Originally Posted by 68hemi

My 1965 is an original engine 300 h.p. car. I am going to increase the cars power one of the two ways below. I an NOT going to pickle the original engine and buy a Blueprint engine or like type engine.
I have been slowly collecting parts to convert my original 300 h.p. to either a 350 or 365 h.p. configuration with a 1965 aluminum intake, carb, air cleaner and engine dress up items. My 300 h.p. engine already has 2 1/2” manifolds.
I am looking to do either a factory spec 350 h.p. engine or a stroked 383 with a factory solid lifter 365 h.p. cam and aluminum heads. Think “stealth.”
The 350 h.p. configuration will be just the factory h.p.
If I go with the 383/365 look-a-like it will be well over 400 h.p. If I go with the 365 h.p. I will need to replace the original 1965 factory rods as they are the weak link of the engine. So in that case it would only make sense to me to stroke the engine to a 383 as long as I have to buy rods.

Many have commented in the forum that a factory 365 h.p. Car really needs 4.10 gears to see it's full potential.

Here are my questions.

1. With my original wide ratio trans and 3.70 gears do you think this combo would over come the "out of the hole" problems that the 365 had with less than 4.10s with close ratio trans had?

2. My original 300 h.p. engine of course has the smaller balancer that I believe will be OK with the 350 h.p. configuration but wonder if I need to step up to a larger balancer with the 365 h.p.?

3. Are there any other things I need to address depending on what configuration I would go with?

Originally Posted by 68hemi

The more I read about using either the original 65 30/30 cam or the LT-1 in my intended 327 the more I think it might be a toss up for me. I am not looking for the really high rpm range of the LT-1 cam but rather the great mid range of the 30/30 and up to 6500 rpms. Do you think the latter will have poor street manners given what I want to do?

Originally Posted by wilcar

I have an 84 C4 with carb conversion. I had an 097 blueprint cam made by Lunati that I was going to use (still have it) but talked to a guy who was using an Isky Z 20 solid lifter cam with 228-228 @ 050, .450-.450 lift 112 lsa. He had it in a 73 4 speed with base 350. Said it was a great street cam for him. I called Isky and talked to Ron and he suggested that for my desire for low to mid range power to go with the Z 20 cam ground on a 108 lsa. Has a nice rumble to it and plenty of punch up to 5000 rpm. Isky still makes high quality cams. I run a similar grind in my 455 65 GTO.

Originally Posted by SWCDuke

Federal Mogul (and Dana Corp.) is a Tier 1 current automotive supplier.

They also offer a complete line of OE replacement mechanical parts, usually under their "Sealed Power" brand, but some, like SHP camshafts, may come in boxes that say "Speedpro". They are my first choice for replacement OE camshafts because they are built exactly to the GM blueprints including Parkerizing that substantially aids break-in for long term durability, and their VS677 '67-up valve springs with proper setup will allow OE hydraulic camshafts to rev to 6500+ and 7000+ for OE mechanical lifter cams if the springs are carefully set up by shimming them for .090-.100" coil bind clearance.

They should end up with about 84 pounds force on the seat and around 200 open. That's all you need for these OE cams to achieve the above valvetrain limiting speeds, but unless you have massaged OE or higher flowing aftermarket heads, most configurations will not make usable power to the above speeds. So you end up with OE reliabilitly and the OE SB valvetrain is very reliable and durable. The LT-1 cam part number is CS1145R, and it may be available as a kit that included the cam and a set of piddle valve lifters.

Federal Mogul replacement parts are easy to find. I usually use www.napaonline.com since they offer the full line, but once you have the part number you can buy from any online or brick and mortar retailer that sells F-M parts. The important thing is the manufacturer of the part, not the retail source you buy it from. Buy on price and/or convenience.

The custom cams I designed that are manufactured with Crane all met specs and were also Parkerized, but they have errors in their catalog and their McCagh Special cam card has and error, but they have refused my requests to make corrections, so stick with F-M for OE replacement cams.

I wouldn't buy anything from Comp Cams unless they were the only manufacturer left on the planet that offers the part, but that's not likely to happens.

Duke

Originally Posted by 65 fi

I have seen Comp Cams come up a few times. Just make sure you understand the warranty caveats. The cams are not made in the U.S.A anymore and resulting damage due to failures are not covered.

Originally Posted by CorvetteMikeB

""I an NOT going to pickle the original engine and buy a Blueprint engine or like type engine.""

My prediction:....... When are children & grandchildren inherit are C2 Corvettes......They will be pulling out our gasoline engines, transmissions, rear drivetrains, radiators, and gas tanks....For a faster & stronger..... practaily trouble free and maintenance free "all electric motor & drivetrain" and they will be leaving in the smoke our gasoline counterparts.