There is a lot for me to like about this engine. Great horse power and torque, its a GM product and an example of the kind of engine GM "should" have put in the late 70s Vette in the first place. Four bolt, forged crank, etc.

However

I cannot find specs on the camshaft.

Basically I am wanting to know the lobe separation and valve overlap. So will this engine meet my needs? I think I understand the fast burn heads breath really well and as much as I really like the sound of a radical cam, I also want good vacuum and fuel economy driving mostly in a lower RPM range by pairing the motor with the Tremec TKO 500. (.68 over drive).

Along the line of bringing the power band down into the lower range without sacrificing torque, I am open to the idea of running basically the same motor with the stroker crank. (383)

Any advice is appreciated.

 

This?
https://www.summitracing.com/search/...rate%20Engines
will be very smooth idle good torque
this will feel much better, youll hear a little cam but not crazy
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-12498772
if you can swing it do the 383 burn up that plastic

 

Those are the exact two I am looking at. And BluePrint engines has a budget stomper setup that is tempting, but I would rather pay a little extra for the GM motor and although it may be over kill, the forged components are a plus making it worth the money spent.

What you said that I really liked to hear was that the cam is not radical with too much lope and likely low vacuum. Thanks for the input!

 

The only thing I see wrong wirh the ZZ6 is it's price tag. 5 years ago I bought the 355hp 405 lb ZZ4 for $4200 delivered. Those are both nice motors.

 

I've been running a ZZ4 since 2000. Great "quick swap" engine at the time. This was right before the LS swap craze started. I love my ZZ4. Great SB with LT1 heads that makes 405lbft of torque. I would think the ZZ6 will be the same only better.
ZZ4 Cam specs are
Lift: .474” intake, .510” exhaust
Duration: 208° intake, 221° exhaust @.050” tappet lift
Centerline: 108° ATDC intake, 116° BTDC exhaust

Just a little lope to know it's not the stock 270hp 1971 350.


Since my car is so light it really moves.

Go here for ZZ6 specs.
GM Performance Resources
Click on catalog and go to page 126. It has the cam specs.

 

I took a look at the ZZ6 specs and everything seems the same to your 2001 ZZ4, Gross HP/Gross TQ cam specs etc.

The ZZ4 was a heck of a motor back in 2001 but today, the same 350 ZZ6 today making that type of power for that much money is a bit steep....

A s a comparison, I rebuilt in 2014 my OEM L-82 into a 355 with AFR 180 aluminum heads, Howards Roller cam (.525/.525 lift, duration 219/225, LSA 110) with JA forged racing pistons, 10.2:1 compression for about $6,000 all in with mostly new parts for critical components like bearings/oil pump, fuel pump, reconditioned OEM forged L-82 parts like L-82 crank, L-82 rods, L-82 aluminum intake and many non engine parts like a new clutch kit, motor mounts etc. My L-82 355 is in the 450 Gross HP range

 

Did anyone else notice the flexplate or flywheel says its externally balanced? I wonder if that is a mistake, or did GM just stop internally balancing 350 engines?

 

I like the way the spark plugs are routed using the valve cover center bolts. Nice and clean look.

 

Yes they did when they started making 1-piece rear seal engines.

The balance weight on the flexplate of 1-piece rear seal engines replaces the 1-sided weight piece that was outside of the seal on 2-piece rear seal cranks.

 

Interesting, I knew they changed the pattern with the seal, but never noticed a weight on it.

 

I was looking at Chevy performance engines also and sometimes it is cheaper to buy a new engine compared to rebuilding one!

 

Yep when you sum up the parts and add the cost for the machine work needed, the cost of the crate starts looking good.

Here is a similar but much cheaper crate, albeit with cast components. And I have known guys who drag raced cast cranks and two bolt mains for years. There is an engine builders episode where they pushed a bone stock cast short block assembly beyond ...I think it was beyond 750 HP on the dyno using forced induction. The only thing they did was to increase the ring gap to allow for the extra heat.

Cheap budget stomper blueprint engine

But then add the cost of everything on the ZZ6 and there is the price difference. The margins are tight.

 

 

Generally I think that buying a crate engine is cheaper numerically dollar wise in the long run BUT like most things in life, it really is not that simplistic! So what do I mean?

If you have an existing block, do all the work yourself, buy all the parts, utilize minimal shop services like cleaning the block, decking, boring etc, then it will be cheaper to do your own engine, easily and the parts will generally be of a higher quality than a crate engine plus you have full control over the component combo and will almost always make more Gross HP than a crate engine of the same size.

Now when you look at what I did with my OEM L-82 350, the issue becomes more cloudy. I had a baseline 4 bolt main GM block (2 bolt mains in many crate engines)that needed to be bored due to burnt piston. I paid the expert in my area to prepare the block, and recondition the Forged L-82 Crank (Cast crank in most crate engines), reconditioned the forged L-82 rods (lesser quality rods in most crate engines), JE Racing Forged 9:1 Pistons (hyper pistons in many crate engines-lesser quality or cast pistons), Melling oil pump ( who knows what crate engines have for an oil pump?), and he assembled the short block.

I assembled the top end with a Howards Roller cam (many crates use flat tappet and/or rollers from who? with much lift than I used), AFR aluminum cylinder heads (this one is BIG advantage over just about any crate engine), ARP cylinder head bolts (nope for a crate engine) and anywhere for crate engines less total compression of .5-1.0 point less than my 355 L-82. I reused the HEI distributor, Holley 4175 650 carb, and the aluminum L-82 intake slightly mildly ported.

All in let's call it $5,000 BUT look at the components and the HP generated from even a typical 383....This L-82 355 makes more Gross HP and Torque than 90% of the 383's out there because of the components combo. This engine was built for maximum TQ from 2,500-5,000 RPM with peak GROSS HP at 5,200-5,500 RPM..Maximum gross HP is 425-450 HP and NOT at a high RPM, maybe 500 RPM higher than a typical 383...who cares?.

Folks, its really not even close much less when looking at the budget crates....

I think a middle of the road 350/383 crate engine is a decent deal for some but there are differences versus doing it yourself that go way beyond just the dollars.

 

Especially now that I'm intensively looking at what to do with my l48 engine I came to same conclusion as you.
I can get cheap crate engine with around 300hp or rebuild my with some quality parts from Howards, Edelbrock etc.
In todays time with soo much various places to buy from you can get excellent prices!

 

Any opinions on using the ZZ6 short block as the base of an engine build? Starting with an L-48, it doesn't make sense to drop a ton of money, and time, into a rebuild. For the same $6K, you could have AFR heads and whatever cam you want. You could get adaptors to keep the stock valve covers if you want, too.

I am sold on the crate/build vs rebuild. It would be different if I had an L-82 in either car.

 

Sorry but on the website of Chevy performance I can't find just the short block!
It depends where you get the short block.
I looked at the Blueprint more or less in the USA.
In Europe I looked at Chevy performance because they have a dealer over here!

 

The short block PN is 12670966. I don't know if you can get it in Europe, but the going price in the states is $2149- with free shipping. Perhaps you can call or email with the GM part number?

If I can get my local Chevy dealership to match that price, I'd consider giving then the business.

 

I am also, but as stated above there are "cloudy" areas where sometime it does make sense to do a rebuild.

I define 5 types of rebuilds:

1. “Rebuild in a can”. Clean all grease, oil and gunk with degreaser and possibly use a pressure washer. Spray paint the engine. Spray clean the carb to remove passage deposits.

2. Refresh. (aka “poor man rebuild”). If the engine runs well but leaks oil or coolant and has oil pressure on the low end of acceptable but otherwise checks out with good compression and a solid vacuum signal then can refresh with all new gaskets, oil pump, rod/main bearings, timing chain and water pump.

3. Basic rebuild. Hone, rings, camshaft, lifters + above

4. Full rebuild. Overbore, deck, cam bearings, undersize or new crank, recondition or new rods + above

5. Blueprint. Measure everything and machine to best range of specs + above

There are infinite variants of this, for example: Refresh + camshaft/lifters .

In my personal situation my never opened 1969 ZQ3 (high compression L48 with 4 bolt) had low oil pressure and did not run with any authority (maybe made 175 to the rear wheels, tops).

I first did a compression and leakdown test along with noting the vacuum was solid to verify the health of the core engine. I then dropped the pan to inspect the main and rod journals and they also checked out.

I just wanted a reliable driver that made about 300 crank hp so I decided that doing a "poor man" rebuild was for me. All new gaskets (.015" head), oil pump, rod/main bearings, timing chain and water pump. I also added redone L98 aluminum heads as it was cheaper than having my original heads rebuilt, a 1979 aluminum intake manifold, 1.6 rockers and 1981/1984 tubular ex manifolds "while I was in there". As a bonus all that aluminum saved a lot of weight! Runs great with as-new oil pressure and I believe I am at my 300 crank hp goal.

IIRC, I was all in for about $1200-1300? I did have a LOT of downtime though as I only worked on it sporadically. Someday when this engine is finally kaput I will replace with a crate to minimum costs and downtime.

R

 

I looked at the zz4 short block and looks good. 4-bolt main, forged crank,...
Good solid foundation!
How much hp do you want?