Need help with old school engine.

**Street Fighter** · 10-26-2013, 02:15 AM

I have a 69 chevy truck that have a 278 crane cam with 467-494 lift A 2200 stall, rpm intake, vortec 525 max lift heads, headers, a 750 holley, bored 30 over with 10 to1 flattop pistons.350 trans with shift kit and 373 gears.I need more power. the truck runs ok but it's not what I want. I have thought about going with a bigger cam and a better set of heads, If I go that way what would be a good set of heads to buy and what size cam? I need advice from someone that have a setup on their car or truck not what they think will work. I will be spending real money on this so I want to get it right.

**DaytonaBlues** · 10-26-2013, 03:21 AM

well, ok, toss the converter for a 3800 stall, throw on a set of AFR 225CC aluminum heads, run a big ass hydraulic or solid ROLLER cam, spec with at least 575", 240 ish dur. 112 LSA, 850 cfm double pumper or a dominator, single plane intake manifold, and there you go...if you got forged pistons, run a 100 wet shot of the throttle in a bottle..oh yea, 4.11 gears wouldnt hurt. there you go. thats a good $5,000 at least in just parts..500 horse assuming you built the bottom end of the motor right and its a sbc...

just my opinion here on what makes you go faster. more air, more fuel=power

**Firebirdjones** · 10-26-2013, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by Street Fighter

I have a 69 chevy truck that have a 278 crane cam with 467-494 lift A 2200 stall, rpm intake, vortec 525 max lift heads, headers, a 750 holley, bored 30 over with 10 to1 flattop pistons.350 trans with shift kit and 373 gears.I need more power. the truck runs ok but it's not what I want. I have thought about going with a bigger cam and a better set of heads, If I go that way what would be a good set of heads to buy and what size cam? I need advice from someone that have a setup on their car or truck not what they think will work. I will be spending real money on this so I want to get it right.

What you have isn't a bad package. Probably makes an honest 330-350hp and maybe 360-370 tq. The biggest factor holding you back is that we are talking about a heavy 69 chevy truck shaped like a brick. My approach would be more torque and lots of it.

I'd leave the gears and trans as they are to keep drivability. 3.73's are a nice compromise in performance, and can still cruise the highway at 65-70 comfortably.

If you go up on camshaft you'll need to step up on the stall converter. Your heads however are going to stop you in the camshaft department. Not only max lift limited, but they really don't flow flow anymore over .500 lift anyway. They are 170cc intake runner heads. To keep torque up you'll need to keep the intake runner size relatively small on a 350. I wouldn't go more than 180-190cc intake runner.

With that in mind, I just used a set of 180cc intake runner aluminum heads from Jegs on a 327 build. These heads flow 260cfm, have a tight 64cc chamber like your vortec heads so compression will stay the same, and recently won a head shootout for making power and being affordable. Complete set $1,000 from Jegs. They have good looking midlift flow numbers too, and actually outflow the Edelbrock RPM heads out of the box, and cost $600 less.
Personally I would prefer to have them setup with roller springs and go with a hydraulic roller cam minimum, but these heads would work nice with any flat tappet cam. If roller isn't in the budget, I'd switch over to a comp cam with tighter lobe sep to pick up some low and midrange power over that 112 lsa crane grind, and then top it off with the RPM air gap intake for a boost in power over the RPM intake.

These changes could make a 400 HP and 400 tq 350, which isn't a big boost in power but noticable.

I don't know what your ultimate goals are for the truck, but a big heavy and boxy vehicle like this, I would prefer more cubes myself. A 383 build would be my approach if you want to stick with small block chevys. I also wouldn't hesitate to drop a big block in there, that would be another excellent option. I've done the LS swaps too that make great power, but the coin involved usually turns people off that route.

**2002ssslp** · 10-27-2013, 05:20 PM

Here you go. 502cid of big block torque within your price range. You will need a TH400 trans but everything else can stay they same except maybe the driveshaft. Sell off the old parts for the cost of the trans and shaft. Remember there is no replacement for displacement. Ebay# 111193365674

**pajeff02** · 10-27-2013, 06:19 PM

We have about the same engine setup and Vortec heads in our '74 Corvette. FBJ is right on the money as ours makes around 330 hp and feels quite strong through its 3.55 gears and smallish 15" wheels and tires. How tall are the tires on your truck and what does it tip the scales at?

**Street Fighter** · 10-27-2013, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by pajeff02

We have about the same engine setup and Vortec heads in our '74 Corvette. FBJ is right on the money as ours makes around 330 hp and feels quite strong through its 3.55 gears and smallish 15" wheels and tires. How tall are the tires on your truck and what does it tip the scales at?

The truck have 275-60-15 tires on front and rear which are 28" tall, It has to be about 4000 lbs.or a little less.

**pajeff02** · 10-28-2013, 03:00 AM

Not too bad then, your steeper gears probably make up for the difference in tire size between our vehicles. I think our Corvette tips the scales at 3,400 lbs. or so.

**Firebirdjones** · 10-28-2013, 04:48 AM

3.73's with a 28" tire is about a perfect combo for a mild street/strip setup in my opinion. It will cruise at 65 mph at about 2800 rpms all day long without the need for an overdrive, yet still provide decent performance. I've criss crossed the country with a setup just like that on 3 different occasions racking up about 2,600 miles each way and it does just fine.