Thread: 350 chevy engine want 400HP

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This is my first build and I'm wanting 400 horsepower give or take 20 out of my stock 1973 Chevrolet engine. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated!

Crap engine....get a 283 inline 6....much better engine..sike....ok first before anything you have to make sure ur tranny and rear end is up to it to handle 400+ hp...if ur good with that then here go......

Let the engine breathe better, so a good intake and carb such as an edelbrock is nice along with that free up the exhaust(best bet, take the car to a minakie, i cant spell, or any type of exhaust shop and have them build one)....now that its breathing better you can get a better, more radical cam, i recomend, comp cam with the lifters and a set of roller rockers....then a set of alluminum heads, i like world products..these are the main bolt ons(before you have to take the engine all apart, such as new pistons)....if u wanna save urself some money in the long run, take the engine to an engine builder and have it punched and cleaned up so u wont have to worry about that later.

Also DONT mix and match parts that are expensive and seem good, like everything a good combination of parts is better than having the best parts, look for something that has been done and expiremented on such as http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/bowtie/bowtie.html ...also SEARCH next time

if u need any more help email me vincentlodato@yahoo.com , i would be happy to help.

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/53080/
check this out chevy 350 with 520 hp

I love that ZZ520 build up. That is very close to my next motor build. A little less cam but not much though. 280AR is what I was thinking. Hard to believe a 350 can make 520HP @ only 6600rpms now days. 10 years ago that would have been 7500rpms. Its all in the heads and cams. A 400 horse 350 is a standard build up now.

hey thanks for the help guys. I'm pretty sure I can achieve my 400 HP with my stock short block. I'm thinking of putting mostly edelbrock bolt ons and I have a 12 bolt chevy rearend and a turbo 350 tranny. I don't know the gear in the rearend but it is low probably a 3:73 or 4:11. My truck tachs about 3000 rpms at 60 mph. Again I appreciate the help and keep'm old and fast.

I was just wondering how much the 400hp is going to cost on a stock 350?

i would say you could get it for about 2 grand im not sure how reliable it would be accually you could probably get it for less than that

that 1973 motor has crap for compression.i would get sum smaller chamber heads or flat top pistons.unless you want to put a blower on it ether way get rid of those heads would be the best bet for later on down the road when 400hp is just not enough

Here are over 100 dyno-proven combinations....look through them, pick the characteristics you want from your motor and build accordingly. You'll notice that most of these street motors use a static compression ratio of 9.0:1 to 9.5:1 so they are compatible with pump gas.
http://www.ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos1.html

I have a 74 nova ss that I put vortec heads and edelbrock vortec air gap intake with 1.5 roller rockers (self aligning) with a 1405 edelbrock carb. Used a davis unified distirbutor, Pulled 394 horsepower with a stock bottom end. It cost me about 900. dollars in the end. Check out scoggin dickey for the heads.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by vincentlodato
[B]Crap engine....get a 283 inline 6....much better engine..


You Know, I have had small block Chevys for 45 years and I have never seen a 283 inline 6.
What planet did that come from?

Originally posted by fstrfvo
I have a 74 nova ss that I put vortec heads and edelbrock vortec air gap intake with 1.5 roller rockers (self aligning) with a 1405 edelbrock carb. Used a davis unified distirbutor, Pulled 394 horsepower with a stock bottom end. It cost me about 900. dollars in the end. Check out scoggin dickey for the heads.

If you got all that stuff for $900, all I can say is, you have better connections than I do

I guess I should have been more specific, The heads, intake and rocker arms, along with some dyno time cost me around 900. The Carb and distributor were from a previous engine. Scoggin Dickey sells a complete kit for 729.95 for the performer or 779.95 for the performer rpm. They also sell kits for higher lift cams but cost more. With a good tune up this combo put me close to 400 horsepower. With a good combo of parts you sould hit 400 hp pretty easy. But its the torque that get you going, with the exception of afr heads, Vortecs are the way to go. Hope this helps you out.

Cool, thanks for the clarification. Let me ask you, did you get your ~400hp with the stock springs and rocker arms? Everyone talks about the limited lift on the stock vortecs.

Yes the ones I got are not modified, My cam is still stock so the lift is not very big. The stock heads flow very well. The rocker arms are 1.5 ratio. I am using a davis unified ignition distribitor from perfomance distributors, they will curve it for you, just call them and tell them your combo. Also using flowtech headers with 2.5 inch pipes with warlock mufflers. Im runnnig a holley fuel pump going to a Edelbrock 1405 (600 cfm) carb. the engine is very strong for the street, I have not had it on the track, but the dyno does not lie 394 HP at 5152 rpm and 352 pounds of torque at , I think it was 4200 rpm or something around there.