What started with the idea of doing a rebuild on a SBC to put into my 52 chevy truck has turned into what should be a beast 383 SBC. The cam is an elgin E1019p Fair idle quality with lope. Good mid-range torque and response in 2400 3200 RPM range. Operating power range 2000 4800 RPM. Good fuel economy cam with correct equipment. Good choice for light towing. Compression 10.3 to 1 or less. Will work with stock or slightly modified engine, stock automatic or manual transmission. Recommended spring pressure 110 lbs. for valve on seat; 280 lbs. for valve open. Axle ratio 3.70 to 1 or higher is best. Recommended for mild bracket racing. Keith Black Hypereutectic Dish Pistons (got dish because of the heads) World products sportsman heads (64cc chamber) Weiand Stealth intake Here are some pics from a week ago Here are some pics from earlier today The engine should be painted up all the same orange tonight or sometime this weekend. The big decission I have to make is if the intake is going to be painted or not. So far I am thinking yes...paint the intake orange too since even though the engine is not traditional by any means...it will make it look a tiny bit more like an older SBC. I have finned aluminum valve covers and air cleaner to go with it. I will take more pics once we get it painted.
Here are some pics of me making sure the valve covers clear everything. I am painting the engine on sunday. I have an older holley 3310 780cfm that is going to be rebuilt and put on the engine too.
And some pics of the engine with one or two coats of orange on... Monday we will bolt on the intake and valve covers. and later this week I will put on the water pump and alternater.
Well the intake is mounted and we tossed on the carb/valve cover/headers/air cleaner for mock up and pics. Here are some pics of the engine.
Looks Nice, what heads are you running? Unless those are smoggers, I would have to say you are under-camming that thing by a fair amount... and single pattern too, not a huge fan.
I just saw that they are World Heads, so you are Definately undercamming the motor. It will idle pretty mildly and you are going to leave a lot of power on the table up top. Quick, It's not too late!
yeah I do not know much about cams...the younger guy that is my friend who is putting it together said he would have went with a wilder cam. The older guy in the shop said this cam is perfect and will still make a lot of power and not be real radical. Buzz won out on the cam selection. I am wanting to have a reliable machine that will get on it when I punch it.
It will certainly get up, and will make lots of mid-range power... but like I said you will end up losing out on the top end, so don't expect this to be a big big HP motor. I would say about 350 at the flywheel. Lots of torque, however. I don't like single pattern cams however. old school technology, I think you would be a lot better off with a little more exhaust duration. and more lift it's only 100 bucks, and you can make that thig a real screamer.... haha
I will p*** the cam info along to my buddy. I really need to read up on cams/cam numbers to make some sense out of all of it. thanks for the info too.
Hey man, motor looks great! About the cam... The big block 396 I had in my Impala has the same stroke and a little larger bore than your 383. I had a Comp 280 hyd cam in that motor and was pretty mild, but it was too large for the 3.07 gears I had in the rearend. So, I guess what I'm saying is it all depends on what ya want to do with your truck. If you're just wanting to have a KooL cruiser with lots of bottom end, that cam in that motor is gonna do it. And, if your rearend has highway flyer gears in it, you oughta get somewhat decent mileage outta it. With the 3.07 gears I had in the Impala, I wish I woulda had a bit smaller cam in that car, but I had future plans to put lower gears, 4 speed etc. It just depends on what your plans are with your truck. And, you can always change it out later If you're not happy with it. Something else to consider, You might want to find out from Buzz what the static AND dynamic compression ratio is. Your dynamic compression is the ACTUAL working compression of the motor. From what I've read and come up with from my own conclusions is that you want your dynamic comp ratio right around 8.2:1 to be able to run on pump gas. If you talk to 10 different guys, you're most likely going to get 10 different answers, especially on cam selection. Buzz has been around motors long enough, I think I'd trust his opinion on picking out a cam though. -Troy
yeah Buzz is great...nice guy and I am glad that I am getting to know him. and yeah I am noticing cams are are a touchy subject and everyone has something else to say about them. I am happy to hear all the info these people had too. Just need to learn more about cam numbers so it does not sound greek to me. I am running a ford explorer posi unit in it with 3.73 gears. I have a 700r4 ****** and 2800 stall. do not know about dynamic vs actual compression....just know it should be around 9.3 to 9.5 to 1. Just building a street truck that will see time around town and on the highway. I want something that is quick and has torque and is fun to drive. I doubt it will ever see the track.
I got them off of ebay...I did a search for cal custom, sbc finned valve covers, etc till I found a pair. I think they are RPC or something like that. I have to leave for work now or I would go get a pic of the box.
Here's my 383, **** forged crank, H beam rods, World Products SP II heads Running with a Tremec TKO600 5sp. Here I'm pulling it out of my Studebaker that I sold so I can put it into my 59 ElCamino. This one's easy to keep clean. You should be happy with the torque and power, I am.
As I understand it, dual pattern cams have more exhaust duration to make up for poorly flowing exhaust ports. When Jeff Smith was editor of Chevy High Performance he compiled a huge database of airflow numbers on all available aftermarket heads plus the Vortecs. I believe it is still available on the website under Tech Articles. If my memory still serves the rule of thumb was that the exhaust numbers should ideally flow 77 to 85% of the intake numbers. A good flowing head like the AirFlow Research heads don't need a dual pattern cam. World Products heads didn't flow as well on the exhaust side and could therefore benefit from a dual pattern design.
heres my 10.5 dart headed 388 it ran a 12.68 sideways across the finish line after my drive shaft broke and snapped my ****** into little pieces i will get the cam specs for ya after i get home
Your build is fine for what you want. A mild head, mild intake, mild compression ratio, and mild cam can all work on the same level. I'm guessing you make about 325 hp / 350 ft-lbs easy - on pump gas. It should prove to be the reliable, durable, easy to live with motor you want. If I were you, I'd ditch that 780 carb for a 650 though. It's all you need, and vacuum secondaries would be perfectly fine for it. But, a good tuner could make the 780 work too. I'd also recommend a tapered four hole-to-open spacer plate under the carb. ~Scotch~
I recommend listening to Scotch. If I had to get advice for one person on what combination to build... he would be very high on that list. Sure, you could put a bigger cam in it to make more power up top... but that isn't where you want the power. You'll have more fun with something that makes the power down low. Asthetically, I would have ground the lettering off of the intake and painted the waterneck orange, but that's just me! Be sure to post your first burnout video here! (as long as its neighbor friendly)
That cam is a little mild for a "hot rod" - for something that might be doing a little hauling / towing - it'll be fine. If you're not wanting to change cams then I'd opt for some 1.6 rockers to get a little more lift out of it - the sportsman II heads flow decent to about .550 lift out of the box so running a cam that will take advantage of that will maximize power... You're right in that cam choice is a hotly debated topic - all I can really add is to pick your goal and pick a cam that meets it (i.e. RPM range, power or mileage, need for vacuum, weight of vehicle, type of trans, stall speed (if auto), compression, etc.) And as a general rule of thumb the larger the displacement the "wilder" of a cam that will be streetable. (displacement makes up for a wild cam loosing somelow end torque...)
you would grind the lettering off completely or just sand the paint off? I was thinking about sanding it to where the lettering shows. The water neck I need to look at some old sbc chevy pics to see if it was orange or black. I was guessing it should be black. and about the spacer on the carb...what does that do?
Hey I want to run your motor through the dyno, what intake cc are your heads. If your heads are the 200's the #'s look like HP=388 @ 5500rpm & TQ=414 @ 4000 rpm. this is ***uming 9to1 compression.
I jus ran #'s with a smaller cam 270 duration with 450 lift on a 110 deg center hp=396 @ 5000 and tq=455 @ 5000
Could you tell me what headers you are running. It looks from the pix that it may work for my 49 ford truck with a xj Jag IFS running a 350 or maybe a 383. What are they and who did you buy them from?
They are a sbc header for an s10 frame. I bought them off a friend. I think they are sanderson though (guessing by how thick the mounting flange is).
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