73 Scott

It's a ways off but I'm starting to think about a top end rebuild. I want to go with an aluminum head and a retro roller cam this winter. I'd like something that comes on about 3500 and pulls to 6500. I have a 350 with .030" over flat top Pistons making a little over 9 to 1 comp with the old 73 smogger heads. Im assuming a nice aluminium head with a 64cc chamber will up that a bit which is ok with me. Right now I'm running a flat tapped hydraulic cam that I'm not sure of the specs but it has a pretty lumpy idle and it pulls pretty good but I'd like more power.......right?
On top I have a Weiand Stealth intake and a Holley 670 street avenger carb. 3.55 gears with a Tremec TKO500 tranny. It's got a low first gear but I spend a lot of time in fifth cruising around. I live about 20 min out of town and I cruise at 55 mph at 1500 rpm. I'd like it to behave around there but I also like run the **** out of it and bang gears once in a while. Spark is from an MSD billet distributor....not sure which model but it does have the external box with it. I have 1.5 to 1 stainless roller rockers. The bottom end was rebuilt about 5000 miles ago and it was an l48 originally so I'm not sure if it's a 2 bolt or 4 bolt. Numbers matching motor. They did some of the top end but the heads don't look like they got much attention. Some valves have two springs and some just have one......not sure what that's about. The bottom end seems really solid and it has a ton of oil pressure.
I also spend some time on the interstate going about 75 at 2100rpm.
I'd like to make about 400 horse if I can.

As always, I really appreciate any help from the resident experts.

Scott.

bluedawg

What do you have for exhausts and are you open for a roller cam?

73 Scott

I've got long tube ceramic coated headers with 2 1/2" dual exhaust with performance welded mufflers.(thrush maybe?). It sounds pretty good. Yes I want to use a roller cam. Might as well, then I don't have to worry about modern oil without zinc.

Thanks for your reply, Scott.

73 Scott

Anyone?

76strokervette

I would suggest a Howards cams 110265-10 hydraulic roller with
pro-filer 185 heads and edelbrock rpm air gap. It will probably require drop base air cleaner to fit under your hood. You'll most likely want the 64 cc chamber to boost compression also.

bluedawg

For what you wanted rpm wise, most hydraulic rollers experience float at 6200 rpm +/-. If that's an acceptable rpm, I'd with this cam http://www.compperformancegroupstores.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CC&P roduct_Code=08-432-8&Category_Code=RLERCAMXE

These heads
http://www.airflowresearch.com/195cc-sbc-street-cylinder-head/

This intake
https://m.summitracing.com/parts/wnd-7530wnd

In the event that 6500 is were you want to make max power you'll need camshaft either solid roller or better lifters such as the morels that Straub sells and a bigger hydraulic roller plus if you want it to still have torque on the low end higher compression. It's one thing to have an engine that is a dog on the low end and actual starts to make power at 3k and having an engine that makes fair to good torque below 3k and comes alive at 3k, part of that is matching the compression to the camshaft, to little CR and it will be a dog and to much and you'll have to cut timing to keep it from destroying it's self.

73 Scott

Thank you everyone for the responses.
I need it to be drive able under three grand. I want a cam that will make good mid range and can run on pump gas. I do a lot of highway driving under 2k rpm. I don't need it to rev past 6k even. I hardly ever shift past 5300 right now.
It's just over 9 to 1 comp right now. I figure 64 cc heads will bump it up to just under 10. If I could get the right mid range cam I could have a good driver that makes power right up to 6 k. I don't need a screamer. I'd rather have useable power all through the the rev range.

Am I making sense? If not tell me so.....lol

Thanks again, Scott.

REELAV8R

I ran your specs through this calculator;
https://www.jeepstrokers.com/forum/calculator/

If you use a 275/275 duration cam with a 64 cc combustion chamber and a .040" squish distance I come up with 10.15 on your CR and 8.19 on your DCR. Those are good numbers.

I would go with the AFR 180 over the 195 as the AFR flows good enough to get you to 400 HP without loss of intake velocity. Also cam without a split duration or very minimal one and at least .500 of lift, and looks like 110 LSA is mostly what is available. I believe this would get you what you want and a good strong and well behaved bottom end.

I'm running a 108 LSA with .549 lift with 270/270 duration or 219/219 @ .050 retro roller cam, and dynoed 406HP at 5600 RPM with more to go, but bad carb tune prevented higher RPM. That was with DART SHP's. I'm sure the AFR 180's I have now will do better.

73 Scott

Thank you very much for the reply. That's the info I'm looking for.
I really appreciate the guys taking the time to reply.
I want everything to work together, not just buy a bunch of stuff and slap it on there.
Will this combo work with my intake and carb. It all fits under the hood right now so I'd like to keep it if I can.

REELAV8R

I believe your weiand intake ports will match the AFR 180 ports pretty closely, not positive without knowing the dimensions of the ports on the intake. You may be able to find the dimensions of your ports on summit by looking up your intake, or after you take it off and measuring them. I do know that the performer 2101 intake fits well with the AFR 180 heads. Your weiand should be similar. The AFR 195 heads have larger ports.

73 Scott

I looked on eBay and found some AFR heads with the exact specs. 180 and 64cc chambers. They are pricey but ive heard good things about them.
Has anyone got expieriences with the blueprint heads?

jb78L-82

My L-82 355 with 10:1 Compression now has AFR 180's, L-82 aluminum intake, and the Howards Roller cam .525/.525, Duration 219/225, LSA 110 and tremendous mid range torque (cam operating range 1,500-5,600). The car pulls hard from 3-6,000 RPM the whole way and I have 3.70 gears and a 4 speed. With the 5 speed and 3.55 gears, you might want to consider this combo...Low RPM is pretty seamless from a stock L-82 cam but with much more low end grunt....

73 Scott

Thanks so much for the reply guys. I really appreciate it.
It takes the guess work out of it. Gonna go for the AFRs and a towards roller cam.
Ill probably go with a similar setup to jb78L-82. That sounds like the perfect setup for me.

AboveTheLogic

If you are going to go with a roller cam on an original non-roller block, note that you will need to deal with the cam button thing and there are some distributor gear and fuel pump pushrod compatibility concerns to deal with.

The crower timing cover with the adjustable cam button thing might not clear your water pump. Ask me how I know...

https://i.imgur.com/Jrax47E.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bnDvxTW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3gv1Cwv.jpg

I love the sound of my roller cammed 355, can't wait to drive it and experience the torque its supposed to have.

73 Scott

This is good info, that's what I'm talkin bout. It's always a pain when you get that far and find out you have to order something else. Not a hard fix either, that's for the pics.
My water pump is right up against the timing cover right now.
Thank you very much for the reply, I really appreciate it.

Scott

AboveTheLogic

Yeah I know

Happy to help. You can use your original timing cover too, I just didn't want to deal with that. Not sure I made the right decision.

TedH

This will get you in the ballpark (see signature for head and cam details).

73 Scott

Thank you for the reply. Much appreciated.

73 Scott

How do you use the original cover? Is there a spacer?
Do you not like the new cover?

bluedawg

The comp two piece that I put on the 400" wouldn't fit with the stock pump until I reduced the thickness of the screws in the back of the pump, i should have found an aluminum to replace it, but it's been 4 years and hadn't leaked.