Ways to Increase Horsepower on a budget

[Offbeat Octane]

Well just last night i was looking through an old issue of Car Craft and they have an article about how to take a stock 350 engine and throw in around $3,000 worth of bolt-ons and make it produce over 500 HP... I think it was 513 HP @ 6500 RPM... and 415 Ft-lbs of torque @ 4500 RPM... I'll look it up again tonight and give you a summary.
Chad

 

[Andy]

Chad..thanks...I would really appreciate a link to the article or anything at all. so much info out their, so many viewpoints on what to do etc.....I'll be at Carlisle this year and want to dyno my car....Let me know what you can locate. Really appreciate your assistance.


Andy

Well just last night i was looking through an old issue of Car Craft and they have an article about how to take a stock 350 engine and throw in around $3,000 worth of bolt-ons and make it produce over 500 HP... I think it was 513 HP @ 6500 RPM... and 415 Ft-lbs of torque @ 4500 RPM... I'll look it up again tonight and give you a summary.
Chad

 

[craig32]

Am I the only one who builds their own engine?

I hear ya, L48 - must be some GM sales people here with all the '383 stroker' and 'LS 7' talk. I rebuilt my own, years ago - no Edelbrock, no Holley - Isky cam and all the rest is GM. Gear driven cam (531 lift, 290 duration) solid roller lifters and rev kit, milled 64cc heads, and a 2X4 intake from a 58 Vette. For some reason I never put a dual point in it, but I got one for it now. Had it in a 57 Chevy with an M21 and 4.56 posi rear - just plain nasty. Sold the car, kept the engine, building a 'tractor' Or if I screw up the Jasper in the Vette, I have a donor lined up.
:gap Boys and their toys. . .

Craig

 

[lnirenberg]

Several little things may add up for you. Consider a high performance coil and ignition module. These 2 items will likely run about $100 together. You'll get a little more spark to your plugs. Of course, you may then decide to get better wires and plugs.

What and where can I get a high performance coil and ignition module for $100? It has been on my to do list for a while. Also plug wires--I see a whole bunch out there with a huge spread in price top to bottom. Which ones are really worth the money?

 

[vmrod]

www.jegs.com

I spent around $40 or so for my super-stock 8mm (blue) spark plug wires. I'm not a spark plug wire guru, so I can't say if I got a great deal or not, but they seem to be good quality to me.

 

[L48]

I rebuilt my own, years ago - no Edelbrock, no Holley - Isky cam and all the rest is GM. Gear driven cam (531 lift, 290 duration) solid roller lifters and rev kit, milled 64cc heads, and a 2X4 intake from a 58 Vette. For some reason I never put a dual point in it, but I got one for it now. Had it in a 57 Chevy with an M21 and 4.56 posi rear - just plain nasty.
:gap Boys and their toys. . .

Nasty? - sounds excellent to me!

Before I bought this Corvette I was thinking about building a long rod 327 and balancing the bottom end to try to squeak some more power out of it. It will probably get some aluminum heads with a little smaller combustion chamber, but I still want to run 87 octane. I am not trying to get too crazy but my 12.60 TA (with a TH700 trans and 4.56 gears) is pushing 6200 RPM in the traps and that is about all there is left in the 350.

Speaking of boys and their toys, I have a 28X32 detached garage for my toys. And once I get the Vette up and running I am sure the racing bug will be calling me again.

 

[Rich80]

K&N Filter cant hurt your setup. They claim 5 HP