hey guys,
Im looking for some ideas on upgrades to my 76 vette stock 350 auto. I have headers, edelbrock performace intake and likely keep the quadrajet carb, not sure, putting true duals all the way back as well. this is in the works..
Im not a big motor guy, enough to get me in trouble i guess, but was looking for ideas without pulling the block. what other upgrades are worth the investment without going to deep? should I look into aluminum heads or? if so, what do you recommend? looking for ideas.. car has 50,000 original miles, so id like to run it for awhile before rebuilding/ replacing or going extreme money wise..
let'em rip boys..i'm all ears..

 

Heads and Cam. Good to go.

Search the forum. Plenty of threads on specifics.

 

...and have you're timing curved and carb. reset afterwards.

 

you can swap heads & cam with the block in the car.consider some dart or air flow research heads and a comp extreme energy hydraulic cam .check competition products for prices.another thread had a 383 long block stroker engine for a great price,not to hard to remove a whole engine from a vette.

 

180cc Afr heads & hydraulic roller cam. Add an aluminum intake and you'll have enough power to get you into plenty of trouble. With out looking it up, I think you could do it for around $2500. If there's any place to skimp it's not in the heads. Do yourself a favor and run a compression test on your existing engine to verify the competentcy of the lower end. I assume your engine is the l48, if so you'd want to run 64cc chambers and .15" gaskets to increase the compression ratio.

 

This is what I did, follow my L82 Upgrade thread in the C3 Tech Forum.

Closer to $3500k all said and done.

Heads $1500
Intake $200
Gaskets/seals/fluids $400
Roller cam/lifters $800
Roller rockers $300
Pushrods $100

 

Like I Said with out looking it up.

 

 

Spend as much as you can stand on heads....that's where all the power is if you are not adding cubes.... You'll never regret a nice set of AFR's.... as long as you take advantage of them with the right cam.

 

Cast iron vortex heads
A really low cost Big Bang for the money

 

Vortecs are are great head - but I'd buy the aftermarket supplier's upgraded version, you may still need a dedicated intake tho'. Keep in mind that the AFR 180 heads will flow more and cost more - but can be ported if you add cubes or just want more power.

 

AFR makes a set of real nice 190 Vortec heads....on paper they appear to be a kick azz head would love to see a build with someone using them.
CHeck out thier website. 180-190 size works out real well on 350s...even a mild 383

 

He did mention not pulling the motor... I think that kinda eliminates going with decent heads because he wouldn't be changing the cam, and therefore wouldn't really get the return on his investment. Changing the cam with the motor in the car is not really worth the effort - everything except the oil pan must come off the motor... water pump, fuel pump, timing chain cover... might as well do a new timing chain while your in there, etc... then you have to hope the oil pan gasket seals well against the timing chain cover because you are assembling the two items out of order, per se... oh yea, lets not forget the radiator and AC cooler...jeez... youi end up with a bare short block mounted to the trans... great back workout too - easier just to pull the motor.

I tried it on my car 14 years ago and the cam hit the X-brace on the core support in front of the radiator (c-3 probably doesn't have?). Pulling one motor mount wouldn't do it, as the cam would just follow one leg of the X - had to disconnect both motor mounts and lift engine straight up... Ten months later I was pulling the motor for a full rebuild because my rings had finally worn out (orig motor) and it was pushing smoke out the factory sidepipes... can't have that.... So never, ever... would I bother to do that again.

I would think pulling the heads just to go to Vortec's with the stock cam would add what? 20 - 30hp... maybe? Alot of work, for so little.

I'd go intake, headers, free flowing mufflers, (all would still be used on the next motor) keep the quad if it's setup correctly (even the smallest ones flow at least 700cfm I think) and beat the crap out of the motor until it's worn out... then pull and rebuild with good heads, etc.

 

I changed my cam in my motor last year with it in the car. Wasn't that bad. I also have a home built 18" high ramp the car was on in my garage. I replaced the oil pan and used the one piece gasket. I have not changed out my heads yet. Thats a future upgrade in the making. My biggest problem was the A/C condesor. Just had to unbolt and swing it up and away to clear the old cam from coming out.

 

First thing, best bang for the buck, is to recurve the distributor and check the carburetor calibrations. That, plus your true dual exhaust, might make you happy enough.
Have fun.

 

You can also feel alittle gain when running underdrive pulleys , BUT they're not to be used with alot of slow speed driving with all of the power accessories turned on.

I'll cover more of my bases the next time I use them.

OP, what ratio are the rear gears ?

 

It only takes a good week end to do an in vette cam swap. Provided you don't start drinking beer until 7pm.

 

some good ideas guys. Ive had it about 6 months and been tearing into ever since..im finishing brakes/race rotors all around, front bearings, shocks all around, changing all fluids adjusting and going through making my nexts list(s) depending on priority..
My biggest problem really about pulling the motor is help..All the vehicles ive ever done ive done alone..jobs in the past and weird hours have made it a bitch to get help, so like you guys i have to engineeer stuff in place of a second hand..
Ive been reading here for several months and plan on contributing as i move forward with my projects..by the way any of you in Iowa?
I have the parts to rebuild the quadrajet, exhaust from covette central true dual is on the way (no cat), the performer intake is ported and painted ready to go and I have some stainless headers in a box talking to me (Put me on, put me on)..So i thought that would be next..
The stock power its ok, but im here just as you guys!!! i want more and better...Its always a good excuse to work in the garage and drink beer!!Am i right!!
I was thinking for now about pulling my stock heads and porting them, putting the intake on, headers and dual hoping id get a nice addition in power? Any ideas what changing these out will do hp wise? 40+??
i was looking at dart heads, but as mentioned it doesnt make sense if i dont put a cam in it as mentioned..
Summit has a 425hp crate motor for 3600.00 thats sounds awesome, but then you lose all the fun doing it yourself..Which may end up happening, to soon to tell and to many things to work on for now..
keep ideas coming, im not ruling anything out at this point..i'll go back and do some more searching in the x files as well..
J

 

If you did the cam at the same time as doing heads all you'd have to do is pull the fan, water pump, hood, shroud, radiator, fuel pump, harmonic balancer, loosen the oil pan and pull the timing cover. It's really just a little time consuming. I live in Alaska or I'd offer to help.

 

You don't have to pull the motor to do the cam. Especially on a vette were you can free up the pan very easily.

I put the whole edelbrock top end kit on my car with a 750 holley. Used the roller cam.