Hello everybody,

So I have a 75 and have been piecing parts together to put a 4l80e in it. I have some highway driving to do and the engines screems too much with the th400 and 3.37 gears
I don't want to go thru the whole tv cable setup with the 200-4r so I got the stand alone computer for a 4l80e.

I have the possibility to get stuff to me in Europe pretty cheap as freight. So now I have two possibility's for the engine, get a 383 Blueprint and hook that up to the 4l80e or start with putting other heads and a cam on the l48 that is in there and then later on do the bottom end.I have redone my rear end with the help of Gary so that should hold up.

The parts I was thinking on getting to start now with

-AFR 180 Eliminator heads with 65cc chambers
- Howards Cams Retro-Fit Hydraulic Roller Camshaft and Lifter Kits CL111145-10 .

I already have hooker headers and will be putting vettepack inserts in them. I have a edelbrock rpm and air gap that I can choose from. Everything is shipped to Europe so warranty will be 0...

So what would you all advise ? Get a new Blueprint or get the parts mentioned above and start with that ?

Thanks for your advice

 

I would get away from the 1 piece rear main seal and the flat tappet cam. Roller cam roller rockers and a block that uses the 1 piece rear main seal

 

If you are overseas....buy the crate engine......if you start piecing an engine together over there and some is or goes wrong......it will be weeks before it is resolved......
AFAIK Blueprint will warranty an engine overseas.....shipping is pickle but you can't have it all.....
I would shop around though.......the Blueprint SBC fully dressed uses a bullshit carb and an intake that is drilled for Vortec and GEN1 heads and claims to be a dual purpose intake but the ports don't line up......they did this to have one intake part number and it is a **** cop out if you ask me.......I will not work on one fully dressed.....it flat out has the wrong part on it......this is not debatable either......and tells me that these people don't really care about a correct professional setup.....
They sell the engines in a long block and that is the way to go.......
FWIW....these are the same guys that say HV pumps are the way to go and their Ford 347's make more power with stamped rocker arms vs. roller.....but use the same bullshit pushrods on both.....I personally wouldn't buy a soda from them.

Doing it yourself is a great option but make sure you have some support......like for instance, pushrods......Summit will just sell you 7.800 long pushrods for your AFR heads and that is a good way to ruin an expensive set of heads in 3000 miles......so have someone knowledgeable to bounce ideas off of......
These engines have been around for 70 years......and for 70 years about 50% of the information out there is pure BS. Beware.

Jebby

 

Thank for the advice, I will look into the long block route.

Would the intakes I have here be a good choice? ( edelbrock rpm or an rpm air gap ). Also would I be able to use my quadrate or what carb should I be looking for?

 

I have the Blueprint fully dressed 350 daily driver/cruiser engine and I'm very happy with it so much so I bought their fully dressed 408/465HP also for my Cuda.

 

Thanks for the info, because that will be the next choice going Blueprint BP38318CT1 or ATK HP36M ? Any guidance in this ? I just use the car in the weekend and have power brakes so also something to keep in mind. I don't know which of these would have the best power band for street car with a 4 automatic and 3.37 gears.

Thanks for any help.

 

So what intake, carburetor and distributor would you use on a Blueprint 350 long block?

JT

 

Performer EPS, 0-90670 Holley Truck Avenger, MSD or Allstar/Summit knockoff either ready to run or with separate box....I have used both distributors and they are basically the same but when a ready to run module goes out it is not a bolt and nut replacement.....box you can swap out in 5 minutes.....some people who travel keep an extra box in the car.....you can by used ones cheap for spares....
The EPS will support 475-480hp, more if you mill the divider a bit....the RPM and RPM Air Gap are great but they have doubled in price in ten years....Air Gap is BS tech anyway....although I like running vacuum hoses and wires through the "gap".....
I have posted here on CF many times about the 0-90670 Holley Truck Avenger.....nothing compares out of the box....I have been using them since 07'....I have my own as a Test Carb....and a few years back Lars E-Mailed me and had put one on an Original Survivor Type 67' L-79 Vette.....out of the box with set floats and idle screws it was spot on....neither one of us knew the other approved of this particular Carb so much....it just freakin works on 300-450hp engines.
I went to take my 72' 406 out to a show a few years back and my precious 750HP had sprung a leak from sitting and I was out of AED kits....so I grabbed the Truck Avenger, rerouted the fuel line for single feed (all AN)....bumped the jets front and back 5 numbers and nolted that bitch on my 500hp 406.....it ran perfect the whole day and I left it on for a week LOL....I was down upstairs and you could tell but more of a fault of the jetting than the carb size.....
My test carb I had installed on a 71' 340 Demon in 2010 and when the car came back 10 years later for updates....I put a 750 Demon on the new engine and kept the Truck Avenger part of the deal...It had not been cracked open in 10 years and ran perfect on the updated 340 which was much hotter than it was.....I did not crack it open until that day for the show.....12 years....on a pleasure car.
If you need more carb....750HP is the order of the day.....its performance is well documented....I don't mess with Brawlers or QF....Why should I? I tune them but do not spec them.
The MSD/Allstar/Summit distributor has the most comprehensive curve adjustment setup in the industry.....read the instructions and set it up for what you do....foolproof.....people **** when I trash can their China HEI with a properly curved MSD....which I find easy to do....they even make a socket cap for that old school look....I have one on mine....doing another right now for a LT-1 355 engine....mostly original setup with updates.....

People say "I like what I like.." Well....I like what works....

Lastly....never count out the old 2101 Performee if you have hood clearance issues....it will support over 400hp easy....most versitile intake ever made....

Jebby

 

I am not knocking anyone that bought the whole thing....if it works good that is awesome....but as an engine builder....BP has made decisions that are more about the bottom line than being "Blueprint".....and I just can't get past that.....they use HV pumps because guys like big Oil Pressure numbers and not because it is correct for the application....the intake I have posted about here a few times....just do not know who sat there and decided that was the right thing to use......
They use the Street Avenger and I will not touch that line of carbs....Lars won't either....just takes too much to make it work right....I wonder what they do but whatever it is, that carb is not out of the box for their builds...
HEI's are HEI's....big, and a pain to curve....
Lastly....when I talked to the guy down there about a 347 crate that we bought a while back...(It had the wrong rockers) he siad the stamped ones made more power and I just wanted to hangup on him....like c'mon dude.

Jebby

 

I get what you are saying about the HV oil pump and I also questioned it's use. However the oil temperature is about 20 to 30 degrees cooler than the original L83 with the same oil (Valvoline 10W-30 VR-1). Go figure? Blueprint uses proprietary engine block with a revised oil galley were crankshaft gets it oil before the camshaft so maybe they are on to something. They're kind of secretive about their specs. Honestly I don't know anything about building high performance engines, I just know how to take them out and put them back in, LOL.
The engine came with a Holley Warrior on top of their intake. BTW aren't tuned to work with that engine but works great after some work.
I don't know too much about the HEI distributor that comes with it other than it does have 16 degrees of mechanical advance and I set the total advance to Blueprint's recommend 32 degrees. It seems to work very well so I haven't had to play with that. Note: I use ported vacuum advance on both my 350 and the 408.
I have about 3,000 miles on the 350 and knock on wood, no issues with it. It starts right up, idles smoothly, and although it's not going to set the world on fire (341 HP) I'm very happy with it. What more could I ask for.

 

Good to hear you're pleased with both BPE pieces, But

While observing that 20 to 30 degree Oil Temp delta --- is that while using the very same oil temp sender and very same temp gage, old-versus-new, A-to-A ?
Is sender in very same location, old-versus-new, A-to-A ?
It's my understanding 1982 C3's OE Oil Temp Sender WAS threaded into block; immediately above oil filter pad ? Correct ?
Considering your new BPE block's reengineered oil-flow mapping, I question if the OT sender is sampling into a different route than OE.?

* FWIW, I don't have a C3 with factory OE OT gage, but I understand '81 & '82 do have OE OT gage; while some '80 do as well.
Likewise, neither do I have one of those Eisenwerk Bruhl-BPE blocks to ponder.

 

Same sending unit, same gauge, same location, same bat channel, same bath time. I believe that the cars with the ETR radios got the oil temperature gauge in lieu of the clock. ETR radios had a clock built in to the display.

 

I care only about how that 20 to 30 degree Oil Temp delta occurs; and suggest there's a coinciding sampling variation.

 

Dart pioneered the primary main oiling for small blocks in 1996 with the release of the Rocket Block....then went on to develope the Little M in 2004......I was hanging around Dart a lot in those days....Maskins truly was a genius....
World copied the Dart with the Motown and Blueprint copied the Motown....in fact it would not surprise me if BP used the World core boxes and prints....
Anyway....the oiling system is so efficient on the Little M that we ran Std. volume pumps on those too....with .003 main and .0025 rod clearance.....it loved it....but the pumps were redesigned in 05' and were prone to cracking so Moroso stepped in and made a pump with a stouter body that was std. volume....
Melling has 15 oil pumps in their catalog and exactly zero of them are for anything we do....with the exception of the old M55....
I don't want 50-60psi of oil pressure at idle regardless of the block or the builder....its not right....a LOT of oil still getting up top....
Know this: The pressure alone will tell you how much you need....too much at idle means you are moving too much volume....period.
An oil pressure gauge during a 1/4 mile run shouldn't start at 60 and go to 80....stay there and then slowly drop....that means it is on the bypass the whole run.....it should start at 25 and go to 60....maybe 65 and when you let off it falls as fast as the tach.....you want a nice sweep....the oil pressure should almost move with the tach....and fall with it.....

I suspect the much lower oil temps are due to the extra thick casting around the bottom of the cylinders....we saw this in the Dart....the Little M has much better heat control....I never hooked a gauge up on a Motown and helped dyno over a dozen 427's sbc's and 454's....but guess what....the Mitchell Hardcore 427/454's had.....wait for it....a std. volume pump!!!!

To me BP doesn't build engines for the serious guy/gal....they build them for guys who brag about BBQ grills and Gas Fire Pits....
If somebody sent me one to install....there is no ******* way I would without fixing what I believe to be shoddy engineering....
But know this....if you owned BP....you could never sell these with 25psi pressure at idle....the know it all Tribe would cancel BP....it HAS to have 60psi at idle....I mean....more is better! Right?!

It is important to know that a std. pump with .001 bearing clearance all over will have 60psi at idle and 80 upstairs....too! But it is moving over half as much oil through the bearings.....
Same is true in the inverse....a std. pump at .003/.0025 clearance will have 25 idle and 60 up top....add a HV pump and these numbers go to our good old 60 idle and 80 up top.....but you are moving very little more actually volume through the bearing......
While we are at it....the Z/28 "Hi Pressure" pump....will make the same pressure as a std. pump....only if the pressure climbs past 60 will it actually have more pressure as the bypass is set for 80psi.....and know the bypass doesn't care what bearing clearance you are running either....

My relationship with the aftermarket is one that is like the emoji with the flat mouth....just nothing to say after 30 years.....
They market this **** to the novice who watch car programs on TV.....not to me....and I get to fix all the mistakes.....not just me though, all the other well trained engine geeks too.....

Lastly....my 2010 5.3 LS in my truck has....wait for it....25psi at idle and 45 at 6000rpm....which it sees regularly....my 09' was exactly the same....hmmm....
1979 Honda CBX 1047cc six cylinder bike engine sees 20 at idle and 55-60 at 11,000rpm....and consequently, these two number are right where a 500ci NHRA Pro Stock engine is too....hmmmm....

Jebby