engine help please

[64BELOW]

hello, new here, have a few questions, need help with a 350 small block chevy, pulled from junk yard, i pulled the engine out of a 1970 brookwood station wagon, it is an orig, 350 turbofire 300 horse engine 4 bold main, 195/150.64cc chambers, it is complete from air cleaner to oilpan and water pump to flywheel,the wagon had a 350 auto and a bad a$$ rearend, but im gonna try and put this engine in my 1964 chevy biscayne, the biscayne has a 283, 3 speed on the tree, the wagon had 69,000 orig miles, removed valve covers, oil pan, and intake, everything looks great, no sludge, no carbon, motor turns over great, my machine shop said dont screw with it, the engine is all orig, it should run great, i dont want to rebuild it if i dont have to, would like to drop it in the 64 and roll out, i have a hei distibutor from a newer chevy truck that had a goodwrench 350 in it, should i stick with the orig points, or try and convert it to hei? the engine has the orig exhaust ram horn exhaust manifolds with the 2 inch outlets,i have a set of headers should i leave the exhaust alone? i dont want the biscayne to be to loud or it might scare off the mustangs, you know wild horses are spooked by loud chevrolets,i want the biscayne to look old and slow, any help? any ideas, with out to much mods, the engine is an all orig 350 turbofire, i would like to keep it that way as much as possible just in case i sell the car after im done with it and try and beat up on some ford guys, if the engine runs good i want to keep it in the car, if not then it will go and be rebuilt, any help would be great, thanks

 

[warped]

welcome to the board!
The HEI swap is easy and as long as it is in good shape, will be easier to maintain than points. Just pull the old distributor and coil out and put the HEI into place. the hot wire on the coil will go to the HEI cap where it is marked 'IGN". You will need to remove the resistor since the points distributor only uses about 8.5v and the HEI will need a full 12v. Be sure to watch the firing order to get the plug wires back on correctly.

As for exhaust manifolds, they are a flow restriction in the exhaust, but with the power I think you can expect, I don't see this as a major problem. If they are in good shape, I would see how the engine runs before going to the trouble of installing a new exhaust. Good luck.

 

[Cardinal]

Ignition: you can replace the points ignition with a HEI unit. The only thing beyond putting in the engine is to find a switch 12 VDC power source that is off with the ignition switch of and on when the ignition switch is in the start or run positions.

Headers or ram horn manifolds: personally, I HATE headers on the street. They are a PITA. Always leaking, always having change gaskets, paint them (unless you get the ceramic coated which costs a fortune). I vote for the ram horn manifolds with a well built 2" dual exhaust that exits out the back of the car, high flow mufflers, and an "X" or "H" pipe (which helps balance the exhaust and eliminates any exhaust poping).


I'm with the machine shop: the engine runs good so leave it probably doesn't need new rings & bearings. The only thing that you might want to do is at least to install a new timing chain and gear set. I would install a new link belt timing chain gear set (NOT a roller bearing set).

IF you do decide to install a new timing chain gear set, you might want to consider installing a bigger cam like a Comp Cams 268H or an Edelbrock Performer or a Summit street hydraulic cam. We've used all three on the above cams and they work great with vacuum boosted brakes.

You didn't say what carburetor and intake were on the 350. If it happens to be a Quadrajet, stick with that. A Qjet is the best carburetor for a street driven car. It can give you the best economy (if you keep your foot out of the secondaries) and still give you smooth reliable performance when called upon.