'77 L82, 4spd. Recommendations for heads and cam. Is it worth doing?
Currently has aluminum manifold. Holley 650 (because the price was right. 😉 kept the q-jet for Lars to tune), and side exhaust. Tia. Todd

 

is the aluminum manifold spread bore, square bore or both? cuz the adaptor plate to put either carb on the other base is a suboptimal way to go. heads and cam. you intend to stay with the 350? are you sure? the forged crank, pistons and good rods mae for a very nice bottom end. but somany people go from 250 to 350 hp and decide that isn't enough. and next thing you know it is a 383 or 431. and then the heads and cam cam you bought for the 350 are inadequate for the larger engine. so be sure what you are upgrading to is gonna be enough. because a 1500 buck set of 165 or 175 cc intake chamberes will only get you 500 or so towards the 205's you will need if you go big. sometimes an in-between size, 185 or so will work with the 350 or 383. which aluminum head? how much you got? if you buy cheap, buy bare castings and get manley or ferrea valves. PAC beehive springs. cam? it seems most people who upgrade their cam either go too radical or too tame for their tastes. BUT: go roller young man! roller lifters that are not junk are getting more affordable these days. you don't need an 800 buck set of Howards or Morel. but stay away from the 120 buck ebay lifters. some have had good results with them.some have had disastrous results. but the steeper ramps of a roller cam will get you more effective duration with less overlap. so better ;power without sounding like a top fuel dragster at idle.

 

When we rebuilt my L82 we addded Scat Rods, Edelbrock Performer 185cc 2.02 heads, Lunati Bracket master Cam & Lifters (slightly hotter than the stock L82 cam) and Speed Pro .040 Hypereutectic pistons.

 

I started out with hopping up my l-82. It leads you down the path of increasing displacement and RPM. More money and more money and feasibly loss of lower rpm manners. My advice is turbo chargers or the cheaper alternative supercharging. The smaller Weiands can add up to 150 hp to a relatively stock motor. The TQ gains of pressure feeding a motor is so nice.


I'm into off road side by side turbo fun with so much power that it lifts the front end taking off.

 

I recommend either the Trick Flow 175DH head or the Dart 180 Pro 1 (NOT the SHP head)......both run very strong on a 350 inch engine......
Do you have pics and more info on your setup? The stock L-82 cam works very well with a 1.6 rocker on the cheap........
A set of heads, a good intake and proper timing curve is worth 60-70hp on an L-82.....but some will argue that you will want a cam....Howards has a nice grind I use for 4 speed cars in a hydraulic roller......Hydraulic Roller Camshaft & Lifter Kit; 1955 - 1998 Chevy 262-400 1800 to 5400 Howards Cams CL110245-12S | Howards Cams . You can team it with a 1.6 rocker for .533/.544 lift......this is a hydraulic roller.

Jebby

 

If it were me, I'd get something later with more HP if looking for more power. The stock '77 L82 has a 0-60 of 7.9 secs and 16.1 quarter mile times which are a joke by today's standards. The vast majority of cars built today have better times, including some heavy SUV's. The L82's are desirable cars but not because of their power and trying to improve it is a waste of time & $. Just my 2 cents...

 

I would just install some aluminum heads with 1.6 rockers , I used Promaxx 183's with the 64cc chamber on my 1980 L82 with a Comp XE262 close to the factory cam but my car is a daily driver , with flat tappit cam failure rate high I wouldn't change cam unless you go roller but the heads alone will make a big difference
Maxx 183 SBC (Sold in Pairs) - PROMAXX Performance Products

 

Jud, (above 2 posts) points out the horrible statistics of a stock 77. And thus reasons that it doesn't pay to hot it up.
Well just changing out the exhaust drastically changes those numbers. I have a 77, with a warmed up 350. Original block, crank and rods.
that's about it. The car's fun factor more than doubled.
i'm running Hyper flat top pistons. Factory deck height. Shim style head gaskets, 64cc chamber 180 Aluminium heads. XE268H cam with 1.6-1 rockers. Single plane intake with Throttle body EFI .
I really can't give you precise numbers off someone's dyno, but those change dyno to dyno anyway.
Bottom line is I really pumped up the fun factor and it didn't break the bank. As per going bigger still. No I'm happy. To much power and you start breaking things and then it does get expensive and your car is off the road.