Well, after months of changing my mind on what to do for a powerplant in my vette, I've decided to stroke my stock engine and build it for around 400-450 HP and 400+ ft/lbs of torque. I went to talk to the guy who might be building it for me locally, he's a nice guy and knows his stuff. Here's a list of what I will be including in the engine...

- Crane Hydraulic roller cam (for reliability reasons, I don't want to mess
with a flat tappet cam and grinding lobes)
- Edelbrock performer heads
- Edelbrock intake manifold
- Scat 383 rotating assembly
- Hypereutectic pistons
- plasma moly rings
- ARP bolts throughout the entire engine

I'm still waiting on hearing back from him on a quote, so I'd like to get more specifics on the parts you guys would recommend. He's going to go off of the info I gave him today regarding which specific cam, bearings and intake manifold he'd recommend, but what would you go with?

Cam: I want this thing to be have a mean idle, and a compromise between killing the engine and streetability. It must be a Crane cam and a hydraulic roller cam. Which Crane cam would you suggest I go with?

Intake Manifold: Which Edelbrock intake manifold would you recommend. I'm not sure on which carb to go with yet, so this may be a tough one for you guys

Heads: Are the edelbrock performer heads a good choice?

Rotating Assembly: Is Scat a good reliable brand?

 

Scat or Eagle rotating assembly are the best choices for stroker assemblies.

 

Go with Vortec heads, maybe after market or used and reworked. Then an Edelbrock Vortec Performer intake. That top end on a stroker would be quite a combo.

 

Part numbers?

 

Here is a link to the RHS after market Vortec heads...good price at $325 each for bare heads, or $581 each for assembled for a roller engine.

http://www.racingheadservice.com/Inf...rtec-Heads.asp

The Edelbrock manifold is easy to find on Ebay, but here is the description and part number from Edelbrock's site.

RPM Air-Gap Vortec Manifold for Small-Block Chevy (Non-EGR) #75164

 

Damn I wish I knew more about engines. I'm an expert on diffs, trailing arms and everything else on the car - but engines

 

IMO, stay with a FACTORY roller block and keepers/spyder those aftermarket lifters are suspect at best these daze with the toggles coming off, and they made who knows where....

find a 350 junkyard engine...out of a truck if possible...it has the complete everything you need to do it right.....FACTORY style, not some dippy street failure prone who knows where/what made it lifters ....

after that you can find your heads and rest of it piece by piece...

 

I agree with mrvette--I bought a late model roller block to avoid dealing with retrofit parts. Also, in doing my research I became convinced that a completely forged rotating assembly (including pistons) is the way to go. Pay a bit more for the peace of mind.

 

I agree with MrVette as well. I am building Curtis74's new engine and we started with a '96 Tahoe 350. It's a Vortec roller engine so it's got factory roller and the good Vortec heads...though we went with RHS heads instead.

Now, we're keeping his a 355, but it would be just as easy to drop a stroker kit in it and get a 388. The 355 was just cheaper and we can always go back in to get more HP later.

 

IMHO, Vortec and Edelbrock Performer heads are too small for a 383 if you want to rev it. 170cc for the Performer RPM heads.

The best heads are AFR. Get a set of the new Eliminator 195's are cam with ~230 @.050 lift. Add a RPM AirGap manifold and you are looking at an easy 500 hp.