Engine prices

[Slow Ride]

How much do you guys have in your engines?

I got a price from B&B for a 355 short block
1 piece RMS roller block 4 bolt main $500 machined
stock steel lightened crank $350
h-beam rods $450
Manley forged pistons $475
Total seal gapless rings $175
Comp roller cam and lifters
pushrods
rocker arms
Milodon pan,windage tray and oilpump w/pickup
Felpro gaskets and ARP fasteners
new valve springs installed
all machine work and assembly
for $4185

That would make my motor worth about $6000 which seems like alot and really blows the budget. This motor would probably only make like 500hp too. For that kind of money I could've had a ZZ502:(:

What do you guys think??

[TuffEnuff]

BIG BLOCK!!!

Give me $4500....you'll get more than 500 HP!!!

[nos2go]

Its always more when you dont do it yourself. But..thats way to much for a shortblock....and I doubt it will make 500 HP

[Jim]

Stud needs to pipe in here on how much he built his 355 for. that still is an impressive engine and it was cheap.

[bohn]

speedomotive man !!!!

[jdsgallops]

What I would look at here is do you need those parts that you have prices on? Are H beams really needed? Are Manley pistons needed or will TRW's work? Why a roller cam? Roller cams are nice but they cost more and probably won't make much more power over a properly choosen flat tappet, especially if you go solid lifter. Take a good look at Mark302's combo. Stock shortblock 302 pushing almost 500 dyno proven RWHP. How long will it last? Probably not long but it just goes to show where to spend the money and where not to. As far as what I have in my engine, it came in my car, so nothing. In the past I spent $3500+ on a stock headed 302 though. It had all the goodies though, forged Ross pistons, Canton pan, Vic jr intake, etc.....

[Slow Ride]

What do you guys think I should do? I don't know if any parts of the broken valve spring damper made it into the pan. I have the piece that was laying in the head. I know I should at least pull the spring and either remove the damper or replace it. The other problem I noticed last night is the motor can't pull the gear I have in it. Do I change gears to something around 3.55 instead of the 4.11's? or do I add more cam so I can rev in 3rd gear? The motor pulls strong through 1st and 2nd right to 6000, but won't rev past 5400 in third.

Also has anyone had any problems with Summit poly locks? I can't seem to keep my valves adjusted. By the time I got home last night I thought the motor was going to come apart it was making so much noise.

The reason I was looking at a roller cam is that 2 valve heads love lift and I love my power brakes. With a flat tappet cam it's hard to get high lift without sacrificing idle/vacuum quality by adding duration and overlap. I was looking for something in the 230-240@.050 duration for vacuum and .510-.525 lift so I can add 1.6 rockers to get near the .560 lift max my heads can handle.

Sure I could put juice on this motor and probably get into the 12's, but at what cost? I don't want to hatch a perfectly good motor if I don't have to. That is why I am considering a new short block. My guess is I'm going to need 500-600hp to get my beast into the 12's, so maybe more displacement is in order, but then I need to go to a taller gear to use the torque. I'm kinda screwed here. I should've had a clearer vision of th eproject before I started and stuck to the plan. It started as a street cruiser and has evolved into a low 14 second, $13000+ Piece Of Shit.

[nos2go]

your going about it all wrong then, if you have a heavier car you need torque, not HP. Build a big block, or get a 455 BOP and go from there, you will be able to stick under $2000 on the whole motor and run a very street friendly 3.23 or 3.42 gear, it will pull 12s easy and still be very drivable. You wont need to rev it past 5500rpm, and will last years, I had 5 years of racing on a $$1200 455 pontiac

If your a die hard chevy guy then do a 383 chevy stroker. a 383 kit comes with all the stuff you need to build a good street motor, crank, rods, pistons, etc. Cheap kits are $$500.oo, take your 350 block to a machine shop for the work($ 500 assembly, balancing, block work), and youll have a $$ 1000.oo ready to go short block. add some good heads and cam and your good to go.

[jdsgallops]

If the engine is in good running condition yet I would find the problem with it before I spent 6K on something new. If you are having a hard time reving over 5400 in 3rd gear with 4.11's you have one of two prblems IMO. #1 valve springs. I know you put new heads on but did you check spring height and pressure to make sure they will work with your cam. If you broke one alrady that is not a good sign. #2 You have a fuel problem. What carb are you running? If it is a Holley with side hung float bowls you could very well be running the bowl dry, especially with a low gph fuel pump(I had this problem for a while and it turned out I was emptying the bowl during the burn out making the car bog on the launch switching to a center hung carb fixed the problem). So what are you running for a fuel pump, fuel line and regulator? If the fuel system is the problem throwing 6k at a new engine is only gonna make you even more unhappy. I would say there is a 100% chance that one of these is your problem, and I would lean towards the fuel system knowing your heads are new.

[1SLO5.0]

Roller cam idea - Run with it. Very good idea. There is way more torque and horsepower in a roller cam. Why? Not because of the lower friction, it is because of the steeper ramp profiles you can run with a roller cam.......especially solid roller cams. The better streetability of a roller cam is a plus too.

Valve Springs - Like John said, at the very least you need to check and make sure the springs match the cam. Also, when you buy assembled heads, the first thing you should do is take all of the valve springs off and check the installed height. Heads are mass produced. The installed heights are almost never checked when they are assembled by the manufacturer. I have yet to see a set of aftermarket heads that have the springs shimmed to the correct installed height. Why is this important you ask? If a spring has a greater installed height than what it calls for, it will float the valve. Not enough spring pressure. Its like throwing horsepower out the window.........alot of horsepower. If the installed height is less than called for the spring will coil bind and break the valve, spring, retainer or all 3 of them.

Can't pull rpm - could be a fuel problem. Could also be a valve spring issue.

Need 600 hp to run 12s............probably not. I know a guy with a 355 powered 65 Chevelle that runs 10.9xs all day long..........and the car has full interior, all stock sheet metal and heavy rally wheels. His motor makes just over 450 horsepower. Car weighs 3700 lbs

...........and the engine is a very low torque engine. I would bet money that Jim's 306 makes more torque than this engine. Its all in the combination.

[Stud]

I bet a guy with an orange Nova could be talked into selling his 406.

[Slow Ride]

Big blocks are hard to fit in an s-10, not impossible,but difficult. The only problem with a 383 is my Pro Action aluminum heads are a little smallish and my Dart Iron Eagle heads are a little big and add even more weight. I would guess the Blazer weighs about 3200 with me in it.

The heads were bought bare and assembled by Butch Patterson at Competition Products in Oshkosh. I would hope he checked them for me, I called there today and confirmed that they were, I see shims under them. They said it is rare for the damper to break, but it does happen.

The carb I am using is a Holley 3310 750CFM vacuum secondary with a 4 hole 1" plastic spacer on a RPM AirGap manifold. I have an electric fuel pump and was considering switching to a Holley Blue pump and adding a relay. I have it wired into the ignition right now and it interfers with my shift light.

I know I should get the spring off and replace it. Anyone have a portable air compressor I can borrow?

[jdsgallops]

I disagree with Darrell to a certain point on the roller cam. As he says it goes back to the combo. Take one look at Sean Meldrums home ported gt-40p headed hydraulic flat tappet cammed mustang and that will drive the point home. He reports his heads flow 205ish on the intake and he runs a comp xe 274. He just had it on the chassis dyno and pulled 273hp@5800rpm and runs 110 in the qtr. Nothing fancy about the engine. If money is tight and you don['t have a roller block to start with look at solid lifter cams. They will offer the same type of ramp rate as the roller for 1/2 the price. It will sound cooler and rev higher to boot too.

[jdsgallops]

Originally posted by knudsonm

Also has anyone had any problems with Summit poly locks? I can't seem to keep my valves adjusted. By the time I got home last night I thought the motor was going to come apart it was making so much noise.


My guess is it is the way you are tightening them. Most people I know tighten the set screw to get the poly lock to stay tight. I have been told this is not optimum. The correct way to tighten a poly lock is to bottom the center set screw and then tighten with the nut. Once I started doing it this way I no longer had loose poly locks. Sure was a bitch to break them loose if I was checking valve adjustment though!

[Slow Ride]

http://www.procylinderheads.com/123400080a.asp

These are the heads I have now and I run a Comp XE274 also. I have never broken 100mph in the quarter.

What kinda makes me mad about all this is I took this engine out of my '78 Nova that ran 14.48 @99 with a small cam and stock smog heads and a Performer intake/carb combo. The Nova weighed about 2700 with me in it and had a 2.73 one legger rear. I added a cam and good heads and intake/carb and now I run marginally quicker and have a lower MPH with only a few hundred pounds more and lots more gear and traction.

[jdsgallops]

Originally posted by knudsonm

The carb I am using is a Holley 3310 750CFM vacuum secondary with a 4 hole 1" plastic spacer on a RPM AirGap manifold. I have an electric fuel pump and was considering switching to a Holley Blue pump and adding a relay. I have it wired into the ignition right now and it interfers with my shift light.


You can elimate the carb bowls as the 750 has center hung floats. Have you done any secodary tuning? Are you sure they are opening fully? If you "have an electric pump and was considering switching to a Holley Blue pump and adding a relay" I gaurentee that you don not have enough fuel pump. I was running the holley red that is rated only a little less than a blue and it couldn't keep up. If you are going to go with a blue, consider just buying a black right away. The black will flow 140 gph at pressure. That means when you want to add that N2O system you should still have enough pump to run safely(though a separate system would always be best). The mallory 140 is a good choice also and a little higher quality than the holley from what I have heard.

[Slow Ride]

I have the lightest spring in there. Darrell made that change for me. I haven't changed the secondary metering plate though.

[jdsgallops]

Originally posted by knudsonm
http://www.procylinderheads.com/123400080a.asp

These are the heads I have now and I run a Comp XE274 also. I have never broken 100mph in the quarter.


Look at the flow figures for those heads Mike. From .500-.600 you are only gaining 7cfm on the intake side and 4 on the exhaust. running a .560 lift cam isn't gonna hurt but to go through the trouble of finding one in that range really isn't gonna be worth the trouble IMO. Shoot for something like .525-530 and a little more on the exhaust and it will make just as much power.

[jdsgallops]

Have you jetted up in the front? If so theoretically you want to be 6 steps higher in the back. With the plate still on there you could be running lean.

[bohn]

3310 don't have secondary metering blocks.

[Slow Ride]

Do you guys think it's possible my cam might be soft? My Dart heads had valve springs that were way to stiff and I was collapsing the lifters and the engine wouldn't run quite right. Maybe the cam is junk?? Would that cause some of the problems I've been having. I wish I would've known you guys like 5 years ago when I started this project.

[jdsgallops]

Exactly, so spend the $30 and put one on. Very easy to do. He can order it the same time he orders the fuel pump. I would rather spend $300 and find out the problem was the fuel system than spend $6000 on a new engine to find out I need to upgrade the fuel system anyway.

[jdsgallops]

If the cam had wiped a lobe you should notice it as a miss since the valves won't be opening properly. It could be a possiblity and not that hard to check. Just pull the valve covers and rotate the engine by hand while watching the valves.

[Slow Ride]

This is the fuel pressure regulator I have now
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=HLY%2D12%2D803

Do I need a return line to the tank with the holley Black pump
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=HLY%2D12%2D815%2D1

I will probably get the wiring kit with a relay and the oil pressure safety switch. Are there any other reliable places to pick up oil pressure on a SBC besides the back of the block? The sender for the dash is huge and there isn't much room back there any more.

[1SLO5.0]

Hey Mike, will that electric pump that you gave me help you? I haven't used it yet and probably won't now that I am scrapping the Lincoln idea. You can have it back if you want it.

[67Mike]

Go with a Hydraulic roller.
Holley blue is more than enough fuel.
Are you running a HEI??
What are your plugs gapped at??

[Jim]

i agree with the hydraulic roller and the holley blue................

[Slow Ride]

Originally posted by Darrell
Hey Mike, will that electric pump that you gave me help you? I haven't used it yet and probably won't now that I am scrapping the Lincoln idea. You can have it back if you want it.

Do I need a return line with that pump? If I don't then yeah I could use it.

I have a MSD Pro Billet distributor,6AL box and Blaster 2 coil. I am using Champion plugs and they aren't cheap(like 4.50-5.00each) Gapping them is kinda hard with th eretracted tip.

Darrell can you get plugs with a .750 reach,gasket seat,and retracted electrode?

If I switch to a hydraulic roller, can I just slide it into my engine in the car and add a thrust plate or cam button? or do I need to have the block machined?? My water pump has a provision for a preload bolt against the front cover for a roller cam.

As a temporary fix would a Victor Jr. intake fix the lack of power in third gear? I can't go through the traps any faster because the motor won't turn any more RPM. I was turning 5400RPM by the 1000ft mark and was stuck there all the way through the traps. Or do you guys think it is strictly a fuel related problem?

[Sparrow]

I've got to go down to Baton Rouge and pickup my old 413 that ran 11.18@120mph for my buddy in Clintonville. That engine complete minus dominator is $2000. I took him down a 440 last fall that ran 10.60@127mph for $3500 delivered. And they say Mopars are expensive to build.

[1SLO5.0]

You don't need a return line with that pump you gave me. I can get the plugs...........I can get anything!!! Go with the roller. I don't think a Victor Jr. would be a temporary fix. I think you have a valve spring problem, fuel problem or a combination of both.

[brommosauto]

i think i would stop slow down and do some home work and research i it would pay of better in the long run phone calls to comp and stuff are cheap compared to parts you dont need then i would spend some time on an engine dyno look at vega boy he has a 383 that makes 500hp 500tq all before 6200rpm and on 92oct all i can say is do your home work

[jdsgallops]

No Mike you can't just put a roller cam in your block unless it was originally equiped with one. I don't know about chevies but the Fords have taller lifter bores because the lifter is longer. I would think the chevy is the same way. Hydro roller cams are nice, but IMO unless you are starting with a vehicle or block that came with one they are too expensive to justify their cost. Remember that a hydro roller is gonna need a super heavy valve spring to control the valve if going over 6000rpm or you just need to build for a 6k rev limit. Yes there are cams on the market now that are easuer on the spring but the lobe tends to be lazy so the advantages go out the window. With your truck not being a daily driver I would seriously take a look at a solid lifter cam. It will slide right in, have a much faster ramp rate, provide more rpm, and cost 1/2 the price of the roller. Comp has so many solid lifter profiles to choose from there is no way you can't find something that wil work well. And as a side note I know a guy with a 351c that had motor troubles one year racing. Money became tight so he had to switch from a solid roller to a solid flat with almost identcal specs. The difference in Et was almost none, if I remember correctly it was within a tenth of a sec. Theory doesn't always translate to what works.

[nos2go]

It would be alot esier to give an idea if you told use what you have, what you want to do, street-strip or RACE??

[Slow Ride]

S-10 Blazer 2dr 2wd about 3200 with me in it.
.040 over 350 with cast flat top pistons and stock reconditioned rods and the crank was turned .010/.010
CR is around 10:1
Pro Action Aluminum 180 heads 2.02/1.60 64cc chambers angle plugs
Generic RPM AirGap intake
Holley 3310 carb
Streetdampr
Comp Cams XE274 hydraulic flat tappet cam
Summit roller timing set
hardened stock length pushrods
Summit 1.5 ratio full roller rockers
1.625/2.5 long tube headers
2.5 dual exhaust with turbo type mufflers dumped before the rearend
All MSD ignition

Griffin 4-core radiator
Aluminum water pump

TH350 tranny
Hughes Performance 2500 stall converter
Biggest tranny cooler Summit has

Currie 9" with 4.11 gears and a trakloc
Lakewood slapper bars

I want to do mostly strip and a bit of street. I like my power brakes, but I guess I wouldn't mind switching to a manual brake system. It would give me more room to work on the drivers side. I had to dent the brake booster for the tall valve covers. Hopefully next year I'll be able to go racing every Saturday. I just really want to be able to drive the damn thing a little bit. I've been working on it for 5 years now and haven't been able to enjoy it at all. Always something wrong, I'm getting sick of throwing money at it and nothing seems to work.

[nos2go]

I think you have some mismatched parts, have you weighed it, most people think s-10 are light, I think your more like 3600 or more and its so boxy, not very aerodynamic. That cam is very mild, too mild for your heads, with those heads you should use a Victor intake. Your engine now would only make power to 5500rpm, thats why in 3rd gear your not pulling anymore.

[Jim]

i don't like that carb either. my car didn't run very good at the track with the 3310 on it. i could never get it "right", it always stumbled real bad. it ran good on the street though.

[Jim]

Originally posted by Sparrow
I've got to go down to Baton Rouge and pickup my old 413 that ran 11.18@120mph for my buddy in Clintonville. That engine complete minus dominator is $2000. I took him down a 440 last fall that ran 10.60@127mph for $3500 delivered. And they say Mopars are expensive to build.

you don't count sparrow, because you could turn a turd into a gold nugget. you are the king of deals. :bna

[nos2go]

Some engines are cheap to build, for example, a Pontiac, buy a junkyard 400 for $50.00, get a brand new 455 crank for $300.00, and a 455 rebuild kit (500), bore the 400 .030 over machine work ( 100) and you have a 461 Torque monster that will have almost 550 hp and 600 ftlbs of torque with the right cam. Under $2000 for a complete motor isnt bad!! Knudsonm sorry this wont help you out much, a pontiac wont fit in an S10 without redoing the front crossmember, Ive tried. I did have a pontiac motor in an 86 full size blazer, it was fun pulling from mustangs and camaros ata stoplight!!

[1SLO5.0]

FYI, a roller cam will slide right in a small block chevy and the roller lifters drop right in too. Roller cams slide right into Fords too. The only issue with using a roller cam in a Ford is trying to put a factory roller cam in a non factory roller cam block.

[Slow Ride]

I'm just wondering what keeps the cam in the block? Is there a thrust plate? or do you need a stronger front cover? What cams use a cast distributor drive gear? I don't want to change the dist gear over to brass.

[brommosauto]

you have to use a cam button

[jdsgallops]

Like I keep saying going to a roller cam isn't worth the hassle. If it was just the cam and drop the lifters in I would be all for it. Unfortuantely it is not. Sure Darrell you can throw a roller cam into the non roller 302 block, and then spend $300+ on a set of lifters. As I have said before the only way a roller cam gives you any advantage is if that is what you are starting with. If you have to switch over it is cost prohibitive. Add in different length pushrods, dizzy gear, and who knows what else once you get into it. Solid flat cam will give you all the advantages of a hydro roller with out the cost or hassles. That being said, I totally disagree with nos2go. There is nothing wrong with that combo. A 180cc intake port is not asking for a vic jr intake on a 350ci engine. One might work well on it but those are by no means race heads, those are street/strip heads. A cam with 230* of duration at .050 is not too much cam and should be small enough that low end torque isn't real bad in the heavy vehicle(which I highly doubt weighs 3200lbs that is what a mustang without a full frame weighs, unless you have done some pretty serious weight reduction). What it needs is some serious tuning. Start with the basics, compression test, leak down test, distributor curve, intial timing, carb jetting, secondary spring settings, rear metering plate and jets, fuel pressure, are the valves adjusted correctly, etc... Eliminate all the basics before you start blaming the engine and the performance. I still say it is a fuel problem. Even the stock 2.8liter engine should have been able to push that truck to 100mph so saying the cam is too small and it's not making any power above 5400rpm is just silly. Even if peak power is at 5500 it should pull to 6k, and should certainly do over 100mph with a v8 engine and 4.11 gears. The parts look good and are high quality, now you need to find out why they aren't working as they should together, which is a tuning issue.

[1SLO5.0]

Originally posted by jdsgallops
Like I keep saying going to a roller cam isn't worth the hassle. If it was just the cam and drop the lifters in I would be all for it. Unfortuantely it is not. Sure Darrell you can throw a roller cam into the non roller 302 block, and then spend $300+ on a set of lifters. As I have said before the only way a roller cam gives you any advantage is if that is what you are starting with. If you have to switch over it is cost prohibitive. Add in different length pushrods, dizzy gear, and who knows what else once you get into it. Solid flat cam will give you all the advantages of a hydro roller with out the cost or hassles. That being said, I totally disagree with nos2go. There is nothing wrong with that combo. A 180cc intake port is not asking for a vic jr intake on a 350ci engine. One might work well on it but those are by no means race heads, those are street/strip heads. A cam with 230* of duration at .050 is not too much cam and should be small enough that low end torque isn't real bad in the heavy vehicle(which I highly doubt weighs 3200lbs that is what a mustang without a full frame weighs, unless you have done some pretty serious weight reduction). What it needs is some serious tuning. Start with the basics, compression test, leak down test, distributor curve, intial timing, carb jetting, secondary spring settings, rear metering plate and jets, fuel pressure, are the valves adjusted correctly, etc... Eliminate all the basics before you start blaming the engine and the performance. I still say it is a fuel problem. Even the stock 2.8liter engine should have been able to push that truck to 100mph so saying the cam is too small and it's not making any power above 5400rpm is just silly. Even if peak power is at 5500 it should pull to 6k, and should certainly do over 100mph with a v8 engine and 4.11 gears. The parts look good and are high quality, now you need to find out why they aren't working as they should together, which is a tuning issue.


To the roller cam issue..............its not a big deal? My 351 that was originally in my 65 made more horsepower and torque peak and throughout the rpm range than the flat tappet garbage did. And yes that was on the dyno. I don't want to quote numbers because that was years ago and I don't remember. It was like 34 hp and 27 ft. lbs. Pretty much the same cam profile...........Hybridlebaron can vouch for that..........the motor was stinky Pauls old motor...........somewhat. Anyway, I am not going to get into stupid arguements on cams. I really think that you have other issues (like John said). Fuel or valve springs. I am leaning more towards fuel because Jim experienced a similar problem with his car that was a lean condition. The broken valve spring does make me wonder though..................

[brommosauto]

ah just put a bandaid on it and spray it till it wont take no more then worry about a new engine..........lol

[nos2go]

JD...you have your opinions I have mine, I was just reading the specs for the heads when I said that, If they recommend a Victor Intake, Im sure they did there homework. The facts are he is making to little HP for a heavy (BOX) vehicle. Out of curiosity, what kind of fuel are you using?

[jdsgallops]

Nos2go what you don't realize, as you were not on the board yet, was we went through this already with him which is when he gave up his old heads and put these new ones on. So by you saying the combo is mismatched is kinda like saying he switched heads for nothing. If he runs a cam that makes peak power at 5500rpm, which the 274 likely does, a vic jr is not the correct intake no matter what the manufacturer recommends for the heads. Just as you, I and everyone else has said in this thread it is the combo that make the power. A vic jr with a cam that peaks at 5500 is not a good combo, I know I had one. The intake he has is the proper choice, though I would question the quality of it with it being an off brand.

[jdsgallops]

Originally posted by Darrell
My 351 that was originally in my 65 made more horsepower and torque peak and throughout the rpm range than the flat tappet garbage did. It was like 34 hp and 27 ft. lbs. Pretty much the same cam profile

Darrell read what I keep saying. My issue with a roller cam is money spent versus power gained. There are a number of things that could have reflected your increase. #1 head flow. If the head was flowing massive amounts more at the increased lift the roller cam gave you then it is gonna make more power. As I have already pointed out Mikes heads only gain 7cfm of flow between .500 and .600. Adding more lift isn't gonna do much here. Finding a flat tappet cam and combining it with a 1.6 rocker to achieve a lift total in the low .500 range should be quite easy even with a chevy profile. #2 You say the cam was "pretty much the same profile". There is no such thing. It is either the same or different. Why do you think Ed Curtis has become such a legend in the mustang world. He takes Comp Cam lobes and puts them to his desired opening and closing specs and ends up with more power than the other guy. The only way a cam can be "pretty much the same" is if the opening and closing events are the same with only different lift values. For example the B303 cam versus the X303 cam. Exactly the same only different lift values. As taken from Richard Holdeners 5.0 Dyno Test book, the X cam with .542 lift only averaged 4 more hp and 5 lb-ft more torque than the B cam with .480 lift on the same engine. And the engine was equipped with ported Dart heads that flowed 259cfm at .550 lift and 247 at .500. So with roughly 15 more cfm available he only made 4 more average hp with .062" more lift. Now add in my#3 issue with a roller cam and the cost isn't justified IMO. Add up the cost of putting a roller cam in a non roller block. Cam $240, Lifters $250, different length pushrods $100, different distributor gear 35, for chevy's a new cam button, You are looking at close to $700 to install a roller cam in a non roller block. If you already have a running roller cam motor, where all that is needed is the cam, yes a 34hp increase for $250 is an exceptional value. But I should be able to find more than 34hp elsewhere for $700.(hell nitrous would triple that for less money) IMO if you are gonna spend $700 on something it would be better spent on port work of the heads concetrating on low lift flow. Notice I have never said hydro rollers don't make power, what I have said, and will continue to say, is hydro roller cams cost too much for the increase of power if starting from scratch. Once again a solid lifter flat tappet cam will give you the same fast ramp rate, allow higher reving, slide in with no other needed modifications, and cost $200 to boot. That is a winner in my book.

[nos2go]

He kinda did switch heads for nothing, get the intake the head company recommends, then match a cam to that. And the Holley carb, people still use those things??

[bohn]

if you do the math mike...at 98mph in high gear with 4.11's and a 26" tall tire that you have your should only be running 5200rpm at the line, it your at 5400 at the 1000' mark, something is definately wrong. I have told you this before and will say it again..its all a tuning issue. Get your lifters adjusted right, play with the timing..have you ever found true TDC on that enging? You know what i'm talking about here because both my engine and curts where way off. Play with the timing, don't go by the reccommended specs because ever engine is different. If you get the thing tuned right i'm almost positive that you'll run high 13's.

I personally like the 3310 carb, i had one on my truck and after i fiigured out how to tune it it worked great. Do what you want mike, but dumping $5000 in a new motor won't do shit, if you can't tune it.

[Jim]

AMEN!!