Hey guys I was told by someone that the best thing to do with my
350 Vortec, is to bore it out .30 and put a 400 cam in it to make a 383 stroker out of it. They said to put hooker headers, a holley carb, a hig rise intake, and run 3'' dual exhaust. They said to beef up the tranny and put a 12 bolt moiser in so all the power dosent tear out my rear end.


Is this a good idea, or am I dealing with bad advice. Any tips or suggestions I would greatly appreciate.

Thanks

PFC Daniel T. Marr

It really depends on what you are looking the car to do (weekend street machine, race car, daily driver) and how much you plan to spend.

Machine work and a rotating assy are going to set you back a little if you decide to go with a 383 or 400. I just put vortec heads, a comp (272h) cam, demon carb, and rpm air gap intake on my rebuilt 327 and spent around $3000 including a lot of other stuff (exhaust, tranny cooler, ect). The combo works great on the 327 and a 350 should have very similar results. For this kind of build a new torque converter would probably be required, but the stock tranny and rear should be ok as long as it won't see too much track time.

PFC, can I ask which service you are a member of?

I have a 4 bolt 5.7 from a 1999 Chevy van. It came with the vortecs, and they're a great head for the money. I have a GM HOT cam, Air gap intake, Holley750 carb, and Afterburner headers, and push just over 400hp.

You can get a new cam made for the 383 assembly, instead of using the 400 cranks now, they're made for the 350 balance, instead of using the 400 stuff.

You will need to use a vortec intake due to the bolt pattern (can re-drill other style, but runners still won't match). Several companies make them, including GM and Edelbrock. GM intake gaskets seal up better than aftermarket as well. The heads otherwise will accept all SBC brackets and exhaust.

Thanks.


Im Army

the vortec heads are great.especially ported.i like the 906 castings.people think they are not as good as the other casting so they are cheap.i like them on 383 and 400 engines.

I think the advice you got is in the ball park. We can help you get more specific with parts and the combo if you can fill us in on your budget and goals for the combo.

ps. I figured out the PFC -- thanks for your service from a salty old STS1(ss) that transferred to civlantfleet in '94. ;) LOL Lets see if you can figure out the STS1(ss) bit . . .

Well I want to make a very nice car, as far as track time probally not, but racing straights around town and putting rat motors to shame Yes.

I will have about 3-4 grand to put into this car, so now that you know my Budget hit me with the tips =)

Thanks

PFC Daniel T. Marr

I think your budget would work for a 383 -- you can use a cast 3.75" stroke crank, aftermarket I-beam rods and a -16cc dished forged piston you will be set with the bottom end to 6,000 RPOM or so. Vortec heads are a good head and will support about 400 HP in stock form. If your heads are in good shape all they need is maybe a good valve job.

For a cam I would look for something about 224*I/232*E duration @ .050" on a 110* LSA and installed on a 106* ICL. Lift should be not over .500" (and you will have to watch the retainer to guide clearance). Use a PErformer RPm intake and a Holley 750 vac secondary carb.

That combo should make 400 HP IMO. That is plenty fast to terrorize the streets and still be plenty driveable . . . not sure if they still do this or not but on the Naval bases when I was in they had an auto hobby shop where you could rent a bay with an engine hoist and whatever tools you needed for next to nothing. You might be able to save a lot of money that way.

Hope that helps.

Thanks