logan1 Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 (edited) I'm going to do a V8 swap into my 240Z. As with just about everyone’s build the idea is to keep the cost down and get the best performance/dollar possible. The tranny is going to be a T5 from a V8 camaro going to a 4.11 R200 open diff. My Target power is approx 300hp/350tq at the wheels. (1) Junkyard 350 short block with stock oil pan. I’ll be taking everything apart and reinstalling it after a good cleaning with new bearing. I would like to not get the block machined due to cost. (2) Pro comp Aluminum Heads (210cc Intake Port, 64cc Chamber, 2.02/1.6 Stainless Valves, .550 Lift Springs, Straight Plug) http://www.ebay.com/itm/SMALL-BLOCK-CHEVY-GM-SBC-350-ALUMINUM-CYLINDER-HEADS-210cc-w-550-Lift-Springs-/380371004731?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item588fe0ed3b (3) COMP XTREME ENERGY CAM XR282HR http://www.ebay.com/itm/COMP-SBC-SB-CHEVY-XTREME-ENERGY-282-ROLLER-CAMSHAFT-CAM-/140639769947?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item20bec8955b (4) Comp Cams High Energy Hydraulic Lifter http://www.ebay.com/itm/Comp-Cams-High-Energy-Hydraulic-Lifter-Chevy-6cyl-V6-V8-/330645710785?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item4cfc0527c1 (5) 7.4-inch pushrods (6) 1.6+ rocker rollers Let me know what you think of the parts list and if I can do better for the money. I especially would like to try and save a lil money by getting a cheaper cam. My car already has upgraded brakes, coilover suspension, thicker front and rear sway bars, strut bars, 275/4017 tires on the rear and 255/45/17 on the front. Edited November 28, 2011 by logan1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsicard Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Logan1: If the target is 300/350tq, for a little more cost those number will be more easily achieved by stroking it to a 383 cu in engine. For $200.00 a cast stroker crank can be had. Either way you will likely have to buy new Pistons anyway. The machining and cylinder heads will make the real difference in how the engine will perform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logan1 Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 (edited) Logan1: If the target is 300/350tq, for a little more cost those number will be more easily achieved by stroking it to a 383 cu in engine. For $200.00 a cast stroker crank can be had. Either way you will likely have to buy new Pistons anyway. The machining and cylinder heads will make the real difference in how the engine will perform. yes but to do a stroker i'll have to get the block machined to a .030 over bore which will probably cost between $500 to $800 in addition to the cost of the crank. Unless i can do a 383 by simply clearancing the engine for 3.75 stroke using a carbide bit and a die grinder. Edited November 28, 2011 by logan1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsicard Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 If your getting a junk yard 350, it likely will have to be bored .030 over. If the appropriate connecting rods are purchased there may be no need to clearance the pan rails or bottoms of the cylinders. If the 5.7" original rods are reused (not recommended) then clearancing must be done. To do things right, the block should be bored .030 over, decked and crank bores line honed. Then use Scat 6" rods, pistons and 3.75" stroke cast crank. Then you have a very good bottom end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeze Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 off topic but your z looks nice... are those bamf flares or just regular flares? and what spoiler is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Some of the budget 3.75" cranks end up NOT being a deal. They can take heavy metal to balance. That will blow your budget. Also, they are not always the roundest, straightest cranks. Buyer be aware! I like your cheap idea. Check with your local machine shops for deals. We always have blocks, intakes, heads, etc.. My 327 steel crank was free and so was the 350 steel crank and 4 bolt block. Watch out for the pro-comp parts in the heads. They can be not so good. We've even had seats from them that needed replacing. What parts do you have already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 210 cc heads are too big for a hyd cam motor and your target hp. It will be down on torque and you won't be able to turn it high enough to use the heads with 350 cid. Some bowl ported cleaned up stock heads will meet your goal and save money. I recently helped a fellow freshen a motor with procomps and the core shift was so bad the intake barely sealed. Save up for some better heads or use some stockers. jt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logan1 Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 (edited) off topic but your z looks nice... are those bamf flares or just regular flares? and what spoiler is that? The flares are regular ZG's and te spoiler is a sparrow tail. Some of the budget 3.75" cranks end up NOT being a deal. They can take heavy metal to balance. That will blow your budget. Also, they are not always the roundest, straightest cranks. Buyer be aware! I like your cheap idea. Check with your local machine shops for deals. We always have blocks, intakes, heads, etc.. My 327 steel crank was free and so was the 350 steel crank and 4 bolt block. Watch out for the pro-comp parts in the heads. They can be not so good. We've even had seats from them that needed replacing. What parts do you have already? I have decided to just to a 350 build. I will not be doing the 383 after all. Also after reading a bunch of reviews on line i have decided to not use pro comp heads as then seem to be cheap for a reason. 210 cc heads are too big for a hyd cam motor and your target hp. It will be down on torque and you won't be able to turn it high enough to use the heads with 350 cid. Some bowl ported cleaned up stock heads will meet your goal and save money. I recently helped a fellow freshen a motor with procomps and the core shift was so bad the intake barely sealed. Save up for some better heads or use some stockers. jt Do you think a set of vortec heads would get the job done? Also how much TQ would i lose by using 210cc heads; I ask because they are a set of brodix heads for sale locally with 210cc intake port, 67cc chamber volume, and the valve size intake is 2.080 and exhaust valves are 1.600. Professionally ported have a 1206 intake gasket on them and there ported more than the intake chambers on the gasket. As i stated above i will not be using pro comp heads as they seem to be very low quality heads. Edited December 2, 2011 by logan1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Good move on skipping the Procomps. They are a false economy. If the 215 heads you're looking at are ported bigger than 1206's, they're a pretty serious race head, and it's going to take a pretty serious intake to work with them. Neither of these are going to work well with a low compression hyd cam stock shortblock, you will be disappointed. The big heads won't have enough velocity to make good torque at lower rpm, and the stock shortblock won't turn enough rpm to get the heads really working. I think a set of vortecs would be excellent for your goals. You'll have to use centerbolt VC's and a vortec intake, but that's not a big deal. Why don't you check out Ryan's stroker page? It's a compilation of builds with dyno results, and you can learn a lot there. You can meet your goals without blowing the budget, all it takes is some planning. There's over a hundred combos there. http://ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos1.html jt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbojohnny Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 this cam http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-08-422-8/ with world products sportsman II cylinder heads an edelbrock performer rpm air gap intake manifold, and a holley 600cfm carb produced ~335hp and 384trq for me on a beat up stock '97 350 that had about 170k miles on it. that was without replacing bearings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyro Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 (edited) Those lifters are not for a roller cam. I would buy a "complete" 350 vortec engine with a factory roller cam. Look for a 96 to 2000 350 vortec engine from a truck. these engines will make 300hp with just headers, intake and carb. Can get a good used vortec engine for less than $800. modify the heads for more lift, swap the cam for a little more duration, add a rpm intake, holley 3310 750cfm, block huggers, and you can easily make 350 to 400hp (depending on cam). Should be able to do it all for under $2000. Edited December 7, 2011 by Pyro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsicard Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Pyro has the right idea. The used Vortec 350 engines from '96 to 2000 have fuel injection and are usually very clean and little wear because of it. The Vortec heads need to have the valve guides milled to a shorter length to allow more valve opening. A good valve job, good valve springs and good cleanup will make for a good set of heads. An aggressive solid roller lifter camshaft, solid roller lifters and 1.6 ratio rockers will yield HONEST good valve lift to take best advantage of the Vortec heads. Since the stock Vortec short block will likely have pistons .025" in the hole, use .015" head gaskets to get the best squish/quench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mditt8671 Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Hi logan1, I came across this helpful article a while ago, and I'm using it as a guide for my 350 build. Pretty good information there. The Goodwrench Quest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 1 bad thing about the vortec heads....they are prone to cracking. We had 6 heads in the shop only 1 was good. I like them. They top aout at ~235cfm on the intake at around .500 lift. so you don't need a huge cam. We made ~370-377 hp (engine dyno) with a set, on a professional product low intake, 750dp and 1 5/8 longtubes. The other problem is the intake selection. I mean, they're out there but they only fit the vortec heads. So you're kinda stuck. But the vortec BOTTOM end is a great place to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsicard Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Yes, there is one part number of Vortec Heads that are prone to cracking. There is a second part number that is not prone to cracking. The numbers in the Goodwrench Quest should not be that hard to achieve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyro Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Here is another link. http://www.superchevy.com/technical/engines_drivetrain/completebuilds_testing/sucp_0910_chevy_350_engine_build/viewall.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ap72 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 There is a LOT of bad advice in this thread, and a little bit of decent advice. If you don't have a short block going with a complete Vortec engine is not a bad proosition, HOWEVER it is not likely that you can find a low miles complete running engine in good condition. SO you'll probably be looking for one with a spun bearing as it is fairly common. Get a good vortec engine with a spun bearing and have the crank fixed and either have the rods resized or throw them away and get a good set of Scats. Get a set of cheap flat top pistons with the propoer compresion height (1.560-1.565") and a cheap rering kit. At this power level you don't need to worry about getting fancy on rings and bearings, Kind Bimetal bearings are fine and hastings, Perfect circle (mahle), or speed pro rings will be fine. Assuming your heads are not cracked have a good valve job done on them with a wide chamber cut and the throat opened to 89%. Assuming you want to reuse your HR valve train find a cam around with around 220º duration @.050", an RPM intake will work fine if you want to run a carb (I prefer EFI now). A good set of headers and a decent carb and you'll be around 425hp at the flywheel for a total around $2K. DO NOT OVERCAM THESE HEADS. with nothing more than a good valve job they do not work well with more than 225º duration, your tq drops off fast and you don't pick up much hp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTHALOSISM Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 You can also just get an Lt1/LS1 setup for under 2k and be done with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logan1 Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 (edited) Ok guys here is the play so far: The motor will have a stock bottom end with all new bearings and flat top pistons. I will be using a set of vortec 350 heads. I would like a cam recommendation that will allow me to make between 300 and 325hp. Edited December 28, 2011 by logan1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonmreiss Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I am also going to run the vortec heads, I'm gonna make it a 383 though. I've heard the lt4 hot cam can be made to work. Beehive springs, special retainers and locks may be required though. I'm probably just going to have the heads machined though for a larger cam as I am shooting for over 400 horse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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