Thread: Need advice building my first 350 sbc.

Tweet

also have a line on a holley 650 double pumper

Have you decided which motor you're building? The 650 on a 454 will be small but on the 350 it would be ok.

Cam choices? In my mind, there is only one choice.. Roller with hydraulic lifters.

A flat tappet cam with todays oils, I think you'd have better odds gambling in Vegas if it'll live... Just my opinion.

At that pick and pull----get the whole engine out of one of those 99 subs--------block will be set up for roller cam/lifters------ends oil choice difficulties-----also if you get the complete engine-------fuel injection?, Accessories-power steering, ac, alt, serpentine belt system-------and if its an automatic trans with 2 wheel drive-a much better trans-get any oem computer/ign/ engine wire harness etc

Originally Posted by CanadianArmyGuy

also have a line on a holley 650 double pumper

With a stick shift transmission or an automatic with a 3000 stall converter, you can get away with a double pumper on the street. If you have an auto with a stock converter, it probably won't work too well.

.

Well it looks like you have received a lot of comments and good information. The prevailing trend (as attested to by many here) is that if you go with a small block a roller 350 is the best platform to start with. I would add my support there as well – especially for first time builder. While I recommended two flat tappet cams in my post above and believe that they can be good choices, the roller motor certainly has advantages and takes away the tricky cam break-in procedures. Roller cams with similar profile would be a great for your build – especially if a 383 is a possibility.

As to the 650 double pumper Holley – I’m not a fan of them on anything except manual transmission cars or in a dual quad configuration on a monster built big block engine. The 600 cfm Edelbrock (1406) has vacuum secondaries and an electric choke that works well. The 1406 tends to be a bit rich out of the box and I have had to re-jet them and swap metering rods on stock 305/350 engines but such is easily done. Slightly modified engines seem to do very well with the 1406 right out of the box.

The Q-Jet also gives great performance and there’s nothing like the sound of the secondaries opening under full throttle. I know that a lot of people dislike the Quadrajet but set up correctly they are hard to beat – small primaries that provide economy and huge secondaries to give some thrill.

Jerry’s suggestion of an entire engine and transmission with accessories could also be a real winner. You could rebuild with some mild performance parts and have a fuel injected engine with an OD transmission that starts at the tap of the key and will give you 100,000 plus miles of dependable cruising.

The ’65 Impala SS is such an awesome car that there’s really no way to loose on this. Lots of choices here – all good ones!