Performance street SBC build

[Bentley]

I have a question here.. Will this car be a daily driver? or your "weekend" fun car????
The advice here reminds me of my youth when we would read "hot rod" and spend ALL of our 'afterschool" job money at our local Performance shop.. Hot Rod magazines recommendations were NOT the best for our ONLY cars we needed for daily transportation and getting caught in "MOmmys" car was an outright disgrace... They made terrible daily drivers and we spent alot of nights and weekends keeping them running so we could get to school......

A picture of my High School daily driver.. Lots of cold nights in my parents car port under this car instead of with a warm woman.....LOL

 

[ElCo65]

Hi I have a 70s 350sbc I am swapping in my 78 Camaro for the current 305. It is a z28 with 4 speed t10 and 3.73 posi rear end . Looking for advice on pistons , heads and cam looking to make high 300s in hp and good driver aswell . Maybee occasionally a track day . O will be sending block to machine shop to be bored .030 and just. Need to decide on parts I also have airgap performer for it and street Demon 650

Thank you .

Saw your piston pics and they are the good pistons .. flat tops with 4 Valve reliefs. With the soon unavailability of premium fuels ( Electric cars) I would go with 9:01 Compression so you could run 87 octane. To get an efficient burn and low likelihood of detonation you do not want a large deck or the gap between the piston to the deck of the heads.

I would opt to go with say a 72cc Chamber Aluminum Head with the thinnest composite head gasket for a squishier deck as mention. The power is in the heads and 3500.00 budget no problem. With a stick you can run the R's up for launches therefore you could run a larger 200CC port that flows well and a cam that has more duration. Especially running 3.73 gears. Be careful however as you most likely will need vacuum for your brakes etc. The Comp XE 268 or XE 270 and or Lunati's Voodoo series go longer durations but produce good vacuum.

Easy up to 400hp. There was a series of step up builds for crate engines by Hot Rod magazine online with all the details.

If we stop the Climate change crap and premium is available you can always mill the heads for higher compression.

 

[G72Zed]

FWIW, the OP indicated he wanted upper 300's for HP and to be a good driver.

I would use the GM Crate 350/330 or "602" offerings as a good comparative to baseline, and is complimented by a 650 and dual plane intake as well, and that the OP already owns.

GM use of the iron Vortec heads with only 170cc runners, combined with 64cc chambers gives 9.1 CR, with the hyd. FT cam with 212/222 @ .050 on a 112.5 LSA with only .435-.460 lift these engine make 375-390+hp and 410-430 TQ on 91 octane, do not beat up the valve train and can last for many years.

That combo gives great throttle response, a balanced package with a 1,500 rpm peak tq (3,800) to peak hp (5,400) spread does more for acceleration than most give credit for. The heads flow 230cfm @ .435 lift, and match the MCSA quite well, that's why you can make almost 400hp out of this STOCK head. Add in a little more cam lift, and you are 425-450hp, still stock heads, 9.1 cr on pump gas.

 

[1980RS]

FWIW, the OP indicated he wanted upper 300's for HP and to be a good driver.

I would use the GM Crate 350/330 or "602" offerings as a good comparative to baseline, and is complimented by a 650 and dual plane intake as well, and that the OP already owns.

GM use of the iron Vortec heads with only 170cc runners, combined with 64cc chambers gives 9.1 CR, with the hyd. FT cam with 212/222 @ .050 on a 112.5 LSA with only .435-.460 lift these engine make 375-390+hp and 410-430 TQ on 91 octane, do not beat up the valve train and can last for many years.

That combo gives great throttle response, a balanced package with a 1,500 rpm peak tq (3,800) to peak hp (5,400) spread does more for acceleration than most give credit for. The heads flow 230cfm @ .435 lift, and match the MCSA quite well, that's why you can make almost 400hp out of this STOCK head. Add in a little more cam lift, and you are 425-450hp, still stock heads, 9.1 cr on pump gas.

You can't get a better recommendation than the one above.

 

[Chevyforever]

Not sure the OP "air gap performer" is going to fit factory vortec heads.

 

[G72Zed]

True Chevyforever, he could always sell it and use the money for a Vortec intake, the GM ones are REAL good.

 

[Chevyforever]

The GM ones probably don't fit under or leave much room for hood clearance on a 2nd gen.

 

[G72Zed]

I do not think they are any taller than the original GM 1970-1972 OEM Z28 dual plane, I think a smidge lower even.

 

[BuzCrz]

FWIW, the OP indicated he wanted upper 300's for HP and to be a good driver.

I would use the GM Crate 350/330 or "602" offerings as a good comparative to baseline, and is complimented by a 650 and dual plane intake as well, and that the OP already owns.

GM use of the iron Vortec heads with only 170cc runners, combined with 64cc chambers gives 9.1 CR, with the hyd. FT cam with 212/222 @ .050 on a 112.5 LSA with only .435-.460 lift these engine make 375-390+hp and 410-430 TQ on 91 octane, do not beat up the valve train and can last for many years.

That combo gives great throttle response, a balanced package with a 1,500 rpm peak tq (3,800) to peak hp (5,400) spread does more for acceleration than most give credit for. The heads flow 230cfm @ .435 lift, and match the MCSA quite well, that's why you can make almost 400hp out of this STOCK head. Add in a little more cam lift, and you are 425-450hp, still stock heads, 9.1 cr on pump gas.

 

[BuzCrz]

I have that very motor in my 77 Z28, are you telling me I can get 400+ horsepower by just swapping the cam? Was looking at options to increase horsepower, sounds like this is the most bang for the bucks…