307 chevy fans ?

well buddy wheres the video? youve had plenty of time..lol i got one step closer to gettin my 307 going...ive got it up out of the floor and on a engine stand.step one....lol

 

My middle son drove a 307 chevelle in high school. I put his older brother in a camaro with a quickie built 350. Middle is mad cause he wants a 350. I let him drive the camaro and I outran him with his chevelle. THEN we swapped cars and I outran him with the camaro! Not just the 307's but I have/had more fun with 283's and 327's than 350/400's, just won more money racing with the bigger ones. peace

 

Im relocating the battery and sanitizing the wiring so its not running right now.
Making a battery tray today so it should be running again shortly.

Every video from my phone says the file is too big to upload or send via E mail.
Even a 10 second clip, I'll need to figure that out ....

 

I was having a discussion with a friend about a gas mileage motor for his newly purchased older Chevy truck and I thought a 307 would be a good choice,having never driven a vehicle with a 307 but have driven a few with a 305 which I was not impressed so how would a stock 307 compare to a stock mid 80s 305. The 305s I drove were loaded down with the usual mid 80s smog junk and since the 307 came out a little before all that junk was forced on the motors I was thinking a 307 should run a little better.

 

Stock? you won't be excited by a stock 307 much either I'm guessing.
Stock is LOW compression and a 2bbl and a crappy cam.
They run smooth and adequate - hard to complain but its not exciting.

 

I must say , I'm pretty happy with this one, so happy I've been thinking about the next one.
I have another 307 sitting in the corner waiting on some love. But I want to do something different, something a bit more powerful utilizing a methanol/ water injection system and much higher compression. I'd like to push the edge of pump gas with it. Make some impressive power, get great milage, and just for shits run it thru an E Test , Oh yea and out of a "crappy" 307 scourge of the sbcs.

In my quest for info & food for thought I found this little tid bit on another forum. Besides that winter and cabin fever make me think. Sometimes good sometimes not lol but thinking is cheap entertainment.

You can also use 283 pistons with 400sbc rods (283 pistons come in forged variety where all 307 aftermarket pistons come cast) to beef up the bottom end (you could go the eagle 5.565 rods). The reason for the 5.565 rod is the 283 piston and 307 piston use different compression/pin heights but share the same bore. You could even run a SCAT 5.580 rod and 307 pistons on a 350 3.480" stroke crank to achieve 333.4ci if running a .030 overbore. The SCAT rod would keep the compression distance on a milled 9.0 deck block at around stock, .025 in the hole. This is because most aftermarket 307 pistons run a shorter than stock compression distance (1.675 stock compared to 1.655 aftermarket). If you used original pistons you could get by using a 400 rod to keep things on the cheap for an NA motor (would put it .020 in the hole, using a .028 gasket would still put you in reasonable quench of .048)

Basically 283 pistons, 400 rods with 3.25 stroke 327/307 crank.

I'm not interested in spending silly money on this thing but most of this stuff is laying around or had cheap. Saw some used high compression forged 283 pistons for cheap. Maybe some vortec heads out of pull-a-part ? Maybe aluminum heads to deal with the higher compression.
Just thinking right now.

 

I took one in to have block checked, cooked and so on, thinking it was a 283. We rebuilt anyway with .30 pistons a fresh set of stock heads and a very small cam. This thing is getting around 24-26 miles per gallon in my 53 Chevy and is running great! I love it!

 

Oooh ! Don't you just hate that. The 307 is the worst sbc ever conceived, Scourge of the all the redheaded stepchild chevies. Not even a good boat anchor. They should all be melted down and reincarnated as HF hand tools.

 

Cliff's Notes for this thread:

307's are inexpensive --- check

307's were hobbled from the factory with soft cams and low compression --- check

307's respond well to standard hot rodding tricks - and particularly well to the inexpensive ones --- check

307 pistons can be pricey because of the different pin height, so if you want to use 283 pistons you must use 400 SBC rods --- check

Comp EX 262 cams make the 307 a screamer --- check

305 heads work well but make the motor look like a modern motor --- check

also:

307's are a waste of life; just go with a 350 --- bleh --- I'll pass by this

To be PC, there is not such thang as a 307 - they are 283 stroker motors. --- cool factor

-----

OK, here are my questions:

1 - Is there a problem reusing the stock pistons if the bores are in good shape?

2 - Same question, but on reusing the stock heads.

2 - What is the best, cheapest cam for a street economy carburetored (2 bbl or small 4 bbl) points distributor 1800 rpm cruise 307 motor? (The Comp EX 262 highlighted is more of a performance cam, right?)

3 - What are the best, cheapest heads for said street motor? Not looking for high power, high rpm but do need low cost and prefer old-style heads. Oh yes, and also must run on regular fuel. Part throttle, 1200 to 1800 rpm cruise gas mileage is the single biggest want from this engine build.

 

I had a 307/pg in a daily for a few years, good engine, good mileage, decent power to drive around town. I liked it because it was in the car already and ran well. I would not have spent much time or $ on it though.
I wouldnt go searching for one, if it comes to you cheap and in good condition, sure use it.
Plym49, get on nothern auto's website, choose a hyd cam is close to the comp 262 grind, they will add it to your rebuild set for a nominal fee, built plenty of engines and keep going back to northern auto for rebuild kits after comparing prices.

 

There's a lot here to respond to.
Questions :
1 . No problems and that's one of the best reasons. A perfectly good 307 relieved of service just because its not something else.

2. The EX262 netted the highest average Power over the entire rpm range with 305 heads. There's plenty more there in the higher peaks but the average is lower. This includes the cruise rpm without overdrive.
Several factors in play there and different heads would change those, also OD would change that too.
The idea was cheapest production parts and then adjust to get the most power out of that.

3. Stock 307 heads are 76cc ( some of the largest available) on a low swept volume of 307 cui. This combo yields the shittiest set of circumstances one could ever think up. Any head with smaller Cc than 76 will be an improvement. But its a ratio of dollars per power. If the visual is important I'd be looking for the smallest cc you can find and those won't be cheap. The smaller bores will dictate the valve sizes before relieving the block is an issue and bigger isn't always better.
You'll want to keep an eye on the velocity past the valves- in the intake runners and exhaust ports/headers. More volume from big valves and runners will kill the velocity along with power on the low to mid range rpm, that phenomenon is amplified on a small cube engine. Use the inverse of this phenomenon amplification and you can make power instead of leave it on the table.

 

A few weeks ago we took my dads O/T drag car out for the first time this year on a test and tune day. The launch on both runs was pretty soft and the timing is jumping around so since the engines an 8 year old dirt car motor anyway we decided it might be time to freshen it up. The block is already .060 over so I was thinking about either a 4 bolt 350 block or a 327 block with splayed main caps. I asked an engine builder friend of mine who goes buy Plaintoast on here which is better? he said "Splayed main caps by a mile". He also told me most 307 blocks are quite thick and can go .125 over so I'm thinking if you can't find a good 283 block why not get a forged 283 crank and some bearing spacers and build an inexpensive 301. I don't know how sticky the rules at some of these nostalgia races are and the machine work wouldn't be cheap but if the block is FREE....???

 

What common (aka cheap) Chevy heads have chambers smaller than 76cc? Something other than Vortec or 305. Gives me more to look for at the swap meets. Would prefer the old-style heads and I doubt I could afford PP heads.

 

What you want ,,,
Early heads- check
Small chambers- check
Small valves - check
Those would be the 283 PP heads.
No money - check and they are iirc 64cc

The camel humps will kill your low end torque because of the big valves.
Not happy - check

Could redesign drivetrain package to rev higher, breath better, and gear it to match.
No money & reinvent the wheel - check

Ground and filled on the end 305 heads to make them not recognizable ??? Maybe

 

OK, 283 PP heads are #1 on the hit parade for me.

What about plain vanilla 283 or even 265 heads? As runner ups?

 

Here's a story on a 307 build I just found on SUPER CHEVY's facebook page this morning. http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/en...hevy-engine-performance/?sm_id=social28190876

 

I'm of the opinion they could have reached those same #s for a bunchs less money. But if they have to spend the money, some wiser choices could have netted a fuck load more power for that money. Either peak #s or comob alteration and larger net average.

Here's the heads -
http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/mc/cylinder-heads/chevy/e-tec-170-sb.shtml

Here's the fine print on those heads-
"S/B Chevy heads may not be used on engines with less than 4" bore (262, 265, 283, 305, 307 c.i.d.) except with cams having less than .450" valve lift."
(That means do not use on small bore if the valve lift is greater than 0.450)

Here's the cam-
http://m.summitracing.com/parts/cca-12-239-3

And the cam lift -
Intake Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio: 0.462 in.

Exhaust Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio: 0.480 in.


The parts don't match and the combo is against the manufactures recommendations. Even though its mismatched and all fucked up they still manage 315 / 330 out of that 307.

 

Good GOD in heaven some of you got NO life in re-inventing the wheel w/combos for the sake of change. The 307+.060 in the Impala has been called a 'put-put' motor by a couple of motor mouth trolls on the HAMB (yeah they are RAD buoy's w/daily drivers from offshore) it power's the '61 anywhere. CAMSHAFT selection for your real chosen combo and drive it thousands of interstate miles. It is a sbc that responds as well as any motor that is thought out, period.

 

So what's your "idea" of an engine that is thought out? Super Chevy kinda missed the mark.

Most all of everything you find on SBC is talk and theory on a 4" bore or bigger and 3.48 stroke or longer. The theories that work extremely well with those circumstances don't necessarily work on the smaller bore shorter stroke engines. Its not reinventing the wheel at all, just a way to utilize commonly overlooked parts and do some spanking in the process. Using those parts will save you mucho coin. How much $$$ are you spending per HP makes a difference to some guys. Trying to discuss that might sound like reinventing the wheel I guess.

 

Oh yeah, another 307 fell into my lap 2 weeks ago

Then last week I found a set of power pack heads on CL for cheap. Actually cost me more in gas to go get them 1.5 hrs away.

 

I got a free 305, it runs great. Pulled it out of a friend' struck, he wanted a new crate 350. I was happy to take it off his hands. Can't wait to plunk it into something. How much different is it than a 307?

 

A boat load different -
way different bore and stroke configuration.

Depending on the year or prior transplants, That 305 out of a truck should have the high compression heads on it and an excellent flowing aluminum intake. those heads work their best on a 307. Just a little work on them and the really kick up the flow too.

 

Cool, thanks Vicky.