Thanks for the video, very well done as usual. I like the fact that you know what you need to do to make power out of the engines you’re working on and you show how it’s done in the shop. People with a shop background can see that tooling, fixtures and proper set up aren’t cheap or free. Skills are involved.
i have a STOCK 400 sbc in my 77 chev 1/2 ton..... 265hp and 380 foot pounds..... beats any stock 350 from 73 till 96..... it has ZERO emissions equipment.... AKA.... dead simple, cheap parts, easy to work on id rather drive that 77 around than buy a new truck (im a mechanic.... new pickups CANT off road...AT ALL!!!!!) id rather buy fuel than parts.....
I have learned more in the past 5 videos than in the past 58 years of buying, fixing and selling cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles both 2 strokes and 4 strokes etc. Absolutely THE most informative video I have ever had the privilege of watching! I bow to your superior knowledge. I subscribed and liked and truly enjoyed my morning. Nobody does it better, why'ed you have to be so good! I'm going to go check out numbers on my 327 in my 59 nomad and formulate the plan. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Please don't apoligize for rambling on too much, those are when you are dropping all the tidbits of info that you have learned through the years working on your craft, a pleasure to see someone who knows how to work within the tools capabilities and get the biggest productivity increases, nothing broken, no wasted time,
I enjoy your videos, I'm in the middle of doing my very first engine rebuild a Chevy 350 I had the same issue dished pistons crappy 76 cc heads and barely any compression. I'm putting some go fast stuff in and the videos are teaching me a lot and helping me a lot on do's and don'ts as well as the process of what goes into, thanks for the videos.
Superb video! Excellent explanations of everything going on machine wise and work being done. As one of the "regular guys" I truly appreciate all the effort and work you put forth into your videos. Thank you!!
Your candor and honesty is the very reason I watch your videos , plus the fact that you save me many potential headaches and plus save me tons of money! You are truly appreciated, please keep the videos coming, they are worth their weight in GOLD! KT
I love watching all you put out, you always explain everything with detail and why you like doing it that way for! Learn alot from you keep up the good work
You are the man! You keep me glued to RU-vid! All.the knowledge without the b.s. I got a yew 350 rebuild kit from Santa when I was 15 and haven't stopped loving the sbc yet!
When I was a kid I used to have an old 66 T-bird never got to drive it had to sell it ran out of money the typical story but it had a 390 in it so I'm stoked see your 390 up and running
I’ve been a follower of yours for years and I just have to say that I love this channel. I grew up in a family that was mostly girls. Didn’t have a dad growing up to teach me stuff like this. You’re actually the man who taught me about how engines work and how to improve the engine itself. In a sense, every time I see you upload a video, it’s like stepping into the garage with someone who I see is a father figure. I may not be the greatest engine builder in the world but everyone has to start somewhere right? Keep up the awesome work!
Excellent video. Did a great job of describing the motivation for the upgrade including why it makes sense in terms of perf/$ and the theory behind it. Great how you spent time up front with the full discussion and lots of details. Also appreciate actually seeing all the work done including what could be done by machine shop and what could be done on your own. Hope to see more great videos in the future.
Thanks for the info. I kept thinking some people watching this might be getting a little trouble though. When using old blocks that may have already been decked, add the head milling and after market Chinese intakes available, you can find all kind of problems with the end of the intake and block gap or as you said, the side of the intake sealing. With some pistons, you might cut the block .040" to even get -.010" deck height. Need to really check the correct valve stem seals with machine shop for valve guild / seal / retainer clearance. Rocker arm clearance between new studs and rocker and the thread on the rocker stud available for adjustment. Need to have the extra valve to retainer clearance if the owner changes to aluminum 1.6 ratio rockers later, and of course pushrod length and coil bind.. With all the parts available, the possible combos are endless. People buy a lot of mix match parts online. Of coarse you check your stuff, but some people buy the wrong parts and don't tell the machine shop what they want. This sounds like a high torque driver that has a small cam rumble and fun to drive. Good video, Thanks again.
Really great video and absolutely phenomenal job explaining and showing. I’m about to dig into a 350 for a wicked town panel. Everyone is so wishy washy with parts and power really appreciate your knowledge.
SAE Engineers acknowledged that the Vortec heads flow better than the early Iron heads. You can read their discussions. The extra two manifold bolts are good insurance if you use one of those carb pad plates for an engine hoist. More fastners is usually always better.
I did a set of 062 casting up, shoulder studs, cut bowls for 2.02-1.60 valves +100,cut down guide boss, opened up the spring pockets also pocket ported the bowls (drilled steam holes for a 400 block) and used a howards hydraulic roller Cam,, made great power
I did that about 7 year ago on my racecar. It made a big different. They had to change the rule book. People were just jealous. It was even a gray area it’s just said stock heads. You do have to be careful you do drill in to water. You can drill your studs and put roll pin on if you want to go cheep. I had a friend weld inside and we drilled and taped it for a four bolt valve cover.
Our rule book has also been changed from " stock heads" to " factory heads with minimum 72 cc combustion chambers". ... We do cut our decks to raise compression and get away with that.
I agree on watching Engine Masters and Frieburgers various videos. A seriously good source and lots of experience in the hot rodding/racing world. Not to mention the added bonus of good humor.
YOUR the best ,l,ve watched tons of vids & after watching your shows l now see the short cuts or pieces left out completely,GREAT channel brilliant imfo
You are the best...which is you're. Remember.. if you are sounds fine, use 're, if it does not, it's your. Like your car or your house. Like you're in your car and at your house. Simple.
Chevy left a lot of room to play but I wish they'd just made the dang heads like this in the first place. But then again, it creates jobs for all the machinists out there.
Building a 355 ( 010 high nickel bk) 11:1 wanted a L46 clone 350/350.My engine builder also recommended these heads(which he has ready to go) because of their bang for the buck power.You and engine masters mite have sold me . Great video.
I like the videos they help me out on my project. It's a 1970 350 sbc. I had heads ported and polished. Double springs. Set up for a 540 lift. I have to double check the studs. Thanks for info
New subscriber! Really enjoyed the video ,kerry .helped me open my eyes on what u can really do to a small block ! Will stayed tuned for the upcoming video
Road kill should have run the same cam, along with the older non vortex head, seeing as both engines used the same intake, it would have been a true comparison of what switching to a vortec is really worth.
That’s my exact motor except a computer friendly .440 lift cam. I have aftermarket vortecs and use the tbi. Turns my 38.5 boggers good with 4.11 gears. I asked you a few questions when building it and it was my first rebuild. Year later still running strong.
LS motors are great but! in most cases you need to have an engineering degree in order to set them up and tune them. It is pretty pointless to put a carb on an Ls motor so you then need all the extra parts and work for the fuel injection system, computer fuel pump/pumps, and tuning. None of that is cheap or easy. The good old time tested SBC is still my favorite engine of all time.
Oh yes you'll need a carburetor a intake manifold and a LS MSD box to ditch the fuel injection and stock computer mine has been running and running very very well with this setup since 2008
Aman as a person owning both an ls7 427 and a SB 350 I'd choose the 350 every day of the week even though the 427 is making about 430 hrs MORE than my 350 it takes a friggin genius to tune that ls right and that alone costs a fortune as for the 350 it was built right here in my basement and I am the only person to ever have worked on it (and I have no degrees, or fancy title just a backyard mechanic...) and it is more than enough to have the time of ur life on the streets will definitely set u back in the seat,smoke the tires straight off it and stop light to stop light its nasty:) the point is for almost 99 % of the population who is just wanting to have fun go small block the power is there no question about it and it is so so SOOOO MUCH SIMPLER AND CHEAPER to work on yeah I said my ls makes more power but only because I didn't choose to go that wild on the 350 I could've just as easily took that lil SB and tore that ls up with it u can get upwards of 1500 2000 hrs out of SB's if u choose to it's an amazing platform for anybody from the stock kind of guy to the professional big money big time drag racer its your choice and you can do it at home even the older generation can ( those who have never even seen a computer)
I’ve been hanging onto a small journal 327 steel crank motor. Just the lower end. Would love to do some dart heads on this motor for my 69 camaro. And use a nice old school Muncie transmission. I’ve learned a lot from your channel. Thank you for the info!!
yes I have an opinion about that I put 2.020/1.600 valves in a set of vortec heads years ago the gain in air flow on the flow bench was only about 5 CFM's honestly not really worth the expense in machine work and valves
I will say since I've been watching your videos you have enlighten me and to several different things about 350 engines they're not really all the same but they're all the same I'm putting together a 350 that has a set of double hump NASCAR 186 intake and valve covers all Edelbrock from the 1970s
Great video! Enjoyed actually seeing what is involved in the machine work... And removing the pressed studs tip was a good money saving idea... Thanks!
Super simple 385-405hp 350 Get a 96 and up R code 350 from a truck, rebuild it with flat top pistons, anything from 9-1 to 10-1, compression is what you want, use a gm hydraulic roller hot cam 218-228 at .050 Mill the valve guide bosses, use some LT4 or comp beehive springs Edelbrock rpm intake, 650 dp carb, long tube headers, super simple nice combo, the hencho en mexico blocks are better.
Derek Stewart I used the same block, stroked to 383, dart heads, 230 cam,rpm airgap, 750 performer, with 10.2:1 comp. Can't wait to see what it does in an s10
Stainless, I went close to that set-up. Stroked that blocked to 383, but went with a set of 195 AFRs, comp 288HR setup with EFI. I'm expecting to be right around 500hp with that combo. :)
Mike O'Hara Yeah that's a totally different animal, depending on compression you will be 485-510hp 490-505tq This one did 508hp 505tq R code block 60 over 388 cid 11-1 compression Custom hyd roller 229in 237ex .539in .543ex lift with 1.6 111lsa 107ilc My ported 185cc edelbrock rpm heads, 193cc afterwards 273cfm in 228cfm ex at .600 lift my ported rpm intake Holley 750 Ultra HP 1-3/4 long tube headers 92 octane fuel 508hp at 5800 505tq at 4700 fwiw
So some more details about the camshaft would be good to know , love center, cam centerline and rocker ratio you used? Roller tip rockers would be a great upgrade for not much money? Thx for the detailed video. Kent.
Some guys have moved on to the LS, but if your like me and have a lot of old school chevy parts, why not use them. Also more power can be made from the old chevy with less $ than the LS
You're probably right in a sense, but the ancillary parts you need to de sophisticate it (do you like that?? lol) like adding a distributor, sump, intake and headers for our application make it a very expensive proposition so the cost is still extremely high for the relatively small added benefit even if a good runner core LS is dirt cheap. No doubt you're right on a level, I guess, but for many of us the LS in the real world is completely out of reach for the power gained. For us the cheaper option is to use half the money changing over to an LS and put that money into the old style. BTW, I have LS beehives on my aluminum head Vortec roller cam short block. Believe me I thought very, very hard about going LS but I couldn't justify the conversion cost for the power gained and I'd still be stuck with stamped steel rocker arms and a used motor because I spent all my money doing the conversion.. So now you know where jerry garner might of been coming from.
There's many ways to get power out of the Gen One SBC motors. Some adders require little effort to make a jump in HP and ft lbs or trq. I build 406 sbc, they are my niche motor but like the 383 stroker to. If I was to take a typical 350 sbc from any pre 1980 vehicle and wanted to get over 300 hp and trq, with little money to throw at it, I would take a set of cast heads, work them, make sure you can either get large valves or start with a good set of stocker heads, 4 barrel intake and carb, headers, for those upgrades you're looking at next to nothing but time and few hundred bucks. Porting old cast heads will give you some decent power, the old double hump are great to port and cheap to buy, a used aluminum intake are a dime a dozen, and carb,,, headers are a hundred bucks on eBay. if you can weld make a H crossover exhaust and some easy flow mufflers. You'd be surprised what you can pull off on an extreme budget build. It will make you want to build more and soon you will be a collector of parts. Everyone has to start somewhere, and the sbc gen one is a great place to start. Bottom line is heads, Intake and Carb, Headers.. do what you can with those and see what you make. Next will be cam selection, do your research and get the right cam for the heads. The sky's the limit, but most of all have a blast.
Well said I agree completely I had an old 73 nova with an oil burning 307 I bought the car for $300.00 they guy could not get it to start one Ignition coil later I had the 307 running I pulled that terd and put together a 350 with flat tops and some old iron heads they were the old 283/327 two barrel heads with the small 1.720 intake valves I opened up the throats and installed a set of 2.020/1.600 valves did some mild porting and gasket matching an old offy single plane intake long tube headers a holley 750 double pumper the crazy part is I was out of work at the time and all of those parts were stuff I had laying around or picked up at a swap meet ran the car at the drag strip with 10" drag radials and a 12 bolt posi I bought from my buddy for $50.00 it ran 13.5 I had about $700.00 bucks into the whole shabang that does not include my time of course but since I was out of work I had plenty of that I kept that car for 5 years and drove it pretty much every day I sold it to a family member and he still drives it pretty much every day he has put quite a bit of money in it as far as body and suspension goes but it still has the same 350 the old small valve 327/283 heads have 64 cc chambers and you can put big valves in they will run just about as good as camel humps
I had a 307 in a 1973 Chevy pickup three on the tree. It was a great little motor. The only upgrades was a duel exhaust and a flipped breather lid. It could lay a patch of rubber through first and second. Mind you it had a flat bed "because" the box sides literally fell off one night out performing. I went in the ditch on one side of the road shot across to the other side, got it back up on the road and the box sides were still in the ditch. I got it home, and made a quick flatbed with 2x4 racks before Dad saw it. He thought it looked great. LOL I painted the stock rims white with red and blue pinstriping to look like truck rims of the day. This was in 1978, I was 16. and a holy terror in Rural Ontario Canada Ottawa Valley. The deal with the truck was I do all the maintenance I got to use when I wanted. The trans blew, stuck in first gear and that was the end of it. He didn't make the same deal with his new truck, so I got one of my own. It was a 1968 Chevy 1/2 ton, with a inline 6. I took that out pronto and put a 350 sbc out of a 1970 Monte Carlo. That motor had some get up and went. That was back in my street rod days that went on from mid 70's to mid 80's, and just in the last few years getting back into it. Back when I was the go to guy for sbc builds. I enjoyed every minute of it and enjoy it even more now, building the infamous 406 sbc motors, Current project is a 1935 Chevy pickup truck street strip, 406,, 500 hp and ft lbs of trqish.
I appreciate the effort you put into explaining how things work and why, combinations etc. I wish I had those facts when I started out, but we just didn't back in the 70's. It was trial and error, and there was allot of error. The saving grace was how many sbc motors were available back when knowing which years to look for. Cylinder heads were another well kept secret of sorts back in highschool which I only visited to do burnouts going past the smoking area and then hightailing it out of there before Rookie caught up the town cop. Fuelie heads, 441 heads, were the cream dela creme and most kids had no idea why one sbc was so fast thinking it was all about headers 4 brrl and Tornado 60 tires LMAO... It was fun, that's what I remember the most was how much fun we had and trying to recapture that thrill today all these years later with a whole whack of aftermarket parts we could only dream about BACK WHEN.
even easyer is to drill and pin your studs will do a good holding job on a street engine that's not hit hard all the time you do any port maching just to clean up the intake flow
A lot of people also don't realize how long it takes to do all that also. They see a 40 min video but don't know you probably spent all day on them head.
Phillip Mckay I recently built a 400sbc with vortec heads and used Summit’s 1103 cam, it was incredibly torquey. I love the 400, these videos make me want to build another like crazy!
The government caused that.. GM had to comply with lower compression to make emissions. It sucks!!!!good video. But I’m an LS dude. Have you seen the video with a 4.8 making 1100 horse. I’ll stick with LS 6 volt mains baby
The C4 LT1 Corvette had 10.5:1 compression and the LT4 had 10.8:1, so they were able to get a street legal engine with high compression. That compression ratio would have been impossible if 87 octane fuel was used. However, you are certainly correct that head design means that compression ratios can be increased without increasing octane requirements.
Skyline Fever my LS 2 in my tbss 10.9 to 1 and ran 87 octane in it to see why would happen and ran like a sewing machine. I lost 50 horse and may not the best for the cats. But other then that nothing.
I have a 1978 Chevy Scottsdale with full time four wheel drive and an automatic trans mission. my 350 seems weaker than it should. has a bit of a pitter patter sound when it idols and i think it drinks antifreeze a little. its a farm truck so i want to get more power out of it so i can do things with it. this video was very helpful and gave me an idea of what work is ahead of me.
My thought is why mess with an old small block when the LS/Vortec 4.8/5.3 can be had for next to nothing and make near the same power as the old modded small block but with so much more potential... Even if you already got the SBC 350 by the time you spend the cash to buy a cam...get the vortex heads and go through them replacing seals, installing screw in studs ect...buy the gaskets plus R&R the engine along with disassembly and re assembly of the engine which unless you are doing it yourself but paying a shop to do it...which ain't cheap...you already spent more then to buy the scrap yard 4.8/5.3 with twice the potential.. As far as I am concerned the old SBC is a boat anchor unless it is a special one like a late 60ies 283, 302, 327, 350, 400...and even then I would sell it for good money as they are getting hard to find and put the money towards the LS swap...unless it is a matching number engine for my car that is...and only if it was an old 60ies muscle car lol.
I was going to do another LS turbo in my S10 but after pricing a crank,heads,pistons and rods i ended up going with a old sbc.I picked up a used Dart block,added a a billet crank and rods and am putting over 1400 to the tire before spray for a LOT less than had I gone with a LS.Say what you want and this is coming from someone who's been playing with and swapping LS motors for years but the old small block is cheap to build.
If you have an early small block in your truck it is far cheaper to do a head and cam swap that to swap an LS in don't get me wrong I am a big LS fan if you have seen my videos on the 5.3 than you know that but I half to disagree with you on one point swapping in a 5.3 requires engine mounts a ton of wiring and in many cases a transmission swap and revised oil pan and oil pick up + if you are going with a carb you need an intake as well you will be hard pressed to find a good used 5.3/4.8 for less than 1500 with computer and harness add everything else a new exhaust system and most likely having to have a new drive shaft made and possibly a new radiator I have done several bone yard LS swaps and it usually comes out to around 3K and that was the cheapest when all is said and done that is a far cry from $800.00 for the vortec upgrade I think you math is off
harry guy There is more to it, harnesses, computer, adapters, ls specific trans or different flexplate, etc, it is better in the long run, plus it's 1500-2k for a 6 liter around here so although it seems easy there is more to it when you actually build it
I always tell the tell of the engine masters episode with the header bashing and guys think im full of shit. Love the guys who put a bullshit air intake on their honda 4cyl and claim 20 more horses when they lost 5! Lol. Or the guy that puts a dual exhaut on a 200hp v8 and says he got 25 more horses! Lmfao
BuzzLOLOL On a higher horsepower car maybe. Your not gonna get 25hp from an exhaust on an engine that makes 170 hp! Highly doubt it. And 250 hp from bolting on an exhaust? It better be a 3000hp engine or more!
BuzzLOLOL Hmmm. I have the exact motor! I know they were underated but 435hp.Hard to believe you can restrict lets say a 500hp motor 180hp? I think theres more going on! But i guess crazier things have happened. Not sure if you ever watched engine masters header bashing episode, but if you havent you will find it very interesting!
BuzzLOLOL 10-4. Lil story on how i got my l88, about 20 years ago a local speed shop rebuilt the L88 for their jet boat. Put the motor in the boat and run about a quarter mile down the river n it locked up. Come to find out they rebuilt it but forgot to put oil in it! Lol So one rod and a new crank and bearings later, its mine! Ive had it in a 67 chevelle, in my 75 f250 and now its sitting under the bench. You might of picked up 180 some horses from manifolds to headers but had to have some serious port mismatch or something going on. I know you pick up horsepower from stock manifolds to headers but almost 200hp is not usually the case! I can see 50 on a 500hp engine but 185 is crazy. Good for you.
BuzzLOLOL u dummy this duel duel exhaust only applies to engine with 400hp or more a 200hp v8 is gunna lose power with 3 inch exhuast as stated and dyno tested in the engine masters series on youtube look it up if you dont believe me
You dont gain shit if you have a computer .... No matter if you put a turbo cam fuel pump shit will run the same untill you get a tune... If your shit is carbed everything makes a diffrence yes i saw engine masters and saw the header bashing
did a howard cam swap and had a guy port my stock aluminum heads on my 1995 camaro lt1 and it made 420 rwhp and 400 rwtq. Did other mods like 1 5/8 headers and a cold air intake and this was done with a stock fuel pump and a mail order tune. The guys at the dyno shop were amazed, but good video I enjoy watching them, I miss old Tony videos from Headbytes.
I did that about 10 years ago on my pure stock race car. I welded and drilled and taped it so a old style valve cover would bolt on. All our rules said stock heads. When drilling front holes for the intake you get in to water. Just have to seal the bolts good. Speedway has a intake gasket that works.
Love your video awesome there are some other things that can be done by a novice Builder (me) lol. Have done it successfully just took my time anyone with a die grinder .removed the valves ,bullet nose the guides,smooth out casting marks in runners (NO DIGGING), gasket matched intake gaskets, placed gaskets on cylinder head being careful to use them on the correct side when putting them on when you assemble the engine scribe around the inside of each cylinder remove material on each side of intake and exhaust valves I'm sure you have heard of it I believe they call it unshrouding valves also being very very careful not to go too far into the castings as not to get into the sealing surfaces of the head gasket, never dynoed my engine but a definite by the seat of the pants feel in the performance especially from around 1800 to 5000 never took it much further at all being hydraulic roller extremely satisfied
The old sbc! You will like my next build...1962 327 GM Mercury marine engine!! The little small journal is headed for my ³2 vicky.! Keep up the great work! Jacksons BodyShop...Auburn,KY!
nice job!! i want to put a set of vortecs on a 400sbc. i got to get machine shop to do these upgrades plus drill steam holes! i really appriciate this vid!!!! take care!!!
Hi..great, helpful vid, so inspirational! Also, thank you bdan 1324 for advice of recycled parts and the info about Delta camshaft! I’m a plumber so Delta...easy to remember lol
