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Engine Change

engine24355

engine24355

Member
Okay, I have been fighting this for a long time and still trying to fight it, but I have BLOWN SBC FEVER. I just cannot shake the urge to have something wild sitting between me and the radiator. I have been trying to use the "pratical" argument, but the "amount of horspower is controlled by your right foot" makes so much sense to me. That said, I need to figure out what to do here. I have asked about this before, but thought I would re-visit. The way I see it, I have two options:

1) Upgrade current 350 SBC.
2) Sell current 350 and swap out for an already built blown SBC.

Both of these options will be pretty expensive, but I wanted to see what the experts think. My fear with building up my current engine is the amount of work it would take to install a blower and get all the necessary components to sync up. I really like the idea of just swapping out engines, but not sure which route would be the best. Please help me cure my fever...LOL.
 
Start from scratch and build a blower motor. they are a little different than you regular carb engine. Beside you can drive the bucket while you build the blower motor.

If it ain't blown it sucks.
 
Back in the '70's when I was doing my blower thing one of the local racers (Hoyt Grimes) advised going to the junkyard and getting a truck motor, put a cam in it for the lope and drive it until it blew up and go back to the junk yard. He said the blower would give all you need on the street. Hoyt was a dragster driver and helped "Sneaky" Pete Robinson win the U.S. nationals in '61 with a SBC. I didn't listen, but I drove a 671 blower SBC for 8 years the last 5 years at 20% OVER crank speed! Can't do that with todays gas!
 
RPM said:
Start from scratch and build a blower motor. they are a little different than you regular carb engine. Beside you can drive the bucket while you build the blower motor.

If it ain't blown it sucks.
Click to expand...


What do you charge for building blown SBC's Ron? I could drive my bucket while YOU build the blower motor...:lol:
 
Now wait a minute 24355 that last month you wanted to jump ship and trade for a Harley. I think we need a promis RIGHT NOW that you wont be cheatin on us with a Harley when we aint lookin. I think a verbal commitment is in order. HE HE
 
akitagandy said:
Can someone describe what a good SBC blower motor would be
Click to expand...


For me it would be one in someone else's car.:whistle:
 
My two cents would be to make sure you have a solid built bottom end. A steel forged crank would be best but I if you kept your boost low a cast one would probably do ya for the street. You'll want low compression forged pistons, and a camshaft with a wider lobe seperation angle, say like 112 or 114 degrees, a dual pattern with a lil extra on the exhaust would also work well. Your best bet for cams would be to follow the grinders advice, but a solid build engine should take around 5 to 7 lbs of boost easy without turning into a bomb. Check out the engine kits offered by PAW, they have a 6-71 SBC 350 that you'd just have to assemble with a price that would compete with reworking what you got, depending on exactly what you wanted I guess. (I always wanted that 6-71 392 Hemi kit... Dangit man that'd be too cool in a T)
 
Here is what I did to my motor when I built it. 4 bolt main 0010 block. Cleaned and magnafluxed then sonic check the walls. Went thru 3 blocks till I found a good one. I used the stock 4 bolt caps with ARP studs with a windge tray. Align honed the mains, bore and hone cylinders with plates, Then parallel deck the top off the mains. This gets the block as close to perfect as possible.
I used an Eagle forged BLOWER crank. The difference is the snout of the crank. The stock crank has the little keys for the timing gear and balancer. These are not enough to drive the blower. So it has a big solid 1/4" key 180 deg from the timing keys. Eagle rods, srp pistons and total seal rings. The pistons are forged D dish 8.2 compression ratio. Basicly a good racing short block. A pair of aluminum heads from Whites Performnace, the guys on Ebay. They are just an hour from me and they have a really good reputaion around here in the racing circles.

Ignition is MSD with a boost retard, and a rev limiter set at 5500 RPMs

The cam is from Summit 114 degs, just a hyd cam with about .490 lift. Roller rockers, stud girdle, guide plates and studs and good push rods.

Cam from Summit Summit SUM-K1107 - Summit Cam and Lifter Kits - summitracing.com

Then I used a complete Weiand kit a 6-71 it will make about 10 lbs of boost.

2 Edelbrock carbs with their recomended changes. Works great very little tuning afterwards.

On a computer dyno it will make about 650 HP, in real life I don't know. Never had it on a real dyno.

I have only had it full wide open twice. At full wide open you going to get there really quick.

The trans is a manual shift turbo 400 with a revers valve body in it and a 3500 stall conver. Then it runs a Moroso 4 link, Dana 60 with 4:10 gears and a posi.

Should be bullet proof in a 1800 T that is just driven on the street.
 
A decent street blower motor is not particularly difficult or expensive to build. If you have the self-discipline not beat hard on the motor on a regular basis, you could get by with a bone-stock long block. Keep the boost down around 5-6 lbs., make sure your fuel/air mixture is correct (richer than stock), get your timing right (blowers like a lot of advance on the low end and not so much on the high end), and limit your revs to the mid-5000s, you should be able to have a nice, peppy but reliable motor.

I would suggest you get this book...

[ame="[url]http://www.amazon.com/Street-Supercharging-Install-Blowers-S/dp/1884089291/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236273601&sr=8-1[/url]"]Amazon.com: Street Supercharging: DIY Guide to Street Supercharging, How to Install and Tune Blowers (S-A Design): Pat Ganahl: Books[/ame]


The first two-thirds of the book gives a lot of history and reviews different types of superchargers. The last third tells you how to build a blower motor. I found the book very interesting and helpful in preparing me to build my blower motor.

As Ron says, you don't need to keep your foot in it very long in a T. You go from 0 to scary fast almost instantly. Like Ron, I've only floored mine twice and both times scared the shiite out of myself! :eek:
​
 
What is the engine that is in the car now? Compression ratio/ how many miles/cam lift ???? Need more info
 
OldredT said:
What is the engine that is in the car now? Compression ratio/ how many miles/cam lift ???? Need more info
Click to expand...

The current engine a pretty stock 350 5.7L. I have been trying to track down the person who built the motor, but not had much luck yet. It has about 3,000 miles on it. I want to tear the engine down to see what the specs are (compression etc.), but just have not done it yet. It is pretty obvious it is mainly stock besides the mild cam and dual carbs. I am basically trying to get a blown SBC, but nothing too radical. In other words, as close to stock with a good sound would be just fine. Not really looking to race or dog the engine. Honesly, just going for the cool factor with a little power on hand to "get out of the way"...LOL.
 
engine24355 said:
Check this out:

Big Al's Toybox - Turnkey Engines

Looks like I could get a turn key blown 350 ready to go for around 8K. I could cover some of the cost from the sale of my current 350. Just an idea, but what do the experts think?
Click to expand...

Man, that guys got a lot of motors in stock! I like the 572 all aluminum blown Hemi. :welcome:

Oh, wait, that one's $30,000. You could probably build three buckets for that!

My useless contribution. :eek:

David
 
i know a guy that now runs a stock cast crank thats balanced, forged pistons,set of eagle rods runs 6lbs boost. and races it every weekend, and has for the last couple years..he shifts at 5500rpm

his first motor was completely stock, cast crank and pistons, and rods. 5lbs of boost and shifted at 5000rpm.

msd ignition with boost retard on both..racing fuel too


i know an older man that has built several blower motors using gm crate motors with the powder metal rods, 8.5:1 comprssion, and use the smaller 4:71 blowers on them, with , what he called a blower cam?.. but hes taken me for a ride and ive also driven one of them and it was a handful still..


if i were you and you werent scared , i would do a compression check, see what kind of compression you have, if its 9:1 try one of the smaller 4:71/144ci blowers... that would be a good learning platform, and not kill your wallet to bad..
 
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