Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - dirt cheap 350 buildup

a friend was telling me of a engine build that would be cheap powerfull and very reliable. here is the basics I can remember at this time

350 4 bolt 60's 70's truck motor (high nickel content) bored .20 over to clean it up.
stock crank
hyperteutic rings
powdered metal connecting rods
slightly dished pistons again powdered metal (aiming for 9.3:1 compression)
have the rotating assembly balanced
vortech heads (96-99 5.7 truck heads, less than $500 each) with very minor porting.
edelbrock intake for carburator
rochester 650cfm rebuilt, jetted and purple power pistoned.

he said this combo is good for just short of 400hp and you could run it at the track day in day out for years.

any ideas, suggestion or dirt cheap combo's of your own?

There have been many mag articles with tests of 355 with stock vortec heads, 268h cam and rpm air gap making over 400 at pretty low rpm. I have assembled a few of these combo's for friends many being 2 bolt blocks and they haven't hurt them yet.Stock cranks and rods, sealed power pistons

a friend was telling me of a engine build that would be cheap powerfull and very reliable. here is the basics I can remember at this time

350 4 bolt 60's 70's truck motor (high nickel content) bored .20 over to clean it up.
stock crank
hyperteutic rings
powdered metal connecting rods
slightly dished pistons again powdered metal (aiming for 9.3:1 compression)
have the rotating assembly balanced
vortech heads (96-99 5.7 truck heads, less than $500 each) with very minor porting.
edelbrock intake for carburator
rochester 650cfm rebuilt, jetted and purple power pistoned.

he said this combo is good for just short of 400hp and you could run it at the track day in day out for years.

any ideas, suggestion or dirt cheap combo's of your own?

No such thing as hyper rings. No such thing as PM pistons. Other than that, 400 hp 350s are a dime a dozen. Buy a magazine. They'll run forever and parts are dirt cheap. Keep compression around 9:1 and you can rev them to 6K all day long.

"cheap powerfull and very reliable"

you can only pick 2, never all 3

sounds like a good build-up!

I ran a 355 with the following set-up:

350 bored .030 over in a 72 casting 4-bolt block
4-valve relief forged TRW pistons
stock truck rods and crank
world products sportsman II iron heads ('96 casting style, so an older design compared to today's vortec or WP castings) 2.02/1.60 with minor porting
Crane Cam 488/510 lift 222/228 duration hyd.
Edelbrock Torker II intake
Holley 650 dp carb
All in a 3400 lbs raceweight car that ran 12.30's in cool air and 12.60-12.70 in summertime. Last 7 years and 50,000 street miles before the stock crank broke in 2 places on a pass.

Derek

Try powerhouse. They sell 350 rebuild kits for 150 bucks! It even comes with a cam. Everything you need to rebuild it. I think their website is enginekits dot com.

ya I messed up, I meant cro-moly rings and hyperteutic pistons

thats a sweet build villain, how much were those pistons?
man you got your moneys worth out of that motor eh

150 bucks for a rebuildkit!?!?

thats a sweet build villain, how much were those pistons?
man you got your moneys worth out of that motor eh?

Pistons were $199 for the set of 8, but this was back in '96, and yeah I definately got a good deal from that engine. I just wish I coulda saved the 4-bolt block but cranks breaking usually denies that idea!

enginekits.com is amazing, check out those prices! I wonder who the manufacturers of that stuff are, I hope it's not cheap chinese crap.. I guess it would kind of have to be for that money..

"cheap powerfull and very reliable"

you can only pick 2, never all 3
ahh the truth speaks

Would be a solid motor, if you kept the rpm's under 5600-5800 it should run forever.