ENGINE REBUILD

JeffnTanya · November 1, 2001

ok.. so the other thing is that my engine has a rod knock and I haven't driven or started it since.(2 months ago). my boss was nice enough to let me drive the company vehicle t'ill the spring. the problem is the guy that will be rebuilding my engine needs to have it beofre december so he can get it done before he leaves for his month long holidays.. then he comes back and has to build mod engines so he's too busy.. so the thing is I need to figure this out soon.. I still have to pull the engine out.. my question is about the heads. apparently the heads on this '88 350 tbi are very restrictive.. I was told that you can't really do much as far as port & polishing them.. I was thinking of putting vortec heads.. problem there is you have to buy a new intake manfifold from gm performance and it's about $650 canadian. then I have to buy some kit to route the egr externally..(I want to keep this thing emission legal and get the most power out of it).. the other thing I thought was bowtie heads.. apparently I run into the problem that there's no egr passage again.. anyone have any advice?? I currently have edelbrock performer tbi intake, edelbrock performer cam, msd 6a, msd blaster coil, 700r4 transmission with 3.73 rear end.. I 'm looking at getting the optimal out of this..

thanks

76BBSub · November 1, 2001

One inexpensive (relatively) option is some better factory heads that will respond to the porting. I am running some 882 castings on my '74 Corvette and making about 350 HP. They are the original castings, and have the EGR stuff you need. When I had the engine rebuilt we punched them out with 2.02"/1.60" valves (vs. 1.94/1.50" stock). Some versions of this casting already have the bigger valves, so you can save a few $$$ that way. I did not get a full port and polish, a little roughness is actually good on a street machine for fuel mixing. They blend the combustion chamber into the valve area to improve flow and promote better flame propagation...it seems to have worked pretty well!

I have a comparison of small block heads in a magazine at home, the 882 are some of the best small volume production heads Chevy made. There are a couple other casting numbers that are pretty good, but I don't have them here at work. The 882 heads were used for several years starting around 1973 and should be pretty easy to find in the junkyards.

Jeff

JeffnTanya · November 2, 2001

something I found when I was looking for these heads..

"882" – 333882. These heads were found on early-late 70's 350 and 400 engines. They had 76CC combustion chambers, 1.94/13.50" valves, DO have accessory holes, intake port volume is 160CC's, exhaust port volume is 60CC's. These heads are made of thinner castings and are prone to cracking as well. The exhaust port on these heads is rather weak in my humble opinion, and is not considered to be a good performance head. I have read some flow numbers on the internet regarding the 882's, and I have a hard time believing some of the flow numbers people are posting on these particular castings. I did extensive flow testing on several of these particular castings, and was not very impressed with their flow characteristics. The 441 or 487 are a much better large chamber head (in my humble opinion). The 882 intake port is very close to that of the 624, the exhaust side is where the 882 is weaker. "

76BBSub · November 2, 2001

Sounds about right, although I think he is a little hard on the 882. Although I am no expert I havn't heard of any mid-70's Corvettes with cracked 882s. The main reason I recommended them is that they have what you need in terms of EGR, accessory mounting, etc, as you posted. Unless you are building a very high-performance engine I think the 882s will be OK, and will definitely be inexpensive compared to your other options.

I don't know how much you want to spend, but there are plenty of aftermarket heads available that will do what you want and provide more power. What kind of power do you want to make, and how much were you planning to spend on heads?

Jeff

Kansas Kid · November 2, 2001

Its too bad you already have that Edelbrock intake, or I would have said to go with the Vortec heads hands down. They offer great performance for the price, and make good power for a truck motor. That is more then likely the route I will go if the 350 in my truck ever goes south. Only its going to come back as a 383.

btw, are you going to go with an aftermaket TBI, or atleast swap out to the TBI unit from a 454? I pretty sure a stock TBI unit won't get enough fuel and air into a higher horsepower motor.

JeffnTanya · November 3, 2001

Quote from Kansas Kid, posted on Nov. 02 2001,2:33

Its too bad you already have that Edelbrock intake, or I would have said to go with the Vortec heads hands down. They offer great performance for the price, and make good power for a truck motor. That is more then likely the route I will go if the 350 in my truck ever goes south. Only its going to come back as a 383.

btw, are you going to go with an aftermaket TBI, or atleast swap out to the TBI unit from a 454? I pretty sure a stock TBI unit won't get enough fuel and air into a higher horsepower motor.

hmm 383.. I was thinking of putting a 400 crank when I get it done but was told that with the computer and all it would not run properly.. as far as cash I would like to spend the least and get the most... but if I have to spend extra to do it right I will do it.. I'm not planning on pulling the engine out again for a long time after this rebuild... I do maybe 5000 to 8000km's a year max and I'm looking for lots of power .. I won't be towing or loading the thing down.. it's more a car than a truck.

November 3, 2001

Hey Jeff,

Haven't heard from you in a while!

The advice already given was good, IMO, but have you considered a crate motor vs. rebuild? GM is really putting out some neat stuff right now and from what I've seen, the prices are comparable to a quality rebuild. Check out Sallee Chevrolet on the net(can't remember the url) and see what is offered.

They might have what you're looking for as a new long block that will hook up to your stock components.

Shaners · November 3, 2001

This dealer is about 40 miles from me... his site is a little hard to get used to but it's all there... he sells alot of "crate motors" around here...

http://www.paceparts.com/

JeffnTanya · November 3, 2001

Quote from Friz, posted on Nov. 02 2001,9:17

Hey Jeff,
Haven't heard from you in a while!

The advice already given was good, IMO, but have you considered a crate motor vs. rebuild? GM is really putting out some neat stuff right now and from what I've seen, the prices are comparable to a quality rebuild. Check out Sallee Chevrolet on the net(can't remember the url) and see what is offered.

They might have what you're looking for as a new long block that will hook up to your stock components.

you haven't heard from me in a while as I moved the first week of october and 3 weeks before that is when the knocking got really bad and I was discouraged and just have had soooo much work to do around the house.. I'm almost done getting the garage ready so I can pull the beast of an engine out.. I was initially considering crate motor t'ill a few people told me that a rebuild would be much better as crate motor tolerances are not very good. i don't know if this is bull or not.. I was also told there built in mexico..