Nightrider350

I'm currently rebuilding a chevy 350 and I do not want to rebuild it stock, however, my budget limits me to only a few high-performance upgrades. Right now I have the entire engine apart down to the block. I'm going to send both the block and the heads to the machine shop on the 6th of january. I want to try to spend the smallest amount of money on performance parts for the biggest horsepower gain. I've already got a never before used aluminum intake manifold that came with the engine, but I want to know what should be next on my list of performance parts to buy. A new cam is going to be a definite.

86BirdSE

Im building a 350 now too. Here's a list of what I have.

Block (bored .020) and crank (cut .010) from a 79 Chevy Van, 010 casting.
a set of used open-chamber 64cc heads with comp springs rated to .550 lift, screw-in stds.

350 Engine Kit from Northern Auto Parts, which has:
all of the bearings/gaskets
Speed Pro Hyp. Pistons
Moly Rings
Comp Cams 252H .425/.425
Edelbrock 600 CFM carb
Comp Camps 1.6 ratio roller tip rockers
Edelbrock Aluminum intake
Summit Raing headers and Y pipe

Desktop Dyno figures I have 325 HP and a nice broad near 400 foot lb torque curve from 2000-5000 rpm.

I see you have an automatic transmission and it's probably tbi, the intake and carb I listed won't work for you. If you do the ultimate tbi mods and upgrade your ignition coil and wires, then you will have a nice solid fuel setup. The cam I listed will work with computer FI and a stock automatic transmission.

Now, all of this isn't going to do a lick of good with the pathetic 2.73 ratio the v8 cars have. Score a v6 rear end from a 90-92, buy SLP's $99 posi, add synthetic gear oil and slap new brakes on it and you'll have a very enjoyable car to drive.

My total cost in the motor is about $1200. I have a few other goodies I'm going to get like windage trays, pan baffle and crank scraper too for a few extra HP.
Search the boards and see what else you can come up with for engine combos.

pskel350

thats a pretty small cam for those hp numbers. i doubt that the cam is much bigger then a stock cam. i think 325 flywheel hp might be possible if there is head work done. should be a nice torquey 350 though

i like the rest of the combo however. do some headwork, and a bigger cam, and you will have a very nice combo.

Nightrider350

I originally bought a V6 1988 firebird. Then I bought a 1985 firebird with the 350 (not orignial engine for car) and 700R4. I'm putting the 350 and tranny into the '88 and scrapping the '85. Can I use the rearend of the '88 V6 bird and make it posi for $100 with the SLPs? What size cam would be recommended for the engine, and would it make a big difference if I got the block bored to .060 rather than .030?

pskel350

the rear end will be fine. i dont remember what year they changed from 26 to 28 spline axles. the slp unit is 28 spline. search the board and you will find the year.

you will see very very small amounts of power with goin .060 over. its not worth it at all at this point. if you leave it at .03 over you can bore the engine again if needed.

F-BIRD'88

Your 88 firebird should have a 3.42:1 open rear end.
Here is an easy way to upgrade it to a posi rear.

www.powertrax.com

A Powertrax no-slip locker kit easily installs in your non posi rear end. requires no special set up or tools.
You can do the install your self at home.

The SLP take off posi's are 28spline ('89up) yours is likely 26spline. You'll need some 28spline axles for this swap.

Once you account for th axles and labour and small parts required to swap in the SLP differential,
going the Powertrax route may actually be cheaper overall.

Little or no power difference between .030" overbore and .060"
if all the block needs is .030" overbore then go with that.

Any moderate performance hyd cam will do nicely.
Look at the .050" duration specs. Anything from 204 to 224 @.050 will do nicely.
rebuild the 350 with flat top pistons. you want a 9.5 to 10:1 compression ratio.
Anything yu can do to improve the breathing of the cylinder heads will help a lot.
Some common 350 heads have more performance potential than others.
A head swap is a good way to go. What heads are on the motor now? (head casting number)

here are some sources for performance cams
www.compcams.com
http://www.holley.com/lunaticamshafts/index.html
www.cranecams.com
www.amotion.com
www.competitionproducts.com
lots of information on selecting the right cam for your needs.

86BirdSE

It does have 1.6 rockers too... which brings the lift to almost .450.
The heads are treated to a 3-angle valve job and polished chambers/exhaust ports as well as reworked intake and gasket matching. I didn't want to go too big with the cam because I have a 700R4 with a stock convertor with about 190,000 miles of experience. When more denaro permits, a B&M rebuild and a 1700 stall will go into it.

When I decided on this combo, I wanted to go for more torque than HP. I live in town and drive a good bit of twistys in the local suburbs, so for me, torque is king. I think I'm going to have a hard time keeping tires on it now!!

Nightrider350

If I were to go Powertrax, I would want the NO-SLIP TRACTION SYTSTEM, not the LOCK-RIGHT LOCKER, correct? How close is this to real posi? Will both wheels spin the same no matter what or is there sometimes a little bit of gives in the turns, cause I know off the line going straight the power to the wheels should be equal, rain or shine. What does the price usually run with this system? Yes, you were correct, I do have the 3.42 rearend.

Flat top pistons are better than the ones that have the indents on them for the valves? Should I get aluminum pistons and rods? Do they ever warp? The heads I have are the stock, those would be iron right? Like the block? Or did I just say something really dumb?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Flat-tops have the valve reliefs but no dish.

Aluminum pistons (either cast, forged, or hypereutectic). Steel rods - as in, have yours resized and use ARP bolts.

There are a bunch of different 350 heads out there. Only a few of them are worth anything for performance. We'd need the casting #'s from them in order to tell you whether the ones you've got are any good.

Nightrider350

What's a dish? Aluminum pistons won't warp for any reason? and how do rods get resized? Would you do that in order connect the piston to the rod?

SOLID LIFTER

A dished piston has a dish (aka an inverted dome) in it to lower compression. Resizing a rod involves shaving the rod and caps mating surfaces and honeing the big end back out to factory spec size, the big end can be egg or oval shaped if it has a lot of mile on it.

Nightrider350

Is it a better idea to resize the rods or to just buy new ones? Do they usually come with a set of pistons? Any reccomendations on what brand of pistons to buy and an estimated price?

Battery

Your best bet is to go to Summitracing.com and buy a Fed Mogul rebuild kit. Buy this kit, and take it to the machine shop with your block. Then let them put it together for you.

They will tell you if your rods can be used or if you should use them anyways. Most likely you will just reuse them.

Buy the kit, it will handle the horsepower you will be giving it quite easy, and is fairly priced at or under 400$.

86BirdSE

OK, Nightrider350, please don't take this as a flame, but you need to do some research, and learn some more about these motors.

2 excellent books on this topic are by David Vizard called "how to rebuild your smalll block chevy" and "small block chevy performance" Consider these your new bibles. Do a nightly devotion from first the rebuild book, then the performance book.

There are other books out there, but I find these to be the most informational and helpful to the beginner, like me. Happy Reading!!