I'm kickin round buying a 290/350 for my beater but was wondering what head castings are used in it? I've been able to find all other specs but that. I know the cam is pretty tame but is it noticeable? I don't need gobs of power and for the money I don't think I could go wrong with this one. Any comments from owners past and present appreciated. Thanks,Pool.
They are a 76cc small valve head. It's a great torque motor. I put one in an old Camaro last year. I would probably have put in a bit more cam if I had kept the car. Beyond that, it needs more compression.
I don't think you can go wrong for the money, but if you think you might want to upgrade it later, spend the money now and get a bigger hp motor. It is hard to make up the difference in hp the crate motors have for what little they charge for the difference in them.
I don't have any experience with them, but it looks like a great daily driver/cruiser type engine. And the fact that it's made with 100% new parts/castings, and it comes with a GM warranty make it a hell of a deal, IMO. Nick
If you want more power, buy it now- The warranty is really great, but won't cover anything if you start messing around internally.
i just installed the 290 HP in a `40 ford convertable.......i've installed at least 8-10 260 HP versions and the only difference between them i can see in the specs is the camshaft i haven't driven the car yet , but i does seam to have a little more rumble at idle..when the streets clear up around here i'll take it out and see what it can do i've used a couple 330hp/350's and they do have more go...the ZZ4 is a tire smoker in a `33 ford coupe. yes, the chevy crate motors have a good warranty...IF installed in a GM car it's 3 years/100,000 miles . if you put it in a non GM car , i believe the warranty is 1 year/12,000 miles
I'm running one in my deuce 2dr with a 350 turbo, 3.25 gears with 30 inch tires. It's no screamer but works great on the road, gets good mileage and burns 87 octane gas. I'm going to put on in a deuce truck. Priced right for what you get.
Some of the customers we installed these for bitched about not having the power that they think a 290 hp engine should have.....go figure, I think they run pretty good on 87 octane and if you need more....go with more camshaft.
Good info here. I called about a 390 today at a chevy store near me. they quoted me $1800. Is that about right? Thanks, BOBBY FORD
I put one in my '54 chevy pick up last year in june, so far I've put over 6000 miles on it and I'm happy with it. The compression is a little low for the cam (8.5:1), so it likes to idle at about 650-700 rpm and below about 1500rpm it's a bit "soggy". The cam is basically the same as the L-46 corvette cam and that engine had 11:1 compression if I remember correctly. But from 1800-2000 rpm and up it runs real good and pulls fairly decent. I run 3.08 gears in the back and it will out run most new trucks from 0 to 60. The only truck that I've been beat by was a 2004 Ford Lightning and that one kicked my ass.
Great motors for the price. I had one delivered to my door for $1,600. I replaced the cam with a Edelbrock RMP Performer and got the bottom end pull with the sound that I wanted. But beware of the valve seals in the heads. We installed one of these engines in a friends truck and it smoked right off the bat. We got to checking and some of the valve seals were cut when installed. We replaced them and it fixed the problem. Then when I installed my engine the same thing happened. 10 of the 16 seals had cuts in them. These engines are made in Mexico. Also if you read the fine print in the warranty it says that the engine must be installed by a Gm installer for the warranty to be good. But with all said and done you still can't build one for the money.
$1800 is a good price. I paid $1900 at a local Pontiac dealer for mine. The L-82 cam is slightly lumpy at idle, especially if you back off the timing. I got one with bad valve seals. The seals were good quality. They looked to have been installed with no protective sleeve over the valve stem. It smoked like a bitch and could drank a quart of oil in a couple of hundred miles. The 290 hp version is just the universal 350 replacement motor with an L-82 camshaft. If you are planning to hop it up save some dough and buy the 260 hp stock replacement motor.
I may just no people but i would not pay 1800 or even 1600 for a crate motor . find one that someone was building in your local paper or on cregslist , tier kickers and other people start stuff they can finish and you can get a better deal or find a smoked one and drop it off at a mechine shop , the last motor i build cost me 700 if you can put it together your self . alsow check the junk yard , i found a 600 horse 350 in the junky for 100 bucks it needed a crank ,
Yeah I had 2 valve guide seals that were bad. The L-82 cam and the L-46 cam are the same, 222* of duration, .450 In. lift and .460 Ex. lift on 114 LSA. You can put a cam with a more modern ramp design in it and almost the same specs and get more power and torque.
The Jalopy Journal
