I want to rebuild my whoosy L48 with 195hp to a good performance engine. i'm looking for around 400hp and 10:1 compression. this would be a street/almost daily driver so I want the best power to gas mileage ratio i can get. I don't need anything extreme, I'm just tired of getting ragged on for my lack of power. what are some ways i can build an engine with those specs without it being a terrible gas guzzling machine. what type of heads, intake, cam, etc would you prefer.

thanks,

Brad

 

Get a GM Performance Parts catalog. Look at the ZZ4 and the ZZ4 Hot Cam. Also, the newer 383 hot burn engines that are a little more advanced than the ZZ4's. I think I paid something like $4000 for my ZZ4 hot cam. If you really want to, you can put a big block into your C3. Some of the BB engines are pretty reasonably priced....get the catalog and look at prices... Some of the engine providers, for example, that you see in Corvette Fever are also good sources for engines. Maybe a friend knows of a good rebuilder. However, the GM engines are probably very good engines in terms of bang for the buck. The GM engines have warranties. Also, if you buy a GM crate engine, some sellers will offer to have it blue-printed/balanced to above manufacturing specifications. I'm pretty sure Scroggin Dickey has this option. For instance, most engines are not internally balanced. You may want someone to tear the engine apart, balance all the parts and add heavy metal inserts to the crankshaft to internally balance the crank.)

Performance Parts catalog has a really exotic 502 cubic inch engine (am I correct? for $20,000.)

$4000 bucks (I think it's a little less) for a ZZ4 hot cam is a great deal. I think that even 20 years ago, you could easily pay $20,000 for a high performance small block (sprint car engine).

 

Check out www.proformanceunlimited.com and pick ya up a 550hp 383 Just click on the corvette engines option. It's worth checking out, they have excellent service.

 

Unlike others, who may be blowing smoke or taking their info from magazines, I can tell you about my actual experiences and results with my L-48 (1976).

First you need true dual exhausts. If you have a cat, this will be the best bang for the buck. You can check my signature and see what I did to a stock 40,000 mile engine. Put it on a chassis dyno this fall. 227 RWHP. I was bummed. At a 20% driveline loss, the engine was making about 283 flywheel HP. Not ever 1 HP/CI. AFR was done during the dyno run and there was no problems. Don't get me wrong, the car ran very well on the street, but I guess like most people, I needed bragging rights on HP.

So, I am building a 383 stroker this winter. It is about 80% done now. DD shows 385 HP, 434 ft. lbs. torque. The more I get into this, the more I wonder how this 99% street car is going to hook up. I'll have more than 40 ft. lbs. of torque from 2000 to 5500 than my old set up did, and I could light the tires with the old set up.

I read about Chevy S-10 pickups with 450 HP. How in the hell do they hook up?? My Ford Ranger with 140 HP spins the wheels, without trying, on anything but dry pavement.

Somebody posted here, a while back, that you will find more 400 HP SBC on the internet, than you will ever find in real life.

As far as getting ragged on, LIE. Tell them you have whatever HP you want, and then let them prove you wrong at the track.