Let me try this again in the right forum.....ahemmm. Its time to build motor for off topic tow vehicle. It will be a 350. There is lots of small block knowledge on here,so.... I want to build torque! What head/valve size. What cam? It will have edelbrock performer and 600 cfm carb because i have had very good luck with these over the years. My 59 el camino will also need a motor before long, so i'll probably use same type motor for it.cause its heavy. Or should i just buy a crate motor. I have a garage full of small block parts so i won't have to go get anything major except maybe the heads. Anyway give it some thought while the kiddies are opening the gifts from SANTA, and give me your opinions!
.030 over 400SB with a set of good 194 heads and a Comp Cams 4x4 high torque cam. Just my humble opinion.
350 w/ vortec heads(stock), cam about .460 lift, edelbrock performer vortec intake. Hypereutectic flattops, moly rings, standard volume oil pump, double roller timing chain, good bearings, cast crank, good machine work. Call comp cams on a specific recommendation, vehicle weight, trans, gear, driver or tow vehicle all need to be considered and the vortec heads flow well enough that the engine can be cammed differently than typical sbc heads. The vortec heads will blow away any previous factory head, if you don't need to stay traditional, use them, good price, better power.
I probably ought to get a new engine for my 57 suburban one of these days...been looking at going the easy way, like I did on my brother's 58 wagon. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-10067353/overview/ Not much for extra performance, but they do ok. If I had some ambition, I'd probably build one pretty similar to this. Chevy used them for decades in trucks, because they work good.
If you are building a sb from the ground up, and low rpm torque is the goal, there is no reason NOT to build a 5.7 rod 383.
Agree totally, 383 balanced cast crank rotating assy are very reasonable. If your 350 crank needs turned and your rods need resized, you should really consider this. Anyone suggesting a 400, have you tried to find one lately?
Yeah, i've given that a lot of thought. just read in one of my many magazines where they added intake/carb/ headers and the torque numbers really jumped up there.Prolly cheaper than building one from ground up.Just thought i might use some of the 40 yr collection of parts before i'm to old to!!
I agree on the big Caddy, Buick, Olds, Pont engines, or the BBC. Start with something that already has more torque than a 383/400 SBC. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Hmmm, that Cat engine might be a little tight in there, but this IH 392 should slip right in. Will kill a Chevy 350 for low end lugging torque.
Vortec heads, smallest of the Comp Xtreme Energy cams, flat top pistons. Been running that combo for years in my S-10. Gobs of torque, mid 8's in the 1/8 mile, and over 20mpg on highway with 600 carb, 3.42 rearend and TH 350.
Nothing against anyone on this or any other forum, there are a lot of very smart guys out there and on this thread, but when choosing a cam I would hesitate to take their advice. I call the company that make the cams, I tell them my exact application, answer their questions, they ask everything about the car/truck etc. Their recommendations have never ever been wrong. I also trust my engine builder, they also know what the application is. Give the cam grinder/tech guys a call what do you have to loose? Good luck and Merry Christmas!
No doubt. Its always good to get cam advice from some data entry guy at a call center in Mexico, punching your info into a computer program... Oooh, did I say that???
You really think that's Scooter Brothers on the end of the phone? No your right, saying stuff like that isn't in the Christmas spirit....
you want a cam that works at lower rpm, the exact one might depend on what gearing you're running, which might depend on what you're actually doing with the vehicle. And the guys who punch in the numbers in the computer will give you as good an answer as anyone else, if you give them accurate information to work off of. Usually there are several different cams that will work pretty well in your ride. Has anyone put a bunch of miles on a 383 sbc? just curious. I know that 350s will last a long time if you take care of them.
I did think about a turbo diesel, BUT, i know absolutely nothing about them .The furtherest i have ever gone from SBC is 3.8 corp engine. and now my wifes new little sporty car. I bleed chevy orange. Sorry guys it will have to be SBC.
Vortec heads, GM's 24502476 cam designed for Vortec heads, used in GM's 330 HO crate, 9.4 to 1 comp pistons.
I built one for my brothers 4x4 hunting truck, back in the days when you had to turn down a 400 crank (That's about 25 years ago for the young guys) it was pretty decent for its intended purpose, but it never went over about 5k. He put quite a bit of mileage on it, and it suited his needs well, but he was very specific in what he wanted, which makes it much easier to build an engine. It was a 5.7 rod motor with flat-tops, 10/1, 180cc Brodix's, a Crane HMV-260-2-NC, and believe it or not, an SP2P with a quadrajet. When we built it, he wanted a motor that would have really EXCELLENT tip-in pulling power from low rpm at small throttle openings, so it would climb steep inclines in the dirt without too much noise or wheelspin. He also wanted good torque at highway speeds for pulling a small boat trailer, loaded, the whole package was close to 6000lbs with 4.10s a t400 and 33" tires. It got truly phenomenal gas mileage, and worked exactly the way he wanted it to in the bush, so he was a happy camper (pun intended) but I doubt it made more than around 325hp, and it nosed over hard around 4500 rpm. We didn't dyno it, but the torque curve felt flat as a table top from 2000-4000 and it was really good at small/medium throttle openings right from idle. But later on, he quit hunting for a while and wasn't going into the bush much, at that point we pulled the SP2P off and replaced it with a Q-jet Performer RPM, he really felt that as far as street use, that gave better all-around performance. A bigger cam would have been better at that point too. The original build was VERY application specific.
Back in the old machine shop, engine building days...built many 383 SBC. Ground the mains to 350...5.7 rods...(pink or truck if you can find them)... Now a days...they offer 6.0 Rod kits... Best torgue SBC for the buck. Remember... Longer the stroke! Built some nice 3-5/8 stroke engines (393)..then all the way up to 4" (3-7/8 x 4.155 (415), 4.00 X 4.00 (402), 4.00 X 4.155 (434)... And up$$$$
I read through this thread and I am actually very surprised that only one person touched on what really makes toque.But then again I don't see any tractor pullers here either... So lets start from the bottom and work our way to the top shall we? For a Carbeurated or purely injected engine.... - Begin by choosing the longest stroke and the longest rod and largest CID combination possible in the block you are using.The idea is to get the longest lever possible and move as much air as possible. - You want a very heavy reciprocating assembly with a very heavy flywheel... dont over do it by mounting 300 metric tons to the crank . -The cylinder heads should flow well enough to fill the CID without spinning the engine to the moon. In this case.. SBC 350 CID 160 -180 cc Intake runner is plenty and get as much exhaust flow as possible ( this is paramount!) -A moderate cam...NT/EXH - Dur @ .050” Lift: 212°/222° RR: 1.5/1.5 Gross Lift: .450”/.480” LSA: 112° RPM: 1800 to 5500 Redline: 6000- this cam gets rid of exaust more than it intakes with a tight lobe separation and a low center line will work best. -Gear the vehicle to operate within the engines optimum parameters- don't forget the transmission gearing -A full length header that flows as much as possible with at least a collector length of 6 inches should be used to take advantage of exhaust pulses.
The Jalopy Journal
