Hey guys. I have a potential buyer for my '70 coming to look at it on the 13th. But if he doesn't buy, I have decided to hold on to it, and do some work to the engine.
I have a $1,000 budget, and I am open to ideas. I am looking to hear from all the engine gurus to get some ideas. Its the original 350/300 motor backed up by a 700R4.
Thanks

 

Rebuild & cam !

:cool:

 

Do you think I should do anything with the heads? Can I get aluminum heads and stay within my budget? I can probably go $300 over budget...there is some room to play.

 

Eric,
I just pulled the engine in my 70. I have been asking about a million questions. I have settled on the TFS 23 Degree heads from Summit. They are ~$900 but they have springs, valves and guide plates. A lot of people are satisfied. I have also gotten a Comp Cams XE262, lifters, pushrods, timimg chain, 1.52 roller tip rockers and gasket kit. So far without the heads I am about $550 into it. I also have all the bearings for the engine.

 

Eric, this ought to be fun. You need to document it on CF and let everyone participate. I love budget builds, they are very challenging and rewarding.

Help me out with the following:

1. What final CR are you shooting for?
2. What kind of heads do you currently have?

The rest is gravy. I would spend approx half of that budget in the bottom end and half in the valvetrain. Here are some rough figures. Hold on to your crank and rods and have the crank turned if needed. Balancing the the rods can be cheap $$ and easy HP gain. I would then invest in a set of KB hypereutectic pistons, they will set you back approx $225. If you shop around and are frugal, you can re-do the bottom (you assemble) for <$500, including pistons. That's machine work, cam bearings installed, new bearings and complete gasket set.

Depending on your heads, if needed, you can do some mild work on your own, and if they w/o, install 2.02/1.94 valves. The remainder of the money I would invest in a roller cam, roller rockers and valve springs. Kits for all of these pieces are relatively inexpensive and will easily run under your budget. If you get into intakes and carbs, you might have a problem.

Let me know what you think. :cheers:

 

Quote: "The remainder of the money I would invest in a roller cam, roller rockers"

It's just my personal opinion, but I disagree. Roller camshaft is pretty darn expensive, as are roller rockers, neither of which is necessary for a mild build up. I think you'd get more bang for your buck, by investing in a good set of heads, and using a good dual pattern hydraulic flat tappet camshaft, and a set of good roller tip rocker arms, like the 1.52 arms sold by Comp Cams, (around $140). Of course you should install new valve springs, matched to your camshaft selection.

That being said, I don't think you can do the engine build AND new heads for the $1.000 to $1,300 bubget, unless you have somebody to do all the machine work for little or nothing, and you supply all of the labor. Even with all that, I'd guess you'll end up spending more like $1,700 total by the time you're done, unless you can find some good used after market heads, rather than purchasing new. If you stay with your stock heads, then believe you can do the rebuild within your budget.

 

Which is exactly the reason I suggested he invest in a roller cam with a set of Comp Magnum rollers...I've seen brand new sets on Ebay and other auction forums for $100, still new in the box. Brand new they're <$150.
I do too. How in the world can you invest $1000 or more in the heads alone w/o even touching the other valvetrain components? Taking into consideration his heads are anything other than garbage, mild porting and polishing will produce significant flow gains w/o your $1000 price tag. Take that money and invest in larger valves, if not so equipped already, and invest in a quality valvetrain. Now granted, he doesn't HAVE to go the roller route, but still a kit from Comp is still under his $500 budget. :seeya :seeya

 

Quote: "Which is exactly the reason I suggested he invest in a roller cam with a set of Comp Magnum rollers...I've seen brand new sets on Ebay and other auction forums for $100, still new in the box. Brand new they're <$150."

Wow!!!! Please let me know next time you see Chevy S/B roller cam for under $100, still new in box, or for under $150!!!!! I'll buy a couple at that price.

Are you sure you're talking roller camshaft????? The prices you've quoted above appear to be prices for flat tappet hydraulic camshafts. Heck, I paid $79.99 for my crane cam kit, which included lifters a couple of years ago, and I know these flat tappet cams/kits are available for $150 plus or minus a few bucks, but NEVER seen a roller cam for that kind of money.

I did just see a used set of chevy vortec heads in the Mortec for sale web site, which were going for $250, which with a new Vortec style intake would add another $170 to cost, you'd have a much better flowing/performance induction system, than ported / polished stock S/B heads.........just my opinion...........and also that of many others if you check out many past Chev High Performance magazine articles on this subject.

 

I can probably squeeze another $500 out of my budget for a total of $1,500.
My engine is the original 350/300 horse motor with 10:25 compression.
I am also thinking about aftermarket heads too...and a better cam. I would like to see 350 horses when I am done.
Thanks for all the input so far...keep it coming. I have never done anything like this...so I am learning as I am going on this project.

 

I'm referring to the Comp Cam roller tipped rocker. Brand new <$150, and used auction sets for less. If you see roller cams AND rockers for $150 let me know too, I'll take 10! Also, I am referring to the 1.6 ratio rockers. :cheers:

 

6:06 AM
I have a $1,000 budget
6:19 AM
I can probably go $300 over budget
10:07 AM
... a total of $1,500
Eric

Waiting for that budget to peak.

:cool:

 

Hehehe...kid in a candy store...looking in the Summit Catalogue...GM Performance Site...Sallee Chevrolet...calling the wife...."honey I might need more than $1,000..."

Here's a thought...if I put the kids in public school for a couple of years, I could just drop in that 502 I really want...


[Modified by Eric 70, 11:04 AM 2/11/2002]


[Modified by Eric 70, 11:05 AM 2/11/2002]

 

I plan on spending around $2000 to swap parts on the top end of my car, that including heads and cam only. I am going w/ a roller cam so I can have smooth street driving coupled with high end power, and probably TFS CNC-profiled heads, milled to get the compression down as mchh as possible.
My advice would be to wait it out as much as possible and let your budget grow to the $2000+ range, then go nuts. Just make sure the wife(or you) don't touch it. :) If TSW71 sees this, he'll agree: you'll always want more. Thus, I suggest getting as much as possible the first time around.
-Steve

 

Eric, did you check out Holley's SysteMax III? Is has aluminum heads 66cc, dominator manifold, cam and timing chain for $1300! Might be right up your alley. I've been thinking of using this on the spare 350 I have.

Len

 

OK....now its 7:15pm...and I am up to $2,000 plus or minus a couple hundred, and looking hard to the 350/330 Votec crate motor...anythoughts on going that route?

 

Hello Eric,

I hope you dont sell. Hate to see you loose your baby. My two cents worth on your budget would be the following:

Just have your heads massaged, dont go aluminum and save the cash
Go with a good comp cams hyd, dont go roller and save the cash
Get a Kieth Black piston, dont go forged and save the cash
Possible upgrade to a GM Pink Rod for a little more strength down below
Clevite 77 mains
Get an edelbrock RPM intake and either a Edelbrock or Demon Carb
Upgrade your ignition system if you havenet already to MSD
Add free flowing exhaust and headers if you have not already.
Do all the work you can yourself and you will save big

Darn I think I have already blown the budget :lol: :lol: :lol:

I never really was good with budgets :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Hello all, what I haven't seen yet is anyone ask, "What are you looking for?" or "Why do you want to rebuild the engine?". $1000 is a tight budget but reasonable if you do the work yourself. I would suggest bringing the block to a machine shop, getting everything cleaned up and oversize such that you have 355 cubic inches or more. Buy a bottom end rebuild kit (pistons, rings and bearings). Keep your same heads and add an Edelbrock performance package (manifold, carb and cam). This should be a noticeable difference over stock, the more cubic inches will help and the match Edelbrock parts will give good throttle response. Not sure if I am still under $1000, but I am close I think.

This is a great topic, I would love to hear about the outcome.

Another option is to get hardware (valve springs, etc.) and just have the heads ported by a pro. Has anyone had any experience with Extrude Hone (http://www.extrudehone.com/). http://www.extrudehone.com/

 

If you are thinking crate engines, the Gm Performance are great but look at Edelbrock also, I can't say enoguh good things about Edelbrock. i have never tried or seen thier crate engines but the Horsepower and Torque numbers are very good looking.

 

Hey Eric, I just did and engine upgrade on a customers 71, I replaced the stock heads with GM fast burn vortec aluminum heads, put an Edelbrock vortec performer intake. I put in a comp cams EX262? I"ll have to go and look at the card, retained the Q-Jet and put a drop base aircleaner assy off of a 70 350-350 car, with a k-n air filter, used the origional rams horn exh manifolds, should have gone to header but too many A/C brackets to rework. Also put in roller tip rockers. Now the car hauls Butt!!! Made a world of difference. Just an option. If you need more info contact me off line and we can go a little farther! Thad :jester

 

IS there anything WRONG with the engine? Does it run? Are you just wanting to increase horsepower? What do you have for exhaust? Are you sure you don't just want to get a blower, headers, and sidepipes then see how long the engine lasts? If it's drivable, then why not spend the money on a roll cage and helmet then take it out to a formula racing track and have some fun with it?

If there is something wrong with the engine then why not just fix it? Or, rebuild with all stock parts? The sad thing about increasing horsepower is that anything done to the top end like heads or whatever, may put a strain on the bottom end so you would need to beef up the bottom end. If you have a low budget and want to upgrade, then I suggest upgrading the bottom...in the case of the 350/300 which I believe is a two bolt main then I would get it drilled as a four bolt main, then get some better rods and pistons. That should get you up to about $750 including the gasket kit to put it back together. Then I would get a better cam and install it...when doing this you could go with a roller cam which would probably be another $200 cause the lifter area needs to have some machine work, and will require new lifters as well as a new cam. Then as long as nothing else is really too worn, I would put the old heads and lifters and such back on it and install the engine into the car. At this point you have a solid bottom end and can drive around with some modest increase in HP. Then, when you get another $1,000 buy some excellent heads and lifters...and you won't have to pull the engine, or worry about tearing up the bottom end.