project RECOVERY ONE

[camok10]

well heres the bad news:

found out today that there are 3 exhaust valves with cracked seats from them just checking it over before the magnafluxing, so now theres a chance the guides may be no good.... so all of that porting work and i hours i put into it are WORTH NOTHING  so it back to the drawing board! gonna just find me some vortec heads and have some steam hiles drilled in em and call it good. cant argue with the best flowing production cast iron head gm has ever made

unless you want more torque below 4500 rpm then swirl port's are were it's at

[Kyle]

well heres the bad news:

found out today that there are 3 exhaust valves with cracked seats from them just checking it over before the magnafluxing, so now theres a chance the guides may be no good.... so all of that porting work and i hours i put into it are WORTH NOTHING  so it back to the drawing board! gonna just find me some vortec heads and have some steam hiles drilled in em and call it good. cant argue with the best flowing production cast iron head gm has ever made

unless you want more torque below 4500 rpm then swirl port's are were it's at

i do want more torque below 4500 rpms, cuz i rarely run it that high... im building it for low end torque, not to run the rev limiter to get power

[camok10]

vortec's are only better flowing than a swirl port above 4500 rpm and for that low end torque your going to want smaller runner's nothing huge. you would probably be better with just minimal porting and gasket matching. when you polish a runner you loose some of the help that the rough casting give's you to atomize the air fuel mixture. the polish on the high rpm motor's because there is enough velocity in the runner's it dosent need that help atomizing the fuel. but when there at idle they love to load up because it's just dripping the fuel in off the walls because it dosent have that atomization thats why the have to rev up and clean them out.

[Kyle]

vortec's are only better flowing than a swirl port above 4500 rpm and for that low end torque your going to want smaller runner's nothing huge. you would probably be better with just minimal porting and gasket matching. when you polish a runner you loose some of the help that the rough casting give's you to atomize the air fuel mixture. the polish on the high rpm motor's because there is enough velocity in the runner's it dosent need that help atomizing the fuel. but when there at idle they love to load up because it's just dripping the fuel in off the walls because it dosent have that atomization thats why the have to rev up and clean them out.

yea that is true. but i gotta fuel an extra 50 cubes, and the stock heads(which are NOT swirl ports) only had a 1.50 ehaust valve cuz the engine was from towards the end of their era when emmisions were getting strict. vortecs not only have bigger runners but have bigger valves in the heads, which will help out greatly with the fact that its an undervalved motor to begin with

[camok10]

swirl port's are the centerbolt head's find a set of 64's with a 1.6 exhaust and you should have plenty enough head if it's not something crazy

here is the 5.7 vortec head it also has a 1.5 exhaust valve

10239906...96-up...350.........."Vortec 5700", "L31", 64cc chamber,
                                170cc intake port, 1.94"/1.5" valves

this site went under but you can find it in web archive's it has almost every gm casting number

http://web.archive.org/web/20080506065350/www.mortec.com/castnum.htm

[Kyle]

alright ill def have to look into the valve size more with the heads then... didnt realize there were so many different ones in the vortecs... and it seems like every engine building book/site that i read says that the vortec heads are the way to go

[camok10]

what are the books for hp or general info? yes for horsepower vortec's are very good but as i said if it isnt going to see much over 4500 rpm a stock 64 cc tbi head will actually help produce more torque bel;ow 4500. i had a set of 76 cc 194/160 head's on a crate 350 with about a 9-1 comp and ~ 488 lift cam along with a wiend (sp) intake and i could run 7000 rpm with a 600 cfm carb befor it ran out of breath. it's all in component matching and building it for the aplication. if you get a low rpm cam idle to 5000 or so and run an 9.1 to 9.5 to one comp ratio along with portmatching and the 400's big bore/ stoke you will have a torque monster. or you cold go completly the other way and destroke from the 3.75 stroke the a 3.48 stroke with a 350 crank and have a motor capable of running upwards of 8000 rpm but you would have very low torque

but i will say if your building the motor to run up to around 5500-6000 vortech's would be a very good choice

are you going to 4v or tbi it

[Kyle]

what are the books for hp or general info?
it's all in component matching and building it for the aplication. if you get a low rpm cam idle to 5000 or so and run an 9.1 to 9.5 to one comp ratio along with portmatching and the 400's big bore/ stoke you will have a torque monster.
are you going to 4v or tbi it

the books are for budget nuilding horsepower and rebuilding

and the way u described it there ^^ is pretty close to what i was trying to do. its a 1k-5500 rpm cam and it shoud run mid 9s for compression i think... and its gonna have a 4 barrel offroad carb for now and maybe down the road switch to holley's self adjusting standalone 4 barrel tbi unit

[camok10]

i would say then if your going to run those rpm find a cam with charetistic's you want get an intake to match the rpm of the cam part match the intake to which ever head's you decide to use. i personally still use swirl port's there cheaper and much more abundent and with a little port work should be plenty enough for you. how about bottom end what are your plan's for that? a 400 uses a 5.8xx(iirc) rod and most aftermarket pistons require a 5.7 or 6" rod unless it's a stock replacement piston

[Kyle]

i would say then if your going to run those rpm find a cam with charetistic's you want get an intake to match the rpm of the cam part match the intake to which ever head's you decide to use. i personally still use swirl port's there cheaper and much more abundent and with a little port work should be plenty enough for you. how about bottom end what are your plan's for that? a 400 uses a 5.8xx(iirc) rod and most aftermarket pistons require a 5.7 or 6" rod unless it's a stock replacement piston

stock bottom end, just .030 over pistons. keepin it cheap. and i beleive it has a 5.565 rod....

[camok10]

that sounds right sounds like you got it pretty much planed out

[Kyle]

this info blows my mind! i dont understand half of it!!!!!!!!!!!

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/techinfo/heads1.html#Pro%20Lightning%20180

[camok10]

the .100, .200 amd so on is cam lift at a .050 duration and the number's across from them represent the airflow through the runer's int/exh i belive in cfm

[Hitman89x]

had some fun out at allegan today! bent the drivers side spindle steering arm(the part that connects to the steering bar) in a bit so the truck is gonna be pigeon toed for a while... got sum vids before it did it tho!!

see how many tractors it takes to pull out a chevy =P  nice truck!

[Kyle]

had some fun out at allegan today! bent the drivers side spindle steering arm(the part that connects to the steering bar) in a bit so the truck is gonna be pigeon toed for a while... got sum vids before it did it tho!!

see how many tractors it takes to pull out a chevy =P  nice truck!

was wonderin if somebody was gonna catch that part

[Kyle]

the 4wd has been pissing me off the last few days...  still cant figure out what it is.... when i mash on the gas the front axle starts to studder a little bit and then when i let off the gas from a higher rate of speed all i hear is the ring and pinion gears crashing together as it slows down to a slower speed.... im hoping it just needs more fluid... its oddly strange it just started doin it now tho... 

[shortiron]

Axle shaft?

[spr_chicken]

If you are going to run 350 heads on a 400. Have you thought about the steam ports? Just a thought.

[Kyle]

Axle shaft?

dont think so. the 4 wheel drive still all works.... found out the ubolts are a lil loose... but the fluid is all good in the diff. i almost kinda wonder if the sound is from the ring and pinion not meshing very well because of possibly the bearing retainer caps for the carrier are loosening themselves up, almost like every other bolt on the front end lol

If you are going to run 350 heads on a 400. Have you thought about the steam ports? Just a thought.

yea i got a guy that works at a machine shop doin the work for me and i will be getting them put in, its gonna need all the help it can get for cooling

[shortiron]

I was thinking maybe a bad u-joint in one of the shafts. I guess all you need to do is put rockwells in and get a set of tractor tires and all the noises go away.lol Well other than steel breaking.