Yet another fool in need of small block chevy advice

[JustinSuhas]

Long story short, my jeep needs a new motor (blow-by). Currently I'm running a mild 350. right now it has headers, performer rpm intake manifold, edelbrock off road carb (thunder series type, 650 cfm-spring loaded needles and whatnot) Mexico cast heads, and a mild RV cam.

This time around im thinking along the lines of a 383. My catering gig has done wonders for my funds and I don't mind spending a little dough on a good short block replacement. A local shop near me has two offerings in the racing 383 short-block range.

This one is quite tempting- $1,995 and it comes loaded with the forged pistons and claims 500+ HP capability.

Here's the link, the price page is in pdf but its only 2 pages. Go to racing on the left. bottom page of pdf.http://citymotorsupply.com/performance.htm

Would I make more power if I shifted my money toward heads and a different manifold and went with a 350 shortblock, or would I just be moving the power band around? It is a jeep and I love/need torque.

How well will my heads do on this setup?
How well will my intake manifold do in this setup?
I don't mind changing the manifold but I need to keep the carb I have now for the rocks.

Although It will come later, Ive even considered a little nitrous (cause there's German in my blood). Red lights, Dunes, and the strip. Those forged pistons present a strong case…

[Freiburger]

Re: Yet another fool in need of small block chevy advice

Is your interest totally street/strip/dunes? I other words, zero trail riding or rock crawling

[QuarterHorse]

Re: Yet another fool in need of small block chevy advice

Like what was mentioned it's going to depend on what you want to do with it. If your going to need lots of low end torque, or more mid range.

[Eric68]

Re: Yet another fool in need of small block chevy advice

If you want some nicely ported 180cc heads (that flow around 260cfm @ .600 on the intake) try looking up JimM at www.camaros.net He is putting some new (and larger) heads on his 383 and may want to sell his old ones for a good price. If you want to start with new stuff Vortecs would be a good choice too but you would need a new intake and other Vortec specific stuff.

Something in the 180-200cc range on a 383 would make a really nice, flat TQ curve on a 383 using your existing intake and carb. A nice hydraulic roller 224/230 'ish @ .050 would work well too.

But like the others said, a little more about the intended application would help.

[revolutionary]

Re: Yet another fool in need of small block chevy advice

If you have any inkling to run nitrous I'd use forged pistons. Mild setup like you have for tooling around you can still run a cast steel crank, SIR rods, SRP or Mahle flat tops, and I'd kick out a few extra bux for at least some decent iron heads. A relatively small hyd flat tappet around 224/230@ .050 would be a good choice if you do a lot of slow crawling. If you keep the rpm a little higher I'd lean towards a 230/236.

[SpeedZealot]

Re: Yet another fool in need of small block chevy advice

the 383 will be better for torque, now you have a jeep so youwant to be careful to not go crazy with the cam, because it will move peak torque out of a usable range. you can also fix this a little bit by moving the ICL....

[JustinSuhas]

Re: Yet another fool in need of small block chevy advice

Is your interest totally street/strip/dunes? I other words, zero trail riding or rock crawling

I could see how it might sound that way but street/strip/dunes are most definitely secondary. Rock crawling is its primary purpose. I guess my reasoning for all the questions about power are just me trying to have my cake and eat it too. On the rocks, it sings... I'm just trying to expand my playground. While torque is important, i just wonder how important it is. As far as rockcrawling goes, I'm not too worriedabout torque numbers. Ive wheeled enough 22R Toyota's, samurai's, 4 and 6 cyl jeeps to know that it doesn't take gobs of torque to heave a CJ5 over some boulders. Plus i have enough "gearing down" happening in the xfer case and axles to compensate for any "lack" of torque. I guess I'm more interested in the engines behavior than having diesel-ish power down low in the RPM. I'm guessing midrange power is what I'm after?

If you keep the rpm a little higher I'd lean towards a 230/236.

the low gears do tend to keep me higher in the rpm on the freeway...

you want to be careful to not go crazy with the cam, because it will move peak torque out of a usable range. you can also fix this a little bit by moving the ICL....

Agreed, a big raunchy cam is the last thing i want. but also i don't want a cam that will fall on its face above 5 grand... i like to spin it a little. What is ICL? i did a google search and got "Indian Cricket League"


Today i decided to go with the 383 short block i mentioned. I think im going to look around some junkyards for better heads than the ones i have now. Any suggestions on what to look in? is it worth the hassle and money or should i just save my dough for a set of real heads(sometime next year) and run what i have currently?

[SpeedZealot]

Re: Yet another fool in need of small block chevy advice

Buy real heads.

google, Intake Center Line.