Thread: Help me build my 355 street motor

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I need help in building my 355 street motor. right now it is a 350 bored over 30 should have about 10:1 compression. this is what i am thinking about going with
World Products Sportsman II heads
lunati voodoo cam 60101LK 256/262 213/219 .454"/.468" 112/108 Hyd/Hyd 1000-5500 or
lunati voodoo cam 60102LK 262/268 219/227 .468"/.489" 112/108 Hyd/Hyd 1400-5800
Weiand Stealth duel plane intake and a holley 770cfm carb.

Also if not these heads what are good heads for these cams. I am wanting a street car so any advice on a good hp/tq steet car with this setup would be great. I am going to use on of the lunati voodoo cams and the weiand intake and holley carb for sure just need to know info on a good set of heads instead of the old 882 that are on there know.
Car is a 75 vette with turbo 400 tranny and 3.08 gears and no i am not changing the gearing. Also what stall will i need.

Any info on a good street motor would be great I do not want a race car but i do want something that will getup an go.


Thanks

Originally posted by 1bad75vette
I need help in building my 355 street motor. right now it is a 350 bored over 30 should have about 10:1 compression. this is what i am thinking about going with
World Products Sportsman II heads
lunati voodoo cam 60101LK 256/262 213/219 .454"/.468" 112/108 Hyd/Hyd 1000-5500 or
lunati voodoo cam 60102LK 262/268 219/227 .468"/.489" 112/108 Hyd/Hyd 1400-5800
Weiand Stealth duel plane intake and a holley 770cfm carb.

Also if not these heads what are good heads for these cams. I am wanting a street car so any advice on a good hp/tq steet car with this setup would be great. I am going to use on of the lunati voodoo cams and the weiand intake and holley carb for sure just need to know info on a good set of heads instead of the old 882 that are on there know.
Car is a 75 vette with turbo 400 tranny and 3.08 gears and no i am not changing the gearing. Also what stall will i need.

Any info on a good street motor would be great I do not want a race car but i do want something that will getup an go.


Thanks

I would try Dart Iron Eagle heads with a port volume of 165 cc,or s/r torquer heads.The carb is to big try a 600 vac. instead.The smallest of the cam's you picked might be allright maybe a little big?If you go with a little smaller cam you will not need a stall.

For SBC street iron heads with a non-roller cam, I don't think you can beat the GM Vortec heads that have been modified by Scoggin-Dickey with 0.525" lift springs and machined for screw-in studs and guide plates. Part number SD8060AGP, $388.25 each.
www.SDPC2000.com

For SBC street aluminum heads, I don't think you can beat Air Flow Research 180 cc CNC Street Ported heads.
http://www.airflowresearch.com/

Get yourself a good, rebuilt, properly tuned Quadrajet. The tiny little primaries will give good throttle response and mileage and the huge secondaries will supply all the fuel/air mix that your 355 could ever want. If you don't know anything about them, order this book....
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

Don't choose a cam until you know your exact static compression ratio. Both of the cams you've chosen will be too short to work with 10.0:1 c.r. The motor will rattle like a can of rocks unless you run race fuel and/or pull all the ignition timing out of it, especially with iron heads.

Zero deck the block, use Fel-Pro 0.039" head gaskets and reconfigure your combination at 8.9:1 to 9.0:1. Then you can use either cam without a higher stall converter, although a looser converter (1,800 to 2,200) will get you "up on the cam" quicker and make the car more fun to drive.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

What about the same combo but with dart Iron eagal heads or the upgraded sdpc vortec heads. Anyone use them or have anything good or bad to say. Right now it is looking like i am going with the sportman 2 ot maybe the dart or vortec I cant make my mind up because I keep reading a bunch of different kind of setups on 355's. I can not jusifiy the price of an aluminum head when they flow the same as the cast iron ones on the aftermarket. Another thing do you all run angle or stright plugs whats the difference in them. Sorry for all the questions i am new to this motor build stuff

Originally posted by 1bad75vette
What about the same combo but with dart Iron eagal heads or the upgraded sdpc vortec heads. Anyone use them or have anything good or bad to say. Right now it is looking like i am going with the sportman 2 ot maybe the dart or vortec I cant make my mind up because I keep reading a bunch of different kind of setups on 355's. I can not jusifiy the price of an aluminum head when they flow the same as the cast iron ones on the aftermarket. Another thing do you all run angle or stright plugs whats the difference in them. Sorry for all the questions i am new to this motor build stuff

The Sportman II's are 200cc to big for what you are trying to do.Try to keep the port volume at 170 cc or less.I perfer the Dart's over the vortec heads just because the decks on them are so much thicker.

Personally I dont think Al. heads are the best choice for a street motor. I have Sportsman 2 heads on my 355 and I feel that they are just as good as the others mentioned. As with anything though you are going to hear good and bad things about them no matter what, its really all in what you can afford right now. No matter what you do you wont be happy with it and you will be looking for something else to do to the engine. When you run out of stuff to do to it, youll begin on another project,lol. On mine the cam I have is a lunati .480 bracket Master, Holley 600 double pumper, Weiand X-celerater Intake, turbo 350 w/ shift kit & a 28-3200 Stall. Its pretty stout and its a good street motor but Its not going to be there for long. See what I mean, never satisfied,lol.

Good luck with yours

By the way,
Be careful on your cam selections also because the cams will effect your vaccuum such as your brake booster and such but you shouldnt have a problem with that on a mild street motor

Originally posted by Dipschnit
Personally I dont think Al. heads are the best choice for a street motor. I have Sportsman 2 heads on my 355 and I feel that they are just as good as the others mentioned. As with anything though you are going to hear good and bad things about them no matter what, its really all in what you can afford right now. No matter what you do you wont be happy with it and you will be looking for something else to do to the engine. When you run out of stuff to do to it, youll begin on another project,lol. On mine the cam I have is a lunati .480 bracket Master, Holley 600 double pumper, Weiand X-celerater Intake, turbo 350 w/ shift kit & a 28-3200 Stall. Its pretty stout and its a good street motor but Its not going to be there for long. See what I mean, never satisfied,lol.

Good luck with yours

By the way,
Be careful on your cam selections also because the cams will effect your vaccuum such as your brake booster and such but you shouldnt have a problem with that on a mild street motor

You might take a look at what he is trying to do.He has a 3.08 gear and wants to run a cam that is about 1 step above an R/V cam.Do you really think the Sportsman II's would have enough port velocity to have good throttle responce?

No, You are absolutely right with what you say, I was just giving him options of what he could do. He listed the things that he was thinking about going with, not the things he had so I was just giving him some insight although I didnt factor the gears not being changed.

Just FYI...... I have personally seen two motors killed by 200cc sportsman heads. Both where 350's and both had cams bigger than the one's you are talking about. Both where street driven cars. First car had 186 double humps and they cracked. Second car had the early double humps without acc. bolt holes so he replaced the early heads to convert over to the long water pump setup.
Not a good head for the setup you are talking about.

The sportsmans are good heads in the right aplication. I have seen them work very well on a high revving solid lifter 350.