So I own a 1966 Impala SS with a 1972 Chevy C10 4 bolt main engine. I have not put nothing into the engine performance wise other than an edelbrock 650 carb, headers, edelbrock performer intake, and a hei distributor. My question is how could I work my motor more. I already looked at the edelbrock performance packs and they are pretty expensive but I was hoping someone might know how to work these small blocks without having to spend so much. Thanks, Bill
skip mentioning your '66, since cut off year is '65. what is your background on building motors?? what kind of budget? what is condition of motor - ever rebuilt? what trans/rearend gear ratio? just looking for a little more power or, a whole bunch?
Im 18, never built a motor of any sort but my father is a mechanic and knows a lot and can help me. I have about 1,500 to spend. The motor was supposedly gone through and rebuilt by a motor builder about 15 years ago. The car sat for about 8 and then I bought it and I have had it for 4 years now. The trans is a turbo 350 that I believe is stock and I have just rebuilt the 10 bolt rear and put 3.32 gears with a yukon posi and also did all the bearings and seals. I was looking to get as much power as I can with the money I got.
...and save a few bucks to rebuild the transmission again Sounds like fun! The heads/cam/converter plan sounds good. The gears...kind depends on what kind of driving you do, if it's all in town at moderate speeds then the 4.11s will really wake it up. they might be a bit much if you spend time on the highway. Since you're young, you probably don't.
Your heads have 76 cc chambers; you need a higher CR, and a head swap to 64 cc heads will get you into the 9.5-10:1 range if you mill the new heads, and use a steel, shim head gasket. Camshaft, higher stall converter, and unfortunately, you need lower gears than the 3.31's you just installed. The other issue is, you have a fairly big car there. Based on that, look for a take out, motor-home 454/TH400 combination. That's more or less what I'm doing with an OT car (1968). I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Thank you everyone for the info! I have done some research and saw that I could get a set of pro comp heads and also a cam and that should give me some more horse power. But I am going to do some more research before I start digging into it.
I stand by what I suggested for a good combo for your price range using mostly what you have, but realistically butch's plan here is probably better.. Sell your small block and trans maybe as much as 1,200-1500 now you have 3k to work with .. Put a big block in that car .. Maybe even a 4spd... You will be glad you did Don't spend your money on fancy stuff , buy the dress up stuff later , i would try to make it look stockish 396 .. it was fairly common to take pickup truck 454s put a good set of heads on them with a cam and easily make pretty big power... You have a 2ton car.. You need all the help you can get
Here's what I would do. 1. World Products heads (SR's), 76 cc chambers are fine, considering todays gas. 2. Headers and Flowmasters w/ a 2" exhaust system. 3. 3:73 gears, 4:10's are a PITA on the hiway. 4. Comp Cams Extreme Energy cam (or equivl.), one that's good to approx. 6000 rpm. Don't push that motor. It should have all the power you need, well, maybe.
Speed costs money. How fast can you afford to go? Anytime you add power, things tend to break. Nitrous is probably the most economical way to get the occasional power without crippling normal driving. Camshaft and headers would be next. A big block is fine as long as you drive in a straight line but weight might need to be added to the rear to get traction. Wheel hop can cause a lot of damage. Changing to the big block will add cost to replace the front springs and sway bar.
JMHO, but you may want to look at a different engine, instead of spending the $$$ on this one.. 350's built up a bit can be had for not a whole lot of money.. Good luck.