where it sits and still runs great today, minus a faulty fuel pump. I should have rephrased "tired" as "currently running poorly". To be vague, this was a combination of tune port and fuel related problems only.

 

Just make sure the heads your going to put on it arnt worse than the TPI heads. I'd leave the roller cam in it.

 

and this statement
So, do you have an L98 long block sitting in your garage, or is your friend still running it? If he is I hope you haven't paid for it yet.

In any case I assume by "new" cam you mean a larger flat tappet performance cam which will cost less. You don't need a new chain, unless you want a double roller.

I run a flat tappet in my TPI, but it's a gen 2 block, should run fine in a gen 3 as well.

Is this going to be a street performer, daily driver, or both?

 

what heads are u putting on it?

 

rgarcia 63,
The L98 is still in my buddys Caprice. It is currently in running condition, minus a bad fuel pump, but he is selling the TPI set up and computer to another party. The rest is mine for whenever I have time to pull it. As far as what the engine is going to be used for, it will be for a combination of daily driver and a performer. It will see mostly daily driving but it will be going to the strip as well.

As far as heads go, I'm keeping my options open. I have a set of Fuelie 2.02 valve heads that I can have sent out to the shop and use but my options are still very open.

 

good,cause the caprice heads dont flow as well as regular l98 heads. caprice heads are the L03 swirl port.