Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - 350 question????

I have a chevy 350 in my 1970 buick gs. the 350 is out of a 71 or 72 chevelle that the guy before me has put in. honestly it feels extremely slow. my moms SUV feels faster... does anybody know of some easy ways to increase horsepower??? if u do please answer me back... thank u

Whats done to the motor bolt on wise?? If nothing i would say, intake, headers, carb, ignition and possibly even a new set of heads, edelbrocks are cheap these days

Your question can be interpreted quite a few ways, as what is easy to one person might be hard for another.

First, do you have any mechanical experience? If so, you're ahead of the game b/c some bolt-ons can be done without the labor costs associated with taking it to a shop.

Headers, exhaust, intake & carb and a good tune-up (plugs, points/or distributor tune) would be places to start. Think about what purposes the car will be serving (daily driver, weekend cruiser, street/strip brawler, etc.) before doing any modifications and try to plan out what you want to accomplish so your money and time will be wisely spent.

Good luck!

Derek

well the engine has headers ... an edelbrock 750 carb... and a performance intake...however i dont rly know wuts been done to it otherwise but im almost positive that its pretty much stock

sounds like a good reason to me to tear it apart and start over
to find out whats in there ;)

Sounds like too much carb to me....

Sounds like too much carb to me....

for sure, i was running a holley 600 carb on my old stock sbc, with headers only, and it was almost too much carb for that motor, and it was running pig rich

Check the timing and go thru and adjust the valves sounds like they may be too tight. You could also take a look at the valve springs and make sure none are broke.

for sure, i was running a holley 600 carb on my old stock sbc, with headers only, and it was almost too much carb for that motor, and it was running pig rich


It is possible to run a big carb, with a small engine and not run pig rich, you must have poor tunning, my 850 is tuned perfect for my 355.

But first id run a compression test, if everything is ok (highly doubt it) then go with holleys 425hp top end package, best bang for your buck in a complete package. around 2k for it.

My gut tells me that your carb is to big for the engine. typically, a 350 responds better to a 600 cfm or so. One of the reasons is because with smaller venturies, you get a faster air speed through the carb and better metering of fuel as well as a little more vacuum. You will loose a little top end rpm, but I think you will still gain by a little smaller carb.
Also, check your timing and your entire distributor. If your mechanical and vacuum advance is not working properly, then you can have a very sluggish feel.

One thing that has not been mentioned. If it is an automatic car with a stock torque converter, and larger cam, you will be really slow from a start, because the converter locks below the meat of the cams rpm range.
Had a neighbor with this issue in a 69 Camaro Had a 750 and stock converter with an engine with a lot of duration in the cam and it would not spin the tires. Put a 600 Edelbrock on it, and a 2,800 stall converter and it smoldered the hides all the way out of our culdesac.