Thread: More towing power from Small Block

Tweet

I have a 1978 chevy pickup 4x4, 4 speed with a 3.73 posi rearend and a 350 in it that I use for towing cars and stuff, the engine has flat top pistons with standard bore, headers and a 600 cfm edelbrock carb,it has a step above rv cam in it with stock heads, I was wanting to get more horsepower for towing

Actually what you're hunting for for towing is more torque. If everything you currently have is tuned properly about anything you do from this point will probably not make a siginificant difference.

Thowing a 400 crank in it to make it a 383 would help but ideally a big block would be the ultimate answer.

What Mike said; I doubt you will get much more from your 350. Some other considerations: If your truck is a half ton, and you swap in a big block, then you're going to put the axles in jeopardy from the added torque. A 383 or 400 would probably tax them to the max, but a swap to one would use all of the same accessories and stuff you already have on your 350. On the other hand, if you have a 3/4 ton, a big block will work quite nicely, all you need is the right big block parts to put it in - the small block items won't work, for the most part. I had a '79 3/4 ton 4x4 pickup, and a '79 3/4 ton 4x4 Suburban that I used on rough country off road job sites and hauled job site boxes and a tenK trailer; they both had 400/TH400 that I worked over a bit with rv/torque cams, high rise intakes, and headers and dual exhaust. They worked real well, and I never broke anything. I also had an '88 4x4 dually that had a 454; it would probably have pulled both of the others together, with trailer and loads.

I am not so quick to pull the pin for a BBC.Any self respecting 383 can get you in the low 400's for torque and that is a ways away from what you got now.

Originally Posted by 1gary

I am not so quick to pull the pin for a BBC.Any self respecting 383 can get you in the low 400's for torque and that is a ways away from what you got now.

You're right, Gary, he can get more than he has now, but a bone stock early 454 cranks out right at 500ftlbs of torque, and with a few mods you can crank that up more. Torque rules for pulling power, and the lightly modified big block is going to run forever.

I think he's gone guys. He basically posted the same question twice didn't like the answers he heard and went elswhere.

yea I thought I posted on his question before maybe we should have told him he can spend thousands on a sbc and get what he wants??

Charlie-we all know BBC parts costs more.And when it comes to aftermarket BBC heads costs alot more.I'm just saying.....

Yes but a stock 454 will out pull a sbc all day long and for less money.

:

Originally Posted by cffisher

Yes but a stock 454 will out pull a sbc all day long and for less money.

you do not needed much after market parts for the BBC to make a stump puller that s the great thing about a BBC all stock parts will get the job done other then a upgrade on cam .built many of them that put out very good power with not alot done .i have 16 454 core blocks in the shop now were i am going to machine/ short block them from 468to 496 lower dollar cast crank HYper piston s to all forged parts any one need one hope this works i out got abit carried away buying core blocks but i like them any ways .so i have some thing to look at and i talk to them IS this wrong

Only till they start answering, Then I'm afraid its to late

Originally Posted by cffisher

Only till they start answering, Then I'm afraid its to late

weelll oooooooOOkK yep it.s to late

Cheep why=If you advance your cam 3* it makes more low end to tow with.

“….If you advance your cam 3* it makes more low end to tow with……”

You may or may not show some improvement by picking an arbitrary number and advancing the cam and in some cases may even hurt performance.

The reason I say arbitrary is that unless you have actually degreed the cam to begin with (a step that most engine builders don’t do) you really have no idea where the cam is in relation to the advertised cam specs. Varying tolerances within in where the keyways are cut, quality of the gears and the cam itself can and often do make a difference in where the cam is actually timed when it’s really in a running engine.

20-30 years ago when the multiple keyway timing chain sets first came out I started using them with at 4 degrees advance with what was at that time my favorite SBC cam. The first couple of engines I did it on worked out great the last 2 ended up pinging, running hot and in general just not running very well until it went back in and set the cam back to 0 degrees. I found out later (after talking to the manufacture and going back and actually reading the cam cards) that the newer cams I had gotten had been ground with 4 degrees advance already cut into them.

The cam could be too much. it moves the torque and rpm band up. what about oversize tires? do you have a different tire size than stock.