building 350 for school

[afroman794]

ok im going to uti and have started the high performance class and am building a carbed 350 from the ground up. we are provided all the essentials and thats it. whoever hits top hp/trq gets a 100 for their lab grade the next is a 99 and so on and so forth.

ive got an awesome class work grade and would like a good lab grade to go allong w/ it. are there any 'free' mods or anything i can do with the stock hardware to get higher ratings???


many thanks to any and all input
brandon
:LS1LT1flag:

[ShowNoMercy]

Are you allowed to port the heads?

[afroman794]

uh doubt it, polishing may be an option though. were given a long block out of a mid 80's truck and have to work w/ what we have w/ basic hand tools and a few specialty ones.

seeing as how these engines cams are made for torque i was thinking about possibly retarding the cam a few degrees to get a tiny bit more power at the top end but dont want to if itll hurt me too much on the torque band. i know its a trade off but its not worth 6hp if i loose 9ft-lbs.

also i dont know what carb ill be given but are there any tuning tricks i should know. i have a little experience w/ carbs but nothing performance oriented just maintenance.

again thanks for any ideas

[shak180]

uh doubt it, polishing may be an option though. were given a long block out of a mid 80's truck and have to work w/ what we have w/ basic hand tools and a few specialty ones.

seeing as how these engines cams are made for torque i was thinking about possibly retarding the cam a few degrees to get a tiny bit more power at the top end but dont want to if itll hurt me too much on the torque band. i know its a trade off but its not worth 6hp if i loose 9ft-lbs.

also i dont know what carb ill be given but are there any tuning tricks i should know. i have a little experience w/ carbs but nothing performance oriented just maintenance.

again thanks for any ideas

look into re jetting the carb i always read about how that frees up power

[mtperformance]

If you cant touch the long block ie. boring, porting, cam than I would look at re-curving the distributor (advance the timing),plug gaps intake polishing/gasket match and playing with the carb. Carbs can make or break your engine and a very common misconception is bigger is better which its not , for that 350 I would go no bigger than a 600cfm and try to get a holley vacuum secondary or street avanger (also holley), but a Edelbrock 600 would work well to. Its just that the holley can be more fine tuned. If you all get a QuadraJUNK than I say "GOOD LUCK WITH THAT :lol:". What about 1.6 rockers, do you have to run an air cleaner, and what grade of gas?

[afroman794]

95 octane gas

and all of the carbs we have to choose from are edelbrocks

we do have to have a 'stock style' air cleaner



it sounds like ill try to find a good solid ~600cfm carb. any ideas as for where to start w/ the jet size

and the 1.6's are an option after our base runs, which is what our grade depends on

[mtperformance]

Well if all you have to choose from are Edelbrocks than you really cant screw it up and the 1405/1406/1400 (you want the 1405 unless they have a AVS 650cfm 1805)is pretty much set up for a stock 350 to get the most it can out of it. But if they have calibration kits than you can play with the metering rod spring and jets and metering rods them self. But if its a new edelbrock than I would just leave it alone unless you have a hotter than stock cam like a performer or RV cam or you really get crazy with a Dremal tool. With 95 octane you can advance that timing a little bit more than stock and its probably a low compression engine as is soo on an engine dyno you will probably be lucky to get 250 out of it but so will everybody else. What are you doing a complete rebuild or just assembly of the top end.

[shak180]

wis there any kind of rule on what viscocity of oil you have to use? because with race engines they run high clearances in the engine for less friction and replace the oil with a single weight 50 or 60 weight oil it frees up some power not sure how much though

[five7kid]

Actually, running a tight clearance engine with thinner oil is what frees up power. PAO synthetic is even more effective vs. petroleum-based oil.

Sure would be helpful to know exactly what all is being provided, what you can add, and what you can modify.

[afroman794]

were given a stock long block thats had the hell beat out of it and do a complete rebuild, lower rotating and heads. im pretty sure the winner is going to be the one that does the best job tuning the carb. so i gotta go back and look at those notes.

[five7kid]

And you're allowed to put anything back in/on that you like?

What heads? (Get casting #'s.) Do you have to use those heads, or can you substitute?

As asked above, can you clean up the ports, chambers, etc.?

Roller lifters or flat tappet?

If you have to use the same heads (hopefully everyone is equally handicapped), a 3-angle valve job can improve flow surprisingly well.

If it's just peak HP, all you need to worry about with the distributor is total mechanical timing. In fact, locking out the timing is a good way to go. An ignition in tip-top shape is an absolute must. In fact, a computer controlled distributor works well in those conditions - no computer needed, it just goes into default mode, basically locked-out timing.

Let me know what you can use. I have some 305 heads that are tons better than the typical truck/smog 350 head - use the 1.94" intake valves from the 350 heads, open up the intake seats while you're "rebuilding" the heads, zip-zap you've got high compression performance heads. I can also get you synthetic oil that will help reduce parasitic losses.

If you are allowed to accept these without paying for them, you're good to go as far as I'm concerned. Just need a ship-to address.

[afroman794]

dont have access to the heads right now, but theyre off of a mid 80's truck if that helps

porting no polishing maybe

we have hydraulic flat tappet lifters and non roller rockers

and ill see monday about the heads and oil. thanks

[AdioSS]

look into low tension rings. Cut down the bearing width. Can you deck the heads/block? What valve-springs can you use? Are headers allowed or will the same set be used by all the groups? Are there any limitations on carb spacers?

Want to get crazy? take the lifters apart and make them into solids unless you get to buy new lifters (then buy solids.) Maybe the cam has a wiped lobe and needs to be replaced? ;)

Who's running the dyno? If you get to control it, then use a very slow acceleration rate. Most typical engine dynos run 600rpm/second. Slow that down to 300 and you'll show more power.

Get us details on the engine and we'll help you. :)

[afroman794]

the engine is being put into a ford t bucket and then ran on a chassis dyno