Well, I am in the middle of dilemma. I have my new camaro with the original 327 in the car but the motor has been rebuilt about 1000 miles ago before I bought it. I do not know anything about the motor except that it has had some head work done and supposedly bored out. I am in the process of putting a Perfomer RPM manifold and MSD distributor in the car now.

Now my dilemma: I am so close to just pulling the heads off and seeing whats in the motor and if I do this I want to put some aluminum heads back on. Then I guess I might as well go with a different cam right? What about a hydraulic roller? No break in time right? I would like more power but still streetable. This motor now is quick and pulls 18* of vacuum.

Some specs on the current setup: 327 motor, supposedly bored and stroked, 462 heads with guide plates, bigger valves(not sure how big), screw in studs, and harland sharp roller rockers, Performer manifold w/ holley 750 DP (striped base plate bolt hole, reason for new manifold). 3 speed manual with 4:10 gears. This combo runs strong but tops out at 5500 rpms.

I was just thinking that since I am this far should I pull the heads and cam and go from there? If i pull a head and and see what the pistons look like, can I use the same old head gasket or do I need new ones.

Just don't know what to do. Thanks, Erik

Some heads would help it everywhere and above 5500, a 180-190cc runner would
be good, then get the right cam for the heads. Dont reuse the head gaskets.

The 462s are good heads on a 327.If you pull the head you need to put a new gasket on.With it being a fresh motor I would put a bigger cam in it and have fun.Just remember in a 327 bigger doesnt mean huge. A 280dur. .480 lift is big in a 327.Also if I was going to spend the money for aluminum heads I wouldnt put them on a 327 go ahead and build a 383 or 406.To make alot of power with a 327 you have to turn them and you loose streetability.JMO

The main reason i say aluminums now is because I eventually do want to build a bigger better motor. Then i can reuse some of these parts. i am just trying to see what i can use on this motor and then eventually build a 406 or something down the road. until then, I have this one almost apart and coulkd possibly bump the performance up with a few bolt ons like heads. i just dont want to have to deal with push rod length and all that geometry with this motor. i will save that for the next one. What do you think about the Comp 268 cam in a 327? What heads would you just bolt on and go?

Thanks.

The CC 268HE will be a winner in the little motor, imho!!!

pdq67

If you pull the heads, I'd be inclined to measure the stroke. Since you state it is a stroker already, it would do you a lot of good to find out how much. Most likely stroked to 350, but who knows - it could be a 383 already!

Bottom line, though, is you need to know the stroke in order to calculate the compression ratio and buy heads with the appropriate size chambers.

Originally posted by BPOS:
If you pull the heads, I'd be inclined to measure the stroke. Since you state it is a stroker already, it would do you a lot of good to find out how much. Most likely stroked to 350, but who knows - it could be a 383 already!

Bottom line, though, is you need to know the stroke in order to calculate the compression ratio and buy heads with the appropriate size chambers. That's great advice.

Which harmonic balancer is on there now? The reason I ask is the 327 came with a small balancer.

Who said it was stroked?

The guy I bought the car from has alot of money and he had a engine shop rebuild this motor for him. Unfortunetly there are no specs, just a $4000 receipt from the machine shop saying, "Rebuild, bore and stroke motor, new camshaft and much bigger valves in heads." thats all it says. No specs at all. It only has a balancer that measures 6.25" across. The owner trusted the place and I called them and they moved locations and dont have the specs either. i am kinda screwed but this motor does run great. I just want more, don't we all!!

The problem with changing heads and reusing then later is a 406 needs more port volume than a 327 also more cam shaft.I still think the best thing to do now is a bigger cam in what you have and build a fresh complete engine later.JMO

Hello Eric,

The other posters do have some good points about the heads. If you get 180cc heads, they would be good for a 327 or 350, otherwise,they would likely hobble the upper RPM range of a larger cubic inch motor.

On the cam, It would be sweet to get a retrofit hyd. roller cam. But retro hyd. rollers cost around $600+ for the whole valvetrain setup! The CC268H would be a good lower cost street hydraulic grind for the 327. Does your 327 idle with any noticable lope now? If it does, I would venture to say that the duration is at least around 214/214 or more @ .050 (that's the range where a 327 would probably start to pick up some lope at idle,JMO....)

Regards,
Mark P.

[ 06-09-2004, 09:50 AM: Message edited by: Granny's 69 ]

Erik,

I'm running the original 327 in my car. It also has the HE268 cam that they're recommending. I also have the Performer manifold but I run a 650 Holley. My heads are big valve 492's.

It just makes noise after 5500 like you're saying, but that doesn't matter a bit to me. I drive the car a lot and the cam profile gives me very nice torque down low where it's driven. I'm probably pushing 300 horse at the motor. The car ran a 14.6 at the track with this set up (it's a convertible so it's heavier).

By the way, the car used to have a 3-speed. You will looooove driving it with Muncie.

I'd wait on the heads for your next block.

Well I decided to just put a Performer RPM manifold on this motor and run it this summer and over winter I will look into building a 383 or 406. i really dont want to sink to much money into this motor, knowing it is original. But I can buy parts over the summer and build something new this winter. I am not sure how the car will run with the Performer RPM but it should wake the car up some. It doesn't want to rev past 5000 rpms and I think the old performer had something to do with that. Also found a vacuum leak under carb base plate. I am in the process of cleaning and painting under the hood and should have it running this weekend assuming I didn't mess the distributor and timing up. Thats another post on this website!!. Thanks again I hope this car runs faster then 14.0's. it better be in the mid 13's. it feels just shy of power of my other camaro that ran 13.0's. Thanks again, Erik