Goal was a street friendly, pump gas 400+ HP torque monster 355 that will pull to 6000 RPM on a small budget. I ran across a local guy pulling his rebuilt 355 (filler engine) going to LS. This is a 1994 truck block (Made in USA), 4 bolt mains, Roller, Nodular iron GM crank, PM rods ( Used in the LS6), bored .030 over with 10 CC Speedpro hyper pistons and he installed the LT4 hot cam kit in it. Under 10,000 street miles, never raced behind an automatic. Paid $320 for the short block with cam and timing cover to get it out of his garage (It was wrapped in plastic). I figured at worse a good core. I pulled the spyder retainer, dogbones and lifters and put the lifters and dogbones in a small tub of oil and put the lid on. Wiped down the spyder and wrapped it up. Pulled a couple caps. Bearings look NEW, cylinders are perfect, pistons had a light film of carbon, uniform across the board. I put them at TDC and sprayed some carb cleaner on a rag. Wiped right off then blew them out. In 15 minutes it looked new. The timing chain and oil pump were replaced when built. Wiped everything down sprayed the cylinders with brake cleaner at BDC, blew them out, wiped them down, spread a thin film of oil on them and went through all 8. Wiped the factory deck off and did not have to touch it or scrape anything. Wiped out the lifter valley and crankcase. All the rags came out remarkably clean with basically just oil film. I see no need to touch the shortblock. Short block clean and ready to go. Bought a new GM pre LT1 corvette windage tray, New Factory oil pickup and new take off Oil pan (still had the stickers on it, a Felpro 1 piece oil pan gasket and a set of Manley oil pan bolts for under $100 total shipped. Installed them. Ready for heads and I am under $500 including shop supplies.
The short block came with the 88-92 F body serpentine crank and water pump pulley, Reverse flow water pump which I removed and put on Ebay. It also had the Brand new removed factory cam in the LT4 wrapping and box. It is on Ebay. These proceeds will be deducted from the under $500. Pretty pumped about this at this point.

Was going to go vortec but ran across some interesting heads on Craigslist in Houston for $500. BRAND NEW Enginequest CH350HA heads. Guy bought them and never opened the boxes. They came assembled from Enginequest with valves and springs. 64 CC Vortec chambers with perimeter valve cover holes and pre 1986 manifold pattern. Made a call. $610 shipped. Talked to Eric Weingartner. He has flow tested these at 237 to 250 @ .500, Better flow than Vortecs and use my old school stuff! Win/Win!

Here is base information on the assembled CH350HA cylinder head

• 1.94" stainless steel intake valve
• 1.50" stainless steel exhaust valve
• 176cc intake runner
• 64cc combustion chamber
• Viton seals
• Springs Single W/D 1.25" OD X 0.78 ID 108LB @ 1.70 closed / 281LB @ 1.25 open 1.13 C/BIND (set up for a max lift .520 cam) Valve spring pressure @ 1.750 installed height 105 lbs
• Vortec style combustion chamber
• 6 bolt hole exhaust manifold mounting
• Thicker decks for greater strength
• CNC machined guides and seats
• Superior port finishes for increased flow
• 3-angle valve finish
• Machined integral guides
• Hardened exhaust seats
• Redesigned water flow for greater thermal conductivity
• Outer (perimeter) valve cover mounting holes)
• 1969 – 1985 intake manifold bolt pattern

Checked them against the LT4 hotcam .525 Lift W/1.6 rockers spring specs.
LT4 Valve Spring Specifications
Part Number 12551483
Material Chrome Silicon SuperClean
Outside Diameter 1.337”
Inside Diameter 0.906”
Installed Height 1.780”
Seat Load 101 lbs.
Open Load @ .525 lift 275 lbs
Solid Height 1.215”
Install height to coil bind is .565

The EQ springs installed on the heads are

Springs Single W/D X 0.78 ID
Outside diameter 1.25"
Inside diameter .780"
Seat Load 108 LB
Open Load @ .525 lift 307 LBS
Solid height 1.13"
So install height to coil bind is .570

Difference
EQ spring is a little stronger
Seat load 7 lbs more
Open load at .525 lift 32 lbs more
Coil bind .005 more
Springs will many times lose 10% in under the first 2000 miles so with the small difference and max pressure at full lift of 307 lbs on a roller cam I see no problem using these as is. As close as you will get.

Checked retainer to seal clearance. .700 Surprised. All good

LT4 Hot Camshaft (P/N 24502586 Specifications
Intake Exhaust
Lobe Lift 0.328” 0.328”

Valve Lift
@ 1.6 ratio 0.525” 0.525”

Duration
@0.006 cam lift 272° 281°
@0.050 cam lift 218° 228°

Lobe Centerline 109° 115°

Lobe Separation 112°

Did some calculations before I bought the heads. With felpro 1094 gaskets ($42 shipped) I figured 9.82 to 1 compression, 7.84 to 1 DCR and .040 quench as assembled. I bought the Skip White Head bolt kit with washers and installed the heads. I now have an assembled long block for under $1200.
Found a Set of Crane gold 1.6 self aligning roller rockers with poly locks. Guy bought them and had retainer to rocker clearance issues. $150 shipped. They are perfect. I used Rotella 15W-40 oil to soak the lifters and dog bones. Poured some fresh on each cam lobe, coated lifter bores and installed the lifters, dogbones and spyder. Installed and torqued the NOS Engineworks Rocker studs I bought on Ebay for $22. Then I ripped my hair out for a day and a half figuring out geometry with the Straub/ Foxwell method. Next time will be easy. Got it figured checked, double checked Pushrod length with preload is 7.291. Ordered 5/16 7.300 Comp Cams 7609-16 pushrods from Summit and used some Summit bucks $84 shipped. They were ordered today.

To be continued:

Here is a little of my inspiration. I will come in below that number.
http://www.hotrod.com/events/coverag...c-small-block/

 

It sounds like you simply can't go wrong for what little you have into it. It should be a very strong street engine. Do you have a home for it? Will you ever dyno it to satisfy your curiosity? That's going to be a lot of fun for somebody.

 

Got a home for it. It was all black, now it is VHT Chevy orange, Heads, Timing cover, Damper are Aluminum VHT spray can. I been so focused I didn't take pictures. Will post up some as I progress from here. Dyno is not in the budget. I am hoping for a solid 420/420. Might do better.

 

Way Cool!
That is my kind of a build.

 

Excellent job Mako! This has to be a record for hp per dollar.

 

9.82 to 1 4 bolt main long block with Nodular iron crank, PM rods, Hyper pistons, EQ Hybrid vortec heads complete, 1.6 self aligning crane gold roller rockers, LT4 hot roller cam, timing cover, damper, oil pan assembled with pushrods I'm in under $1400.
I have a polished intake that exactly matches the head ports sitting on the shelf I got free in a trade, Bought a Quickflow 680 VS off a forum member with dyno time only (I have sold to him before) $375 shipped, Have a chrome short water pump, alt and crank pulley March setup I got here on the forum for $250. Going with a few offshore dress up accessories, dipstick, Valve covers, Wire looms, Got MSD wire set for $37 shipped. Chinese Dist tach drive. (we will see on that). Skip White one piece flywheel $125. Rebuilt 11" Truck clutch disc $50 shipped. Got a great pressure plate and a new centerforce throwout bearing sitting here on the shelf. Lots of work and searching but I will be under $2500 with lots of nice parts where they count. Pictures coming.

 

This is a gold mine, THANKS 63mako. I'm looking forward hearing about the final resolut, regarding price and power :- )

Is it so nice to see, that good power can be bought, on south a low budget :- ))

 

Kinda violating the fast/cheap/durable rule there, Mako!!!

Look forward to pics, etc.

Carter

 

No, That is the goal in a different order and slightly modified. Cheap, Durable, Fast enough. Bottom end from pan to deck is all factory GM except the Felpro 1 piece gasket and Speed Pro Hyper pistons. Nodular Iron crank is proven to 450 hp + 6000 RPM +. GM PM rods are used in the LS6. Hyper pistons are much more durable than factory cast, also used in the LS6. EQ heads have a good reputation. This is not the $12-15,000 427-434 builds your used to seeing. I had a 2/3 pay cut since 2004 so budget, patience and frugal shopping is the order of the day. My $2500 budget is fan to trans, turn key. I do have the advantage of some incidentals in the shop. Never thought I would go 1 piece main with weighted flywheel, Iron heads on a performance oriented build but this should be useful to a lot of guys that can't swing spending $7000-15000 on their build and can't afford to upgrade the stock driveline much.

http://www.hotrod.com/events/coverag...c-small-block/

 

Cool hope it works out and we see it finished. Was thinking on doing the same with my numbers matching L48 and see how cheap I can build it and get the most HP while maintaining durability.

Last build was my 427ci and whatever it needed I bought, pretty much the best of everything. Once you get into the 600HP the dollar per HP starts to go exponentially, I made about 60-70hp over my previous 406ci but it cost over twice as much.

 

Waiting on pushrod so figured I would mount what I could. The March pulley serpentine system I got on the C2 forum for $250. It reqires a 1/8 spacer which I already had. Balancer hole stripped!! Ran to hardware store and bought a drill bit 7/16 tap combo pack. Hole was already way deeper than the 2 1/4 bolt length so I ran it in another 1/4 Ran the tap all the way in and replaced with a 7/16 fine thread bolt 3" long. Mounted the crank pulley and torqued to spec. No problem. Chrome water pump I got a while back on Ebay. New but didn't fit his application March bracket for alternator and my Ebay chrome alternator I had on the shelf. Everything bolted up and fit and aligned perfect. Here are the pictures to date. I am working in a 6x6 space so ignore the clutter.

 

In the last picture you will notice the temp sensor. Had to drill and tap from 3/8 FIP pipe to 1/2 FIP. This was done on the bench before the heads were mounted While I could work on it and clean it out before assembly. DON'T FORGET THIS!! it really sucks to drop it in the car and not realize it wasn't done.

 

 

Great point..63mako. luckily I realized that issue on my AFR heads for the rebuild of the L-82 355 last Spring…I still can't believe that the cylinder head manufacturers don't offer their heads with either size? Build looks great and I bet you hit the 400 Gross HP number.

I am still hoping for 450 Gross HP from my L-82 355, 10:1+ compression, AFR 180 heads, and Howard roller cam (.525/.525, 219/225 duration, LSA110) after the carb is dialed in, distributor has the proper advance, and the install of the American Racing LTH's...

 

What I meant was you don't have to pick just two this time!!

Carter

 

 

Nice solid build. Sorry for the loss of hair with the video!!!!

 

You will be real close plus all forged bottom end. Cam is fairly close to my LT4 Hot cam. (525/.525, 218/228Duration @ .050, 112 LSA but mine has only 3 degrees advance ground in. Matched my EQ heads perfect, I/E ratio isn't as good as the AFR need wider spread on duration. The carb & distributor recurve with long tube headers will be noticeable on your build. Intake, carb mockup tomorrow with more pictures. Some surprises in store, stay tuned.

 

Appreciate any feedback. Us old guys get set in our ways but your video is the most logical way to determine the correct pushrod length the keep the rocker centerline and valve stem closest to 90 degrees from seat to max lift minimizing side loading. Next time will be a breeze. Always trying to learn. I would have gone with a tighter lsa and a little more compression but am limited to what is possible with the parameters of budget.

 

We use the EQ heads on 2 barrel circle track all the stuff for both IMCA and Wissota. It is a good casting and they make goo power. With a 2barrel holley and 10 to1 compression we make around 480HP with these builds out of 355 CID.

Yes the video has opened some eyes. It allows the guy at home to use tools he has. Using the thread pitch and vernier caliper works great for the guys that don't own a set. This is also the reason we use and only recommend Crane stud rockers as the distance between the trunion and roller tip centers is correct for each engine family.