Hallo

I own a 74 convertible with an L48 engine.
Later this week Im going to look at an 355 race engine as an replacement.

The seller says its a "Bowtie" race engine built by a company called "Jim Oddy" in NY, but Im not familiar with either.

Apart from that, its got a forged crank/rods/piston and SS valves plus a fluiddamper and mechanical roller cam. Compression is 11-1.

Its suppossed to have 550 hp and a max rpm of 8500, does that sound reasonable?

Im new to corvettes and highperformance V8´s so Im just looking for any advice you can give me.

Regards

Anders
Denmark

 

That's alot of power from a 355. What heads and cam does it have and how did he dyno it? A 355 with that much power may be almost impossible to drive on the street. If the cam is huge(it would have to be with that much power) then you will have low vacuum that you will need for the power brakes and headlights. By the way, I've never heard of Jim Oddy. Good luck. :chevy


[Modified by 79VetteMike, 4:09 PM 1/5/2004]

 

That does sound like a pretty unstreetable eng, most likely an ungodly long duration cam and super high compression ratio. If you want that much power I would go with a big block or 400 small block stroker if you intend to drive it on anyplace but the drag strip.

 

wow,

what does he want for it. If its really a bowtie block and forged crank and good heads you might get a quality engine for a deal. If its overcamed thats no big deal to drop in a mild performance flat tappet.

check it out.

 

It says race engine and that's what it is, probably got a drag race cam in it that doesn't come to life untill 4500RPM, you would be better off with something more suited to the street. :D

 

If it is the same Jim Oddy I am thinking of, he ran a Hemi power Austin on the east coast during the late 60's and early 70's. Won quite a few championships with that car. If it is something he built I would assume that it is set up for drag racing. To make that kind of power with only 11.0-1 compression it would have to have a pretty stout cam in it and it would not drive very well on the street. Get more information about it (block, heads, cam specs, intake, oil pan, rods, pistons, ect) and we can give you a better opinion.

 

That engine is for the drag strip.....If you buy it you'll probably need high octane gas to cruise....higher than what the pumps serve up.
It will not be street friendly and you may have problems getting vacuum for your headlights or anything else that works off of vacuum.
If you want power cruiser that you don't have to be working on all the time....get a nice small block 383 stroker....with hydrualic cam. :steering:

 

Either that or the seller is full of :bs

 

I've been around people that race in the sub 360 ci race classes for years. I tried to find a picture of a real bowtie block. I couldn't find one anywhere on the net.

Real Bowtie blocks are terrifically expensive. You buy the bare block and you have to totally custom machine and build it. Generally to get the block ready to assemble is @40 hours of machine work. That adds a couple thousand dollars to the project.

The ones I have seen have a large Chevy emblem on each side of the block in the middle where the freeze plugs are normally located on the standard production blocks. They also don't have the large production type castings serial numbers on the rear below the heads where the bell housing bolts on. Like my 4 bolt high nickel 350 ci blocks have a large numbers like 3970010. Bowties have numbers like these if they are real:

10051182 3.75"-4.30" bores, 1 or 2-piece rear seal
10051184 4.00"-4.155" bores, 1 or 2-piece rear seal.

This is a another thing that leads me to disbelieve the sellers Bowtie block claim. Your calling it 355 ci. Nobody ever made them any smaller than the class rules. They are generally made as 358 ci or the real expensive ones would have total custom size pistons to end up with 359.6 ci My friend had one with 4.040 pistons and a 4.044 bore with 3.500 stroke crank to get the 359.6.

550 hp on a motor that can turn 8500 is very reasonable. With a good 5 speed tranny it would be an excelant raise heck car.

I would not spend the money on expensive custom one of a kind motors. You just can't buy parts for them or fix them without a book of motor specs from when it was first assembled. Anything with 350 ci and 550 hp doesn't last very long either!




[Modified by gkull, 12:07 PM 1/6/2004]

 

Hallo again,

Thanks alot for all your inputs.
Im going to Copenhagen on friday to look at the engine, Im bringing an corvette veteran from CCD(Club Corvette Denmark)
The seller is certain that it is a genuine Bowtie Phase2 block and Bowtie iron heads with 2,02- 1.60 valves and extensive porting by Jim Oddys. I will try to get more info on the cam and some partnumbers before I go.

If it is the real deal, would it be worth bying it and change the cam and intake to more street usable units if I can a good deal? He claims that the engine had a price of more than 16000$ when new in 2001, he is asking 5800$ for it now.

 

$16,000 would be a reasonable price for a cheaper real BT race motor. Depending upon the heads is whether you can even install a different intake manifold.

Your idea of changing cams might work to lower the operational rpm of your motor. But that would also require smaller lighter inch pound springs to live in a street environment.

$5800 is a deal, but then refreshing a motor isn't cheap either. This last spring I had to refresh my 383 Solid Roller motor. I did all the work myself and it still cost $2300 or so.

$500 for Custom solid roller cam and carbon fiber dist. gear. $550 for Crane Cams Pro solid roller lifters. $550 for K-Motion springs retainers and locks. $470 gaskets, oil pump, bearings, and rings. $140 for new pushrods because length change with new cam. New 168 tooth SFI flex plate because mine expired (Every Two Years)

 

Sting74, I would take the advise of the Forum members and get all the information that you can on the engine before you purchase. Then post the numbers here on the Forum and review all the facts. You might be better off buying a crate motor that will be much more streetable and servicable, not to mention alot cheaper also... :thumbs:

 

Again, thanks for your help!

I will get as much info as posible to post here before any money changes hands.

Importing an engine is pretty expensive here in Dennmark we have to pay 30% tax on autospares plus freight from the states + tax on the freight cost
:mad

If I dont buy this engine I will look at rebuilding my own engine or finding a more streetable engine elsewere.

 

By the way, heres a link to a danish website with pictures of my corvette.
I got german plates on in case your wondering(saves tax)
http://www.bilgalleri.dk/html/gal_visbil.asp?ID=6534

 

Nice looking vert, welcome aboard. :cheers:

 

Hallo again!

Update on the "Bow Tie" engine.

Thursday evening I finally got the Block casting number, it turned out to be : 3970010.
When I told him that its wasnt a real Bowtie block he said that everybody builds on these blocks and they indeed are better than bowtie blocks.
Im sure that its a good block but at this stage I lost confidence in him, he seems to change details everytime I talk to him.

The info I got in here was of great value, thanks!

 

Keep in mind that if you go to a more streetable cam with that engine you will be even more prone to detonation unless you drop the compression ratio. Don't know what octane gas you have available there.