280zwitha383

How is aluminum better for his build? I don't think there's any way you can justify the higher price and (I'm guessing) higher compression for a 350 that's going to make less than 350hp. Sure, for more power they're better but not for this engine.

First off, I LOVE the part about the ugly Chevy orange. I'm a big Chevy guy but I can't stand faded chevy orange and all the chevy guys around here want to paint their differentials, driveshafts and cupholders that color! Also, the two piece and one piece block has absolutely nothing to do with the JTR conversion. The only difference is the actual seal and the crank (where the seal is). You won't be able to rebuild that block being .060 over which might be fine for you especially pushing less than 1hp/cubic inch. Junkyard vortec heads are the only way to go IMO for the power that you want. I would shoot for 300-350hp which you should be able to get with an almost stock idling cam without machining the heads for more lift. A local machine shop sells them here for $350 a pair ready to bolt on which is a smokin' deal. New I think they're $500 give or take. (I also like the part about the T56 and aftermarket heads not being as cheap as you thought....)

Heat is what causes the bolts to become loose. What I do is bolt the header up, run it, tighten the bolts run it again, tighten the bolts, then after you've done that a few times the gasket has pretty much settled. Then put blue locktight on each bolt and tighten them up. I was told this by a pretty old chevy guy and so far it has served me very well.

Sounds like a new name for an old game (Ratchet Shifter). As for the question, both have their benefits. The auto is an easier swap and a built one can handle a lot more power than what you're proposing, but if you want a manual that bad do it!

Do you take it that he has a Dodge V-8 in it? Isn't that a "v8 Magnum" logo and then the 330? If it is, that part would be pretty cool.

How does he steer?

AAAHHH! My Maximum Boost book came in and I only got through the first 4 pages but I can tell I'm really going to enjoy reading it. Also, if nothing else for the sake of maybe getting some advice on something other than the octane of fuel I'll be running, let's assume I will run 91 octane gas....

"See what happens when you ask about something out of ordinary?" Well I see now... haha. Oh ok. In my mind you have cast, hypereutectic, and forged. When I say "cast" I'm referring to cast aluminum pistons.

Well the reason I want to run cast pistons is because if detonation occurs it will poke a hole in the piston and not shatter like a hypereutectic piston would. Right? I would rather run cast pistons under detonation than hypers because once a hyper piston shatters it goes all through the engine and pretty much messes up everything. If I'm wrong on that please correct me. I don't have a problem at all paying $320 for a set of forged 8.**:1 pistons but once again I think there's another (not necessarily better) way.

Exactly, my friend suggested taking my 383 with all forged internals, full roller, aftermarket heads (blah blah) and putting lower compression pistons (forged) in it and running the turbo. First of all, there's no way in heck I'm going to run a $350 turbo on a $4,000+ setup! There's really no way I'm going to run a high end turbo or any kind of boost whatsoever on a $4,000+ setup as my first turbo build. I don't trust myself enough to put that kind money on the line with something that I'm not that familiar with. I guess I should have stated my intents to begin with that way there wouldn't be a discussion on what I should do but rather what could be done. My goals and expectations: - Build a 500rwhp (at under 5500rpm) engine with as few modifications as possible to the engine, atleast internally - Run the engine on 87 octane gas, I don't give a hoot if the 93 octane gas runs 30 more horsepower, has less tendency to detonate, costs $.30 more a gallon, whatever (they don't even sell 93 octane here btw, best I've seen is 92 and that's only at 1 place in town. The rest are 91). I want to run it on 87 octane to say that it runs on 87 octane. Now with that said, I will start the engine off runnig the highest grade I can find at a very low boost level with very little timing until I'm VERY certain I have everything exacltly how it needs to be. - Have a powerful yet readily replaceable engine for fun only. This will not be a daily driver and if one day I get one long stretch of good boost and then it grenades then so be it. I won't have too much money into it and I'm sure there will be something that's salvageable. I know that pretty much no aspect of the build is ideal, it is pushing the limits but I THINK it can be done (once I read Maximum Boost I may change my mind on my hp expectations but so far I'm pretty set on doing the build anyway). If in the end all I have is a very torquey 350rwhp 350 vortec single turbo pushing 6psi I will have only spent $1k-$2k on a very respectable build. Atleast that's my opinion.

I think you guys are missing the point of building this engine. I'm not necessarily trying to make the cheapest power, I just want to see if it can be done. I think it would be pretty cool, you might not.... I have the money to build a better engine but the point is noone else that I have seen is doing anything like this and it seems this is the place to go for people who are trying to be different.

You know how you get when you can't go to sleep at night because a project keeps floating through your head? Well, here's what's been going through mine and I haven't done enough research to post it officially so I'm just going to throw it out here in the non-tech board and see what all of you think about it. Here's what I've got already: - 5.7L vortec complete engine minus - 1.6 ratio rocker arms (haven't looked into how much these might help if any so at this point they are optional but I would think for the added lift and less friction they would be worth throwing on) Here's what I'd like to get: - New t70 from ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Turbo-Kit-T70-Turbo-HKS-STYLE-WASTEGATE-BOV-NEW_W0QQitemZ8052800307QQcategoryZ33742QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I've seen and heard bad things about their older products but I've also read two success stories with their newer turbos - 8.5:1 CAST pistons if I can find them(yeah I wasn't playing when I said budget... ) - I will gladly buy a larger oil pan to keep the oil cooler and abounding, and I'll probably run supertech fully synthetic oil. And that's pretty much as far as I've got so far. I plan to flip the stock manifolds, run the stock cam, and I haven't decided what to do about the fuel delivery. I'm prone to run a blowthrough carb as described here: http://www.hangar18fabrication.com/blowthru. My other option is to try and keep the vortec FI which I know very little about. I can't find any information on the internet about modifying it with bigger injector(s?) and it seems that some people have had problems with the poppets. If anyone knows anything about these injection systems please clue me in. If I determine that I can run the FI I would love to and try my hand at megasquirt. However, I estimate this will add approximately 1 year to the time I get this thing running (haha, I laugh but it's probably not far from the truth). Anyway, if I was to run 10psi I think I could come close to 500whp which is my goal. Oh yeah, I want to run 87 octane gas... Now I haven't decided on anything, I'm waiting for my Maximum Boost book and I'm getting kinda T.O.ed that it hasn't come in yet. After all it's already been 5 days.... I will give the book a few good reads and then probably start buying stuff. I don't expect to throw this thing together very quickly but I'm dying to feel a boosted v8. I've been spending the last couple of days on www.turbomustangs.com which I wasn't too fond of the idea at first but they have a whole section for boosted chevy engines. I have also read two very thorough write-ups and I think I have a pretty good grasp on the theory. So, what do you guys think? And NO, I haven't been puffing on anything. My thinking is that since this will be my first turbo engine I don't want to dump too much into it and it if blows sky high I'll have some experience, learn from my mistakes, then build a beast.

But it's a'74 right? Why does it need to pass smog?

You used these on a Z?! I wondered if they would fit but when they were posted last someone said they "doubted" they would fit.

IF all of that doesn't work, which I hope your problem IS a ground or solenoid, you should check your starter to flywheel clearance. If your teeth on your starter are too far away then it will spin sometimes and clang other times and sometimes sound like it's dragging when it does engage. If this happens to be your problem you need to shim the outer bolt until you get the clearance within an acceptable range (you would have to look it up because I don't remember what it is). I had a similar problem with my gear reduction starter and I thought something seroius was going on because it sounded hideous. However, when I looked at the teeth on the flexplate, they were worn only about halfway into them and untouched more towards the center. I suppose your problem could be that the starter is too close also but you will have to figure that out for yourself. Good luck!

How cheap and do they have more?

That's very interesting. It seems very restrictive but I guess if you were running low rpms it might be beneficial (like a big block with 2.XX gears). What happens when a cylinder backfires out of the intake? Does it blow the mesh out or is it strong enough? Would you personally ever put a set of these gaskets on an engine Grumpy?

So if they really would sell you a "710" cap, would you buy it as a novelty?

I went through a few pages of google and found nothing so I must ask, What is a t58 6-speed? I've never heard of such an animal and I'm sure someone else reading this doesn't know either.

Also, if you do buy Turbochargers from ebay, I would not buy it from platinumbookhouse_ii. He has the lowest priced book but he has no feedback and a few $200 books for sale and he just changed his user ID. Just a heads up.

Turbocharging this engine might be a bit much for him. My advice would be to put the head kit on and have some fun. If your bottom end is sound it should hold up to 400hp at the crank. I would trust a stock 350 about that far and I would hope a LT1 would be as strong if not stronger than a traditional sbc. And like they said earlier, if you want a little more insurance use ARP bolts and/or studs. With that said, if I were you, I would leave the engine you have stock so you can enjoy it now and build a monster in your spare time and with the money that you were going to spend on your current LT1. You could turbocharge it or spray it or whatever, just do your homework and do it right! Good luck with whatever you do!

Exactly, if you're going to build something build it right the first time so it won't grenade and you lose your expensive stuff (and the stuff you didn't spend any money on because you thought it would hold).

If you're not careful the two will start to even out...

Well for anyone with the same problem, I replaced the whole wiring harness with the one from the '82 and it solved my problem. Must have been a bad connection somewhere or the ingnition module needed the other hookup to function properly.

At this rate in another five years a stock Z06 Corvette will keep up with you:lmao: . Seriously though, in 5 years I think you will want something better than what you're trying to build. If my goal was that long term I would do the engine last because the same stuff you want now will be so much cheaper 4 or 5 years from now.