JoeinCA

pete, i love the color of your car btw, i have a problem with the engine,take a look at my other post about building up the engine, i'll get you some pics if you woul dlike, i dont know if it is terminal or not... i certainly hope not.

i tore the engine down , removed the heads, and found... bad rust in two of the cylinders. the engine wont turn over, it was rebuilt, and appears to be a racing engine, the pistons are almost flat, and there are three different size markings among the pistons, the crank is marked for somehting about .30, i have a feeling that it was balanced and blue printed at one point.. a shame. I am going to try to salvage it without further boring it though, i dunno, i'll have someone who is good with chevy engines take a look at it and see if he can figure a way to salvage it. in any case, it didnt look completely stock in there and was freshly rebuilt.

i just pulled the intake manifold, there was quite qa bit of electrolisis, but there was no gunk or oil in it, there are some spots of surface rust on the intake ports, a sludge that look like some brokendown sealant in a corner of the engien. The hydraulic lifters look new, are popped up like they should be, and the pushrods look new also. the head gaskets are new, but i am going to pull one of the head and see what kind of pistons it has, and i may pull the cam, i dont know yet. i figure i should know what is in the engine before i buy parts for it. Anyways, it basically looks like it was rebuilt, and only ran for a minute or two, as in zero miles...

hmm, well, that is a good idea. if i clean up the heads, and get them polished up and a valve job, then an intake manifold, carb, and high compression pistons. i could just get one of the master rebuild kits with flat-top pistons or raised pistons.. hmm, i think though, first i should take a look and see what is inside the engine, and make sure that the pistons and cam are stock.

thanks for the advice lone. But i already have an engine, and cant afford, and have no place to put, a 77 chevy of any kind. besides, i plan on removing most of the stuff after it is inspected anyways, i'll leave a cat, pcv, and maybe hte EGR, but i doubt that.My V8 swap is going to be a bit of a prolonged project, i have to do it while always having pretty limited funds...

righto... but my car is a 77... and so for it to even have a chance of passing i need to have all of the stuff from a 77 v8 on there. so that i can tell them it is a 77 engine... I wish my car were a 70-73, but i like my 77, and dont feel like hunting down another car with money i dont have

hmm, well, when inspection time comes, if the Z is even finished by then, i will have to go find a 77 chevy with a 350... i need to have all of the devices present if i plan on passing inspection, hopefully they wont want to try and check casting numbers.. (heh, good, THICK coat of bright orange, or black paint should take care of that). Thanks lone, it would be nice if i could get a confrimation on that though, i couldnt find any site that had specs on emisisons stuff for specific year models. thanks again

a 77 350 v8... I need to know what a smog inspector is going to be looking for on it...

mike C The compression was different? so it ran different heads as well as cam, intake, and carb? oh well, might as well go for better than 275 by buying new heads, carb, and intake... and cam... it's going to be expensive.

i thought i had heard some good things about the vortecs... What cam are you runnign and what kind of horsepower are you getting? thanks tim, i'll look into those vortecs.

the cast numbers on the head are 3917293. thanks for the advice, i was told that the engine was rebuilt before it was stored, but as with everything else i was told about the engine, it may be false. the intake is at 1.72, and the exaust is 1.5. thanks for the help again, i will make sure to check that site out. with the parts you suggested, roughly, what kind of Hp do you think the engine might put out?... With the edelbrock intake. I'll check the compression, and pull the heads and see what kind of condition the cylinder walls are in to see if it needs a rebuild.

right tim, which is why those are what i listed as to what i wouyld replace, in order to not waste my money on things that wont show large gains. What i am wondering, is if there are stock heads that i should keep an eye out for at junkyards, or what heads are recommended to use, under $500 complete. And what cams are good for street use in the heads that are recommended, good combos and such... to tell you the truth, i only have rudimentary knowledge of cams and head combos. Which is why i asked, because a suggestion will give me a starting point to begin researching different parts, so that i know what is good and what isnt. sorry if your getting annoyed at seeing yet another post asking about how to improve performance in small block chevy engines. But that is the point of this forum, powerful engines in Z cars. Or if i am way off about that, then sorry, and thanks for your input.

ok, today i went through and identified via casting numbers, the cylinder heads, the block, and my intake manifold... The engine is a i968 327 engine, rated at a whopping, disheartening 210 hp. the cylinder heads are applicable for 307s and 327s in 1968.although they have the double hump markings as well. I have a 4 barrel intake manifold off of a 74-76 camaro on it. i dont have any info on the cam, so i assume it is stock, as well as the pistons. so, how much of a difference could i make by changing the intake manifold, the cylinder heads, and the cam? I am planning on running a 600-800 CFM edelbrock 4 bbl. I am shooting for around 300-350 HP . can anyone lend some advice? thanks for your time.

ok guys. well, can you tell me what the difference is between the 210 HP 327, and the 275 HP 327 of the same year? Also, assuming the engine is completely stock, which it isnt completely stock, because there is a 4 bbl manifold instead of the specified 2 bbl,what kind of upgrade will produce the most power? For this application, ( the 327) which cylinder heads do you guys reccomend, and what cam? thanks for all your help.

hmm, well the 210 HP number is a bit disappointing, The cylinder heads do have the double hump markings though... I'm just trying to get an idea of the hp of the motor, so that i know what i have to do to have at least 300-350 HP, which is pretty easy to do.. Thanks for your help... i had it down to three possibilities from the casting number alone, but was having trouble figuring out what the rest of it meant... because i was originally told it was a 66 327, oh well, it should be a pretty good engine for my swap. thanks again for the help guys...

the two numbers in front of the passenger side cylinder head are 18L339847 and V0502ME On the back of the engine i found, on the driver side:3914678, and 13GM and on the right side, * E * and an 18. I looked for all the numbers and such, and from what i could tell, i think it is an 19698 engine, but i dunno. it is still the stock color, Yellow, which i think is a late 70's or early 80's. If i could get some help, that would be nice. thanks...

Hmm, how much effort would it require to switch the numbers? I may be aquiring a 240Z soon here that is in nowhere near the condition of my 77... and i would rather use the car that I know isnt rusted out than one that i am pretty sure has... In all fairness. i dont think that it would be all that difficult, swap the vin plate, and the plates. I dont think it is the most honest thing in the world to do. but then again... it is the DMV whom I wish to fool. Whom tried to revoke my license because i waited too long to get my motorcycle licensing taken care of... oh yeah.... some jerk on my street called up about my 77 Z being parked, under a cover, in front of my house for 3 days. the cops put a 72 hour notice on it, and marked the tires... I am not sure if the checked mileage.. because my speedometer doesnt work at the moment, so my mileage isnt going to be changing... well... grr

well, i plan on getting the fast burn 385 hp gm crate engine from gm performance... ( look around in the dealer listings for the best price... ) about 4K for the engine with everything but exaust and carb. 4k, for a brand new 385 hp engine that you will have to spend very little time worrying about, that is money well spent in my opinion. https://www.spoperformanceparts.com/

for practicality's sake... bust out your welding stuff, and make a new frame that will fit your drivetrain of choice. then mod the Z body to fit the frame and look as close to production as possible... i think that would be the cheapest, and least labor intensive process... designing your own car cant be that hard, right? lol i think that an awd z would be cool... not practical, but cool.

shhh about the smog laws. i am ignoring smog... well, damn... maybe i could find a cheap 72... See, the problem is, that i already have a 77, which is being a pain in the ***.... (i curbed it on accident. bent some suspension in the rear... ) and i just did a 5 speed swap, which wasnt friendly...(still on my learning curve) but, see , i really want to put a 327 into a z... maybe i should get my current z finished, pick up the 72, and when i get that near completion i can sell my 77...yeah, needless to say i am confused about what to do. oh, a side note, sidepipes=cool. if i get a 72, i will just run straight pipes lol... until the cops make me put mufflers on that is.

hey, i am in the planning stages of a 327 engine swap... i was wondering about doing dual side exaust. would i, in order to at least attempt to be smog legal, be better off running dual cats, or just running straight, pipe to sidepipe muffler... man, now there are two easy things that confuse me, exaust, and tires/rims.

ive heard that rebello racing is great ( in pleasant hill) they do lots of performance work.

actually the reason i am worrying about it at all, is the whole smog factor, i have a 77 280z. and i cant legally put the 327 in there unless it is classified as a kit car.

well, what was the first return of powerful engines? and were they still carbed? ]it doesnt sound like fun to put a bogged engine into my car. Maybe i will just have to engine swap around the smog time... but i need to get everything for the swap ready, lol. that will take a long time... sorry if i am not making sense, i am really tired.

hmmm, well. I havce to say, that almost any z is light enough to let that 327 do it's rev thing. heck, it puts out alot of power, torque, and all that good stuff, even in my malibu (68), and that is like 4 zs or soemthing to that effect. hey, exactly how mechanical are the 77 350 engines? i dont want to deal with computers and stuff.