I started pulling the engine tonight. Ill be replacing the heads, torque converter and maybe the cam. Once I get her all together (like, in the spring....) Ill take a good look at the carb. All external linkage is fine, maybe Ill look at the inside. What carb do you suggest? Ive never been a Holly fan because 1) they are ugly as hell 2) they are too complicated to adjust......but if i gotta go to one, I will....

But all in all, someone here suggested that my sluggish off the line performance is due to my heads. Shes a healthy engine, the heads are the only stock part left.....

 

ive always recomended the holley double pumper. i think theres a 660 cfm version that would be perfect for your setup. now they are much more difficult to adjust because everything is adjustable, but that also allows it to be tuned more accuratly. i still dont think it your heads or torque converter that is making it a dog off the line, but if you have the money to upgrade, go for it.

 

I believe that was me that suggested that. However I didn't know that you couldn't even roast the tires, haha.

You think this bad boy is ugly?



I love my Street Avenger, I see no benefit to a double pumper if you're going to be driving it on the street every day to cruise around. It's gonna kill your gas mileage.

 

Yes, its ugly. 8'p

No, I dont have alot of money for the upgrade but I have less than 300 bucks in the vortec heads (purchase price 175, and resurfacing 125...) Im going to get a intake and torque converter from summit so that will probably be about another 300. After its all said and done Ill probably have about $750 in this project which really isnt bad for the horsepower gain Im going to get from the heads. I really cant budget another carb right now, and Ive actually been quite happy with the AFB series. I will look into the issue once I get her all built up again. Besides, I need a winter project or I go stir crazy.

 

if you want some free hp, you can port match your head and intake while you have them off. im doing a full port match and polish to my tpi intake this winter to keep me busy

 

Walk me thru the process, will you? (Matching intake/heads)

So, about the torque converter. If I go to a 2200-2400 rpm range, will I need to swap anything else out? Im debating on a cam swap, but the car already has a mild cam and Id rather spend the money on some other toys....

 

Can you post up an idle clip? I want to hear how much cam you have in that thing. Now that you're doing heads, and you already have headers and an intake, a cam is the cheapest, most effective way to unleash hidden power.

 

No idle clip as the engine has already been torn down and ready for removal. Sorry. Just waiting to find a engine hoist and shes coming out. I will be buying new head bolts, by the way.....no sense risking that....

So you never walked me thru porting/matching up the head and intake ports?

So, about the cam.....Ive heard a few stories about cams that werent broken in correctly and spun a lobe on less than 1K miles. The guy who built my shortblock insisted on breaking in my cam for me by running the engine at 3K rpm for about 20 minutes. Im just afraid that if I dont break the new cam in perfectly that Ill have issues.

 

It's hard to damage a hydraulic flat tappet cam like that, shearing lobes is more common on solid lifter cams. 3k seems kinda high to me for breaking in an engine. 2000-2500 RPM is usually where you want to run it at.

 

Well it seems that stock vortec heads are limited to about .420 lift without serious modification. (I know some people dont consider milling the valve guides serious, but its more than I want to do.) If I keep the heads stock, what is your suggestion for a cam?

Ive been thinking about your 'idle clip' question....my idle doesnt sound real different than any other car. The engine was built with a 'Mellings RV Cam' but the builder forgot the actual specs. So I know it has a real mild, just slightly more than stock cam in it.....