by RSbeast » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:32 pm
Your combo is definately mismatched.
Honestly shooting for that powerband, you are not going to pull well up top. Those heads (assuming they were worked correctly) should be 'ok' but the runner is a tad small to really make any power on anything less than a mild 350; which is what you've put together. Did you see how your intake runners match the heads in that case? That cam is going to need to go if you are going to get serious with anything. IIRC most chevy cams seem to run alot of duration and not a ton of lift, your's is barely getting it done for a car with 350ci to move air with. I'm sure it has good drivability though. For instance, I have a 'mild' cam in my 302. its .499/.510 221/223 @ .050 and that's like a 6000rpm peaking cam or at least it would be advertised around a 5800-6000rpm selection. Your going to need something around .270 @ .050 ot make some real power with that thing. Hopefully the heads are done well and not botched which could make it lazy aswell. You can go VERY fast with iron heads, but what you've put together would better suit a 305 buildup if I was trying to go fast. I think if you dug around and swapped a few things, it'd really come to life. That and make sure the cam will suit an auto well.
Right now, you have a much ligher car than a 4th gen that's prolly making 280hp. Brett would benefit a LOT from a tune with the LTs , but given his trap; he's within 1mph of a dead stock car. I'm also pretty sure you can't get much more valve into a vortec casting, but I could be wrong, but I would shoot for larger valves, have those actually opened up (I run a 165cc runner on a 302 and I fell it will be limiting even on my 331 setup planned), port match or replace that intake and get a real cam. Then it will flash that converter harder and you can get some tires and run half decent.
I trapped 105.1 in a car that weighed more than yours with only a 302 on a 'mild' combo with decent heads. You should be able to be close to that easy with 50 more cubes to make up for things. Just food for thought.
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