I am planning on building a 350 for my 69 camaro and would like to hear a little input or opinions that anyone might have.

350 bored .030 over
vortec heads (L31)
hydraulic cam-222 intake and exhaust
.406 intake and exhaust
edlebrock performer intake
holley 650 double pumper

Has any one used vortec head?
What things should I look for?

Thank You
mopar eater

Mr. Eater-
I too have built some Vortec engines and have had the luck of dyno testing.

What is this engine for? Street/strip, or just street? If you want to do a little racing, I would use a Performer RPM intake, but the Performer would be great for the street.

As far as the camshaft goes, I wouldn't use that grind. The BEST for both horsepower and torque (spotlight on average values, not peak) is a cam with 214-218 on the intake, and up to 232 on the exhaust. The problem is Vortec heads is the lack of exhaust efficiency, which calls for a cam with a high exhaust duration. Also, get a cam with a minimum of .450 lift, and more on the exhaust.

Comp Cams has a Nitrous HP cam that works great, and has a awesome sounding idle. If I remember, it's a 260/280 (216/232?) with a good amount of lift. This makes great peak and average horsepower, with a load of torque. I've dynoed Vortec engines with a 224/232 cam, and it lost up to 30HP is some cases than the same motor with a cam of 8 degrees less on both intake and exhaust. Weird, huh?

Run 31-33 degrees of total timing and a compression ratio of 9.5-9.8:1 for best power. Some guys get away with 10:1, but they have to retard the timing a couple degrees.

Oh yeah, use GM intake gaskets, not Fel-Pro.
Matt

------------------
1969 Base Camaro
Vortec 350, TH-400
All sheetmetal is NOS GM

Dear Matt

Thanks for all of the helpfull information, it sound like you really know your stuff on these vortec engines.

What would your recommend as far as pistons?
flat top or dished-hypereutectic or forged?

Can roller rockers be used? what about hei or msd?

Dave
1969 Camaro

You can run either type piston, but that's something you need to look at if you are gonna run NOS or high RPMs. I have flat tops (-2.5CC dish), so I ran the ZZ4 head gaskets (.051"), to bring my compression down to 9.6:1.

Roller rockers are expensive, because they are self aligning. Crane sells them for about $320 a set. I think Proform sells them too for half the price...but I'm not sure about their products.

I always run HEI or other electronic ignition. If it will fit with your firewall, use it. MSD or any other ignition upgrade will be fine too.

------------------
1969 Base Camaro
Vortec 350, TH-400
All sheetmetal is NOS GM