Thread: Chevy Nova 350

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1968 Chevy 350 Conversion:

Okay it's finally time, juss getting down to some minor details.

I got a 1993 Chevy 350 which is currently being converted to Carburated.

350 Specs:
-1993 Chevy 350 4 bolt main.
-Stock 1.94 intake, 1.50 exhaust heads.
-Stock Pistons, Rods, Crank.
-Stock Cam
-Edelbrock Intake 0-5500 rpm
-Probably a Holley 750cfm
-Headers
-Synthetic Oil

This engine will be attached to a 1968 Powerglide with a shift kit and aluminum pan. Also filled with synthetic.

What should I do about the Torque Convertor? should I use the one off of the 6 cyl, or get a new one?

Also with 3.55 or 3.73 gearing, and 26 inch tall radial street tires what 1/4 mile performance can I expect?

Thanks................

Originally posted by SuperNova68
1968 Chevy 350 Conversion:

Okay it's finally time, juss getting down to some minor details.

I got a 1993 Chevy 350 which is currently being converted to Carburated.

350 Specs:
-1993 Chevy 350 4 bolt main.
-Stock 1.94 intake, 1.50 exhaust heads.
-Stock Pistons, Rods, Crank.
-Stock Cam
-Edelbrock Intake 0-5500 rpm
-Probably a Holley 750cfm
-Headers
-Synthetic Oil

This engine will be attached to a 1968 Powerglide with a shift kit and aluminum pan. Also filled with synthetic.

What should I do about the Torque Convertor? should I use the one off of the 6 cyl, or get a new one?

Also with 3.55 or 3.73 gearing, and 26 inch tall radial street tires what 1/4 mile performance can I expect?

Thanks................

16 sec.
use the stock conv. "poor mans stall"
way to much carb.

Here is some data on a Nova 350:

http://www.novaresource.org/history.htm


Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

OK 16 sec 1/4 mile, I think my car could do tht right now with the 6 cyl. How did you come about that time? My ideal goal was 13's on street tires. What do I need to do to run in the 13's with street tires?.................Cheers

Originally posted by SuperNova68
OK 16 sec 1/4 mile, I think my car could do tht right now with the 6 cyl. How did you come about that time? My ideal goal was 13's on street tires. What do I need to do to run in the 13's with street tires?.................Cheers

You are gonna have to work on the heads and cam for sure, you need about 350 HP to run in the 13's, and you probably have about 250-275. When they say that headers add about 30 HP, that not true unless you do something to the cam and heads to make them work. you need a complete package with carb., intake heads and cam, that works together.

ps; if thats a stock 6 its good for about 19 sec.

Yah I know the Powerglide will hold me back on neck snapping performance.

My goal right now is to get the 350 in my 1968 Nova.

Soon after it is in, I will put performance heads, and all the goodies to make 400hp.

Skipping the whole transmission step will be a lot easier for me.

Honestly, I just want to get the engine in the car. After it is, and running, then I will decide on a different transmission.

I mean once the engine is in the car, I have so many options, as for performance.

The Heads # 10110810 that are one the car right now. What would be a good cam to use with these heads. With the cam how much power do you think I can make from that and the rest of the things I listed. And how much power will I make juss leaving the stock cam in?

Also, what is involved in changing this cam? Do I have to adjust anything? I've never done one before.

Cheers

PS. I bet you my Nova could do a 16 sec lap with my stock powerglide, 2.73 gears and 26 in Tires. And If I put 3.55 or 3.73 gears in, it would run 15's.

You would be surprised what I've beaten before on the street. I've taken punks in 5.0L Stangs, Turboed Civics, who don't know how to drive.

Just Saying................Cheers

Personally I think with 3.55 or 3.73 gears you should be in the high 14s-low 15s. I am basing this on a friends 70 Nova with 255 hp 350 with 4 speed. Using a 6 cyl or vega torque converter is a cheap way to raise the stall, but don't expect it to last too long, especially driving it on the street much. Been there and done that. Be sure to run the biggest/best trans cooler you can get. I agree you don't need that big a carb, but if it is vacuum secondaries it may be ok, they only open as much as the motor will pull if they are set up right. For a 350 turning 5500 RPM a 600 CFM should be plenty. Why not get the Edelbrock carb that matches the intake? They are designed to work together.

Good luck with your project.

Pat

PS. I bet you my Nova could do a 16 sec lap with my stock powerglide, 2.73 gears and 26 in Tires. And If I put 3.55 or 3.73 gears in, it would run 15's."


And I'll bet that the only way this combination is gonna go 16's is if it was dropped out of an airplane.

Originally posted by techinspector1
PS. I bet you my Nova could do a 16 sec lap with my stock powerglide, 2.73 gears and 26 in Tires. And If I put 3.55 or 3.73 gears in, it would run 15's."


And I'll bet that the only way this combination is gonna go 16's is if it was dropped out of an airplane.

might not do it then. the stock late model LT1's only run 14 sec. the 1/4 miles i ran on must have been up hill.

13s with a stock 350 w/ bolts ons? no way! i had a stock 60k mile 74 350 in my 80 malibu with basically the same bolt ons except with a 600 carb. TH350 trans with a shift kit and 2500 stall. 2.73 rear. it went a 16.06. then i freshened the motor and added a small .443/.420 cam and went from a perf to a perf rpm intake. same rear and trans, it then went a 9.59 in the 1/8 which would be 15.0s. your 3.73s will help but i dont see better than 15s out of it. oh and lose the powerglide

Maybe this is the place to ask the following question: Which 350 are you talking about? I know we went over the change in the way GM reported H.P. but there must be some other factors like a change in the SBC heads and compression ratios that changed with the gas. I offered this as a project to FMX and maybe he turned in his report by now but here is some data from a 1972 Chiltons manual, all for 4-barrel 350 engine.

Year Adv. HP Adv. TQ Adv. C.R.
1967 295@4800 380@3200 10.25:1
1968 295@4800 380@3200 10.25:1
1969 255@4800 365@3200 9.00:1
300@5000 380@3200 10.25:1
1970 300@4800 380@3200 10.25:1
360@6000 380@4000 11.00:1 (Z28)
1971 270@4800 360@3200 8.50:1
330@5600 360@4000 8.50:1 (Z28)
1972 210@4800 n.a. 8.50:1
275@5600 n.a. 9.00:1 (Z28)
1973 190@4400 270@2800 8.50:1 (Corvette)
250@5200 285@4000 9.00:1 (Corvette)
1974 195@4400 275@2800 8.50:1 (Corvette)
250@5200 285@4000 9.00:1 (Corvette)
1975*6 165@3800 255@2400 8.50:1 (Corvette)
205@4800 255@3600 9.00:1 (Corvette)

It looks like the usual hot rod principles are at work, higher C.R. makes more H.P. and a "hotter" cam as in the Z28 shifts the H.P. to higher rpm, but my oh my the same displacement can give very different results depending on other things. Somewhere in there tetraethylead was banned making high compression difficult and obviously in 1975 and 1976 the cams as well as the heads were changed but it looks like it is easy to detune the 350 as well as soup it up! IT would be interesting to see what differences there are on the dyno curves from 1000-3000 rpm and they might not be much different because the high H.P. comes from higher rpm. Can you experts comment on how the 350 got detuned to a measley 165 H.P. in 1975?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don, In the middle 70s everyones horsepower went to sh*t. In an effort to meet emission standards the motors were smothered, low compression, poor cam timing, small valves and ports, ignition curves reduced and on and on. They were also learning to deal with unleaded gas. The priorities were economy and emissions #1, performance was way down the list. Check the RPM on those 1975 motors, 3800 is ridiculous. the 80s were only marginally better. Finally by the 90s they started designing from scratch instead of trying to band-aid old technology and things have gotten a lot better on all fronts, HP, economy, emissions and drivability.

Pat

Originally posted by SuperNova68
PS. I bet you my Nova could do a 16 sec lap with my stock powerglide, 2.73 gears and 26 in Tires. And If I put 3.55 or 3.73 gears in, it would run 15's.

You would be surprised what I've beaten before on the street. I've taken punks in 5.0L Stangs, Turboed Civics, who don't know how to drive.

Just Saying................Cheers

I hope you won't take the folks comments too personal, the only real way to tell is get out to the track and get a time slip. Most of these guys have been around a track some and built and tuned a lot of cars so give there thoughts some credibility, even if they are a little hard on ya. They really don't mean any harm.

Good luck with your project and keep us posted on how it goes.

Pat

Originally posted by Stu Cool
I hope you won't take the folks comments too personal, the only real way to tell is get out to the track and get a time slip. Most of these guys have been around a track some and built and tuned a lot of cars so give there thoughts some credibility, even if they are a little hard on ya. They really don't mean any harm.

Good luck with your project and keep us posted on how it goes.

Pat

no i dont mean no harm, just telling it like it is. if he has a stock 1993 computer motor that he put a carb. on then it will be 2 th slower than these times.

Chevrolet

1993 Chevrolet 454 SS 7.2 15.8 (MT Jun '93)
2002 Chevrolet Avalanche Z71 8.3 16.5
2002 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500 (auto) 8.8 16.6 (MT Feb. '02)
1987 Chevrolet Beretta GT 8.3 16.3
1990 Chevrolet Beretta GT 8.6 16.4
1990 Chevrolet Beretta GTZ 7.7 16.1
1991 Chevrolet Beretta GTZ 7.7 16.1
1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS-350 8.0 15.4
1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 5.3 11.68 (Book:Ultimate Performance Cars '05)
1972 Chevrolet Camaro Budget GT 10.5 17.6
1972 Chevrolet Camaro Luxury GT 9.8 17.2
1972 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 7.5 15.5
1974 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 8.1 15.4
1975 Chevrolet Camaro 350 11.0 17.4
1975 Chevrolet Camaro RS 8.5 16.8
1982 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 9.7 N/A
1983 Chevrolet Camaro 9.5 17.5
1983 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 H.O. 6.7 15.0
1984 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta 9.3 17.0
1985 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta 10.0 17.0
1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z28 7.0 15.2
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 6.6 14.9
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z L98 6.8 15.3
1988 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 7.0 15.5
1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 5.8 14.4
1990 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 6.5 15.0
1992 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 6.7 15.2
1993 Chevrolet Camaro V-6 9.0 16.6
1993 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 5.8 14.4
1994 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 5.7 14.2
1994 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Conv. 6.2 14.5
1995 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 5.7 14.2
1995 Chevrolet Camaro 3800 7.4 15.7
1996 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 5.7 14.1
1996 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 SS 5.3 13.8
1998 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 5.2 13.7
1998 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 SS 5.2 13.6
1973 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 454ci 8.7 17.0
1976 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 400ci 12.8 17.6
1980 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 18.5 21.4
1980 Chevrolet Caprice Wagon (Gas) 13.9 20.0
1980 Chevrolet Caprice Wagon (Diesel) 19.6 21.7
1992 Chevrolet Caprice Classic LTZ 10.3 17.4
1993 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 8.5 16.6
1983 Chevrolet Cavalier 13.1 19.1
1983 Chevrolet Cavalier CL Type-10 12.3 18.6
1985 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24 9.5 16.9
1986 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24 8.5 16.7
1993 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24 8.3 17.3
1995 Chevrolet Cavalier LS 10.9 18.0
1996 Chevrolet Cavalier LS 8.3 16.1
1998 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24 Conv. 8.7 16.8 (C&D Aug 98)
1973 Chevrolet Chevelle Laguana 454ci 9.5 16.7
1974 Chevrolet Chevelle 400ci 11.4 18.0
1975 Chevrolet Chevelle 400ci 11.4 17.7
1976 Chevrolet Chevette Rallye 19.7 20.6
1980 Chevrolet Chevette 15.8 20.3
1980 Chevrolet Citation 10.3 N/A
1981 Chevrolet Citation XII 9.2 17.0
1983 Chevrolet Citation XII 9.9 17.3
1984 Chevrolet Celebrity EuroSport 10.6 17.6
1986 Chevrolet Celebrity CL EuroSport 10.7 17.9
2005 Chevrolet Cobalt SS 6.1 14.6 (C&D Sept '05)
1989 Chevrolet Corsica LTZ 9.3 17.2
1957 Chevrolet Corvette 6.6 14.2
1965 Chevrolet Corvette 6.2 14.9
1967 Chevrolet Corvette L71 5.6 13.8
1968 Chevrolet Corvette 327 7.7 15.6
1968 Chevrolet Corvette 427 6.3 14.1
1970 Chevrolet Corvette 427 6.1 14.3
1975 Chevrolet Corvette 350 9.6 16.4
1976 Chevrolet Corvette 350 8.1 16.5
1977 Chevrolet Corvette 8.8 16.6
1979 Chevrolet Corvette L82 7.3 15.7
1980 Chevrolet Corvette L82 7.4 15.4
1982 Chevrolet Corvette 9.2 16.6
1984 Chevrolet Corvette 6.7 15.1
1985 Chevrolet Corvette 5.7 14.1
1986 Chevrolet Corvette 5.8 14.4
1986 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible 6.0 14.5
1988 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible 6.0 14.6
1988 Chevrolet Corvette Z51 6.0 14.6
1990 Chevrolet Corvette 5.7 14.3
1990 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 4.4 12.8
1991 Chevrolet Corvette L98 5.3 13.9
1991 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster 5.6 14.1
1992 Chevrolet Corvette LT1 5.7 14.1
1992 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 5.6 13.9
1993 Chevrolet Corvette LT1 5.3 13.9
1993 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 5.2 13.6
1994 Chevrolet Corvette LT1(auto) 5.5 14.1
1994 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 4.7 13.1
1995 Chevrolet Corvette LT1 5.2 13.7
1995 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 4.9 13.1
1996 Chevrolet Corvette Collectors' 4.9 13.3
1996 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport 4.7 13.3
1997 Chevrolet Corvette 4.7 13.3
1998 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible 5.1 13.5
1999 Chevrolet Corvette Hardtop 4.8 13.3
2001 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 3.5 10.3
2001 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 4.6 13.0
2001 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe 4.8 13.1
2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 4.1 12.5
2002 Chevrolet Corvette (Lingenfelter 427 twin turbo) 1.97 9.24
2003 Chevrolet Corvette (50th Anniversary) Manual, 4.9 13.4 (R&T Aug. '02)
2006 Chevrolet Corvette ZO6 3.5 11.5 (MT Oct '05)
1994 Chevrolet Impala SS 7.1 15.4
1995 Chevrolet Impala SS 7.0 15.4
1996 Chevrolet Impala SS 7.3 15.6
1973 Chevrolet Laguana 454ci 8.0 15.7
1990 Chevrolet Lumina APV 12.2 18.7
1990 Chevrolet Lumina Euro Sedan 9.9 17.3
1991 Chevrolet Lumina Z34 7.5 15.8
1992 Chevrolet Lumina APV 11.4 18.4
1995 Chevrolet Lumina 9.5 17.0
1995 Chevrolet Lumina LS 9.5 17.0
1998 Chevrolet Lumina LTZ 7.6 15.8
1975 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400ci 10.2 17.5
1980 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Turbo 11.9 18.9
1981 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Turbo 11.9 19.0
1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS 8.2 16.1
1985 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS 7.8 15.9
1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 7.8 16.0
1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34 7.8 15.5
1998 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34 7.5 15.7
2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS 7.9 16.1
2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS (auto) 8.6 16.6 (C&D Nov. '02)
1975 Chevrolet Monza 2+2 262ci (V8) 12.6 19.0
2004 Chevrolet Malibu 7.8 15.9 (est)
1973 Chevrolet Nova 350ci 9.7 17.4
1974 Chevrolet Nova 350ci 10.0 16.8
1975 Chevrolet Nova 350ci 10.8 17.3
1985 Chevrolet Nova CL 12.4 18.7
1986 Chevrolet Nova CL 13.0 18.8
1988 Chevrolet Nova Twin Cam 8.9 16.7
1985 Chevrolet Spectrum 14.0 19.4
1984 Chevrolet Sprint 14.5 20.3
1985 Chevrolet Sprint 13.0 18.9
1987 Chevrolet Sprint 13.4 19.1
1988 Chevrolet Sprint 4-door 14.6 19.2
1971 Chevrolet Vega 2300 16.5 20.3
1972 Chevrolet Vega Wagon 16.1 20.7
1974 Chevrolet Vega 18.5 21.0