Well, I made it out to E-town this weekend for Buick day and I'm glad I did. I didnt realize there were so many Stage 1's still on the road! I think the rain scared away alot of people though. While I was there I managed to spot a chasis dyno. I have some interesting results.. maybe someone can point me in the right direction. Max power: 212.0 Max torque: 303.2 The car also ran 15.1 @ 92 mph. Is this pretty much normal for a mild buick 350? I'm happy with the amount of torque I'm putting out, but it really seems like its running out of breath. Should I be looking at a set of new heads? James
i'm assuming those are rwhp numbers? they would be slightly higher than a stock 350-4v, which sounds about right. what all have you done to it? if it's in good running order i think the first thing most guys here would recommend is a TA intake, a hotter cam, and headers.
first dyno pulls I would highly recommend standard abrasives home porting and polishing kit as it comes with a step by step guide that even first timers like myself can understand and use.I think you'll be very surprised what you can do and the money you will save by porting your own heads.If you don't feel comfortable with it there are alot of guys & even some gals that can point you in the right direction of a good machine shop in your area,don't be afraid to ask, that's why we're all here. doing that with a ta intake , cam and headers can net some impressive gains on these 350's.:TU:
David, Yea those are rear wheel numbers. I've done quite a bit to the motor actually. Its freshly rebuilt. 10:1 compression, slightly hotter cam, 750 edelbrock cam. I also got some air fuel numbers on the dyno. I'm at around 11.2 or so, so i might gain a few from leaning it out a little. I also think I might be loosing a bunch of power in my converter (its original :shock: ) How well does this motor respond to the TA Intake? Its a lot of money for an intake but I guess I have to expect to pay alot for something other than a SBC Jeff, I dont think I'm up to port an polishing my own heads but if you know a machine shop in Central Jersey.. I'd love to hear it. I dont think it should be too hard to get the heads off of this thing is it? James
The TA intake will definitely help your engine!! Should pick up a couple of tenths in the 1/4. The stock GS 350 had 315hp at the flywheel, yours looks to have about 260hp at the flywheel. I'm guessing you should be able to pull some more power out of the distributor and carb. Since it's freshly rebuilt, you may need to get some miles on it before everything starts to fully seal.
I second what Scott said! Get that carb. and ignition tweeked :Smarty: Next get that stall converter and ~3.31 or so posi. to keep hwy rev.'s in check.
Thanks Craig - I forgot to mention the convertor!ou: That will help a bunch! Much better torque multiplication. Might even consider an upgrade to a 200-4r overdrive tranny. Better 1st and 2nd gear plus overdrive!! Add a nice set of gears between 3.31 and 3.73 and you'll notice some serious improvements.
scott - 315 is for the 10.25:1 1970 350. i think all 71 350's had 9.0:1 and they actually did make 260hp. figure in a compression bump and a hotter cam and maybe you're looking at 280? by the way, what's the approximate bare to net conversion? i thought it was 80%?
'Net' probably should apply to rwhp if you went by the 'true' definition, but in car terms it's alittle different. In common terms, 'gross' and 'net' are both at the flywheel, but 'gross' is without accessories, exhaust, air cleaner, etc. Around '71 or '72 they switched from gross to net I think, so if you ever see a huge drop between years, it might not just be because of stricter emisions standards.
first dyno pulls james, the heads are not very hard to get off but you need to make sure you keep your rocker arm shafts, pushrods, lifters, are in the same spot when you re-install the heads. also make sure to remember which head went on which side of the engine as they both look identical except for the casting numbers. that is how i identified mine when i was porting & polishing mine this last winter.it really isn't as difficult as it might seem to do your own heads. there is a lot of good info out there, especially in car craft. they've had some really good articles in there for someone attempting to do this for the first time. as long as you take your time and study the head a little first it's pretty easy. mine were my first time and i was very surprised at how easy it really was. the best thing to do is get an old junk head to practice on first and when you feel comfortable with the die grinder you can start on the good heads . the performance gains are really worth it. i would bet i picked up anothe 25-30 hp just for doing some grinding and a good performance 3 angle valve job(very important)good luck with your project.:TU:
