Thread: What Should I Do

Tweet

I've got my Grandmother 74 Impala with the 350 Two
Barrel that will need an overhaul before too much lon-
ger. I'm not looking to make quarter mile history, but
I'm looking for, say, 0-60 in around 9 to 10 seconds and
a quarter mile in the mid to low 16's. About what Cop
Car performance of the era was. What do I need to do
to get there? It has the TH350 with 3.08 gears. I was
thinking a Comp Cams 252H with a Quadrajet Carb, Roller
tip rocker arms with stock lift ratio, about 9:1 compression,
Either short or long headers, dual exhaust with 2 1/8 pipes
with 2 chamber flowmasters, as well as a good balance job
and a Fluidamper. Can I get away with shorty headers,
or do I need long tube? Can I use a stock Quadrajet
Intake or do I need to go with a Weiand Action Plus or
Edelbrock performer? Remember, I'm not looking for power
at 6000 rpm's, just good low down torque. Thanks and
Great Forum.

I might be a little conservative here, but I'd leave Grandma's car alone. Fix up and minor shortcomings and just leave it a nice old car. An Impala will never be a drag strip hero, but you'll kill whatever value that the car currently has. There are still a lot of Nova's out there (especially '73-'79 models). Make this nice older car nicer (don't modify it), and then take the proceeds from selling it for a toy. JMHO.

I don't plan to modify the Body or anything like that.
I'm not going to be putting 18" rims on it, or slamming it.
But, In todays traffic where even cheap new cars can get to 60mph in 10 seconds due to light weight and fuel injection
I need more performance than stock for on-ramps and such.
I also know that the Q-Jet will get better fuel mileage than the stock 2GC, especially with a free flowing exhaust and HEI conversion. I also plan to keep this car for a long time because of the memories I have and because it only has 68,000 miles on it. The reason the motor needs an overhaul is because Granny didn't drive it much nor did it receive regular maintenance and it's starting to burn a little oil. But the body was garage kept and is in excellent shape.

im with swifster, keep that car all original, fine tune any rough spots, get the engine running right again, not suped up, not technologically advanced, and sell it as a numbers matching car, post it as "all original, down the the last nut and bolt", you'll pull a good price for it and you can make a weekend warrior out of another car that is asking to be nursed on the bottle with a nice big power plant in it.

I'm not going to sell it. Too many memories. Plus I do plan to drive it quite often. I don't believe in Trailer Queens. Thanks for the replys.

O.K., here's an alternate plan that maybe you can live with. While continuing to drive the car, locate a rebuildable Chevy 400 short block and start gathering up parts for it.
GM 12558060 Vortec heads $249.75 each at www.SDPC2000
Edelbrock 2116 Vortec intake for std. or spreadbore carb (use quadrajet if you want)
Edelbrock 8032 throttle bracket
Keith Black KB126 (+0.030") pistons (30 cc D-cup)
Fel-Pro 1014 head gaskets 0.039" compressed
Crane 100042 cam (Vortec heads limited to 0.450" lift with supplied springs) http://www.cranecams.com/?show=brows...tType=camshaft
You could also use the Comp Cams 260H
Chevy rail rocker arms
1 5/8" headers
5.700" Chevy rods
zero deck the block
stock converter

This will make a strong torque motor that will run great on cat-piss pump gas (8.93:1 compression ratio)

Wrap the 350 up in plastic and store it in the corner of the garage in case you ever do want to sell the car. You'll have the original motor and it will bring more money. And by the way, don't say you'll never sell it

P.S. you won't need the Fluidamper, use the stock 400 damper and flexplate.

I still have my first car I ever bought in November 1983, a 1971 Maverick, so I do keep my cars for quite a long time. I also have 12 others I have bought over the years, I only buy cars I like so I don't sell!

Techinspector is "Right-on". Follow his formula and the car will be docile and run in the 14's.