350 Engine Combo Opinions Wanted!

[The Fixer]

Hey all,
I recently picked up a 350 to build from SmokingSS. It's 2-bolt main, 1-piece RMS roller block from an '89 GTA. We disassembled it in the shop at school, and the bores are straight, cylinder walls are nice, and rods and pistons are clean. This has to be a total budget build, since I have a lot of family business coming up to deal with.

I plan to bring it in to the machine shop to see if I can just have a finish-hone done on it, install new bearings, and reuse the stock rods and pistons. I measured them in the science department with a colleague and they came up close to an 11.5cc dish (specs I saw on Scoggin's website for the old L98 crate shortblock said 11.7, so I'll go with that). I'm gonna reuse the World S/R Torquer 305 heads from my existing motor; they already have screw-in studs, 1.94/1.50 valves and flow 171cc on the intake runner. I'm also gonna keep the TPI setup, except install bigger injectors have my throttlebody bored out to a 52mm.

My friend and I already did some chatting about this, and if the pistons are .025 in the hole (they should be, stock), with a .039 headgasket and my World Products 58cc heads, that'll put my compression at 9.6:1, very acceptable. Will that gonna hurt my quench too much?

I'm looking at the Crane HR276 roller cam; it's .488/.509 lift on a 112 LSA. I'm figuring it'll be a bit over 300 flywheel hp, and probably 380 ft/lbs. This motor will always be on the street, but it'll get driven hard, believe me. Is this too much powah for stock rods and pistons? What do you guys think of this combo?

Opinions appreciated!

[Teds89IROC]

I know you're on a budget, but I think you would be better off going with a holley stealth ram rather than the TPI. TPI chokes out at like 4100 rpm.

~Ted

[curt86iroc]

I know you're on a budget, but I think you would be better off going with a holley stealth ram rather than the TPI. TPI chokes out at like 4100 rpm.

~Ted

port the plenum and runners and look into a new manifold (TPIS big mouth). You can get the tpi to pull to about 6k with some tuning...

[V]

...supercharger...that is all... :-D

[enRo]

Hey all,
I recently picked up a 350 to build from SmokingSS. It's 2-bolt main, 1-piece RMS roller block from an '89 GTA. We disassembled it in the shop at school, and the bores are straight, cylinder walls are nice, and rods and pistons are clean. This has to be a total budget build, since I have a lot of family business coming up to deal with.

I plan to bring it in to the machine shop to see if I can just have a finish-hone done on it, install new bearings, and reuse the stock rods and pistons. I measured them in the science department with a colleague and they came up close to an 11.5cc dish (specs I saw on Scoggin's website for the old L98 crate shortblock said 11.7, so I'll go with that). I'm gonna reuse the World S/R Torquer 305 heads from my existing motor; they already have screw-in studs, 1.94/1.50 valves and flow 171cc on the intake runner. I'm also gonna keep the TPI setup, except install bigger injectors have my throttlebody bored out to a 52mm.

My friend and I already did some chatting about this, and if the pistons are .025 in the hole (they should be, stock), with a .039 headgasket and my World Products 58cc heads, that'll put my compression at 9.6:1, very acceptable. Will that gonna hurt my quench too much?

I'm looking at the Crane HR276 roller cam; it's .488/.509 lift on a 112 LSA. I'm figuring it'll be a bit over 300 flywheel hp, and probably 380 ft/lbs. This motor will always be on the street, but it'll get driven hard, believe me. Is this too much powah for stock rods and pistons? What do you guys think of this combo?

Opinions appreciated!

Hey, if you want, Ill scan some engine combos into my computer. I have about 6 books on Chevy Small Block buildups, and 2 of them are based on "Budget Building" ... they use mainly 350s and 400's, so If you want Ill scan them in

[Ian]

for the ultimate budget build, just freshen up what you have. If the bores are in good shape, get them honed and re-ring the pistons. Get all new bearings for it: cam, crank and rod. replace the rod bolts with some better ones from ARP. change out the main bolts to studs. get your heads ported if you're really strapped for cash, if not, try to get a set of vortecs and have the spring seat machined and get screw in rocker studs put in. If you go with the vortecs, grab a vortec TPI base and some SLP runners and port the plenum. the only thing left to choose is the cam and for that you could just call up a cam company and tell them about your goals and your setup and they will know exactly what you need.

[The Fixer]

I know you're on a budget, but I think you would be better off going with a holley stealth ram rather than the TPI. TPI chokes out at like 4100 rpm.


Well, the SLP runners and ported plenum made a difference, even on my 'lil 305. When I dyno'd it over at TTP, the HP was still pulling at 4100, and finally it went flat between 4500 and 5K. Some of that is the cam too; it's only .432/.459 lift. I think with a bigger TB and some more porting on the runners I could turn 5500 or so; that'll be enough for the cam I'm thinking of.

The Stealthram will be a future upgrade for sure, just not this year. :)

for the ultimate budget build, just freshen up what you have. If the bores are in good shape, get them honed and re-ring the pistons. Get all new bearings for it: cam, crank and rod. replace the rod bolts with some better ones from ARP. change out the main bolts to studs.

That is my plan. Plus, I will either sell the L98 heads that came with the motor, or maybe trade them into the machine shop for services rendered on the block. My S/R Torquer heads flow pretty good outta the box, but I may have them worked over a bit. Plus, they already have the screw-in studs and I believe the spring seats were already cut because these heads are supposed to be good for cams up to .560 lift. And, they only have 25K miles on them.

I will call Crane during the week and see what they say. Thanks again guys!

[HardcoreZ28]

I say freshen up your shortblock like you're planning on doing and upgrade to ARP fastners. Sell the L98 heads and get some Vortec's and modify them for larger lift. Use your current intake setup with a Vortec base and then when you have the money upgrade to the stealthram.