Whats the Formula?

[DANIEL THOMSON]

I am hoping that one of you who knows these engines would like to help me spend my money.

I've got 73' Blazer with 12k original miles on the original 350. Its had the smog kit removed, Edelbrock intake manifold and an Edelbrock cam of unknown specifications installed.

Right now my goal is to get all the "bolt on" upgrades completed and assess if I want to stroke the engine for more power in the future. Don't need a lot of power since it will remain a street truck but I would like to have the option of passing other vehicles in traffic...


Without getting into what I think I need, does anyone have a good combination of components that would give me a good boost in low to mid range torque?

Carb, intake, cam, heads, headers...


Edit: forgot to mention it’s 4wd with the granny gear 4sp and 3.07 axles

 

[Crispy]

What do you have for a trans and axle gears? 2wd or 4wd? You want acceleration, i think the quickest bang for the buck, especially if its 2wd would be gears.

 

[Snoots]

Edelbrock Performer intake, upgrade to HEI, headers, 2.5" exhaust . . . scare the bank.

When you get into the engine, prepare yourself. A wise man once told me when I asked, "How fast can you make it go?" He replied, "How much money you got?" True, true.

 

[DANIEL THOMSON]

What do you have for a trans and axle gears? 2wd or 4wd? You want acceleration, i think the quickest bang for the buck, especially if its 2wd would be gears.

Agreed, gears are a big problem at this point. I think I still need to address the engine, it just doesn’t seem to have the power I’d expect from a 350.

 

[DANIEL THOMSON]

Edelbrock Performer intake, upgrade to HEI, headers, 2.5" exhaust . . . scare the bank.

When you get into the engine, prepare yourself. A wise man once told me when I asked, "How fast can you make it go?" He replied, "How much money you got?" True, true.

Thanks for the reply. Do you think it’s worth the hassle to swap out to the vortex heads? It seems like part of the problem with the engine is that it has low compression.

Im not too afraid of spending some money since the truck will be around forever.

 

[Paladin]

Im not too afraid of spending some money since the truck will be around forever.

Then swap in a Big Block!! Problem solved. Next caller.........Lol

 

[DANIEL THOMSON]

Then swap in a Big Block!! Problem solved. Next caller.........Lol

Cant argue with those results!

I do however like my antique registration and though it doesn’t mean much in a truck it is a low mileage matching numbers

 

[yevgenievich]

Heads/cam/intake/timing chain/maybe oil pump. Would go with aftermarket reputable heads vs trying to find used vortecs. If using low gear of the sm465 makes up for poor diff gearing, kind of

 

[Rusty Nail]

If it really does have an aftermarket camshaft installed at 12k miles but it's still a dog, it makes me wonder what is wrong?
Cam timing or valve timing or compression?
A 1973 engine was no slouch but it has **** for cylinder heads.
They all do...

Since you asked, I would;

A: Go over the camshaft install closely. Look for what is messed up because I believe something may be. It may simply be 3.08 though.
B: Based upon your previous statements, you likely will not ever be contented with 3.08. Consider gears more. They are too vital for foundation.
C: Change the cylinder heads or build them. Almost equal to foundation.

other than that, you're wasting effort trying to go fast.

 

[Craig 85]

My last truck was a '79 K10 with a smogged down 350. I think it had about 160-190 HP at the crank. I had 33's with 3.08's. Cruised great on the highway, but what a dog off the line especially with the A/C on. For me it was cheaper doing a 3/4 ton axle swap to get 4.10's and a limited slip. I had a lot more acceleration with the lower gears, but was turning almost 3000 RPM at 70 MPH.

I don't think you will be too happy with most mods until you do a gear swap.