Try not to laugh... but has anyone in here ever "built" a 307 Chebbie?

i had one in a 70 nova in high school with a cam intake and carb some half***ed good heads she ran 13's all day long with a 3.08 one legger!!!!!!!!that motie screamed!!!!!

 

307s used the big journal 327 crank. Should be the same size on the rods as the 400

 

eh, to me they're all small blocks. and no matter what cid, everyone's going to think it's a 350 when the freeze plugs show it's not a 400...personally I don't see much originality difference between factory sbc short blocks, they all provide a great platform for a million different ways to make a ton of power for dirty cheap.

good heads and cam will let that thing wind up beautifully. plus if someone wants to race, you tell 'em it's a 307 and they don't know much......they're in for a bit of a surprise!

 

The 307's caught a lot of flack as the first of the "smog dogs" one of the first to have the pumps.I bought a 'new '69 Malibu 307,3 on the tree with 3:73 posi to tow my dirt tracker,shortly after I sold it, thanks to the shaft I got in divorce court.The guy that bought it was the nephew of Kerry Hedrick who ran the "Prefered Javelin" funny car on the match race circuit, with just a good tune it held an NHRA record at Alton,Ill in J/Stock for over 9 months in 1970.Yeah,307's can run strong!!

 

you sure?
i know the mains are bigger than large journal....
ya don't hear of anybody going to shorter rods so....i'm asking..

 

IIRC the rod journals on a 400 are the 2.1" but, I thought they were 5.4" center to center.

One of the car mags did a buildup on a 305 recently (well in the last 5 years anyway) that made just over 400HP. They used a stroker kit to make it a 335 (3.750 stroke +.030" bore) and I believe a set of Vortec heads. I want to say they used a hydraulic flat tappet cam as well. I know, a stroker is not budget oriented. But its all the same, airflow, proper mixture and combustion control, so if a 335 can make 400+ then a 307 built similarly should make somewhere around 367 ish with the right cam. Yeah, I know less torque, but you shouldn't need it in a RPU. That hot and the idle's gonna sound MEAN too.

 

I never met a 307 I didn't like. FWIW the actual CID is 316 when you do the math but Chevy thought that number was not good for marketing. That CID combo was popular in Modified Production drag racing back in the day. The peak RPM was in the stratosphere in many cases. yes a 350 is way better by far and some may even think the 305 is also better because of the stroke. But like I said when I started, I never met a 307 I didn't like.

 

Do yourself a favor by buying a copy of the Cars & Parts publication: Catalog of Chevy V-8 Engine Casting Numbers 1955-93. It is available at any Barnes and Noble bookstore, and costs about $25.00. It will spare you a lot of headaches! I ALWAYS take this book with me when I'm looking at engines and parts. It covers everything: blocks, heads, manifolds, etc;...and is well worth the price! Good Luck!

 

Let's see if we can get FatHack to finish this thread...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45615&showall=1

 

You know, the 307 had a 1/8th inch bigger bore than the 305, 1.94 valves work just fine in them. A friend in high school hsd one in his Nova, all hopped up, pissed a lot of guys off if they ever did beat him he just said they beat a 307.
Point being; it's an over square design, just a little down on cubes, at least to us spoiled *** Americans.
Only drawback to building it is the availability of pistons, and I wouldn't worry too much about that till you check into it, cast flat-tops should be cheap, they used those motors in boats for a long damn time.

 

World Products 042650-1 heads should really liven things up...
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10002_58198_-1

anyone tried these on a 265-307 yet?


<CENTER>Technical Specifications</CENTER>

Material: High density cast iron
Valve Seats: Integral intake,hardened steel exhaust
Valve Size: 1.940'' x 1.500''
Rocker Arm Studs: 3/8'' shank, screw-in style with hex shoulder furnished
Accessory Flange: Stock locations, 7-bolt universal pattern
Included In ***embly: Manley Street Flo stainless steel valves (1-piece forged, with undercut stems and swirl-polished heads), ring and band valve seals, valve springs, Manley 7° chrome moly retainers, keepers.

SB-Chevy 305ci S/R Cast Iron Cylinder Head
170cc Intake Ports
58cc Combustion Chambers
1.940'' Int/1.500'' Exh Valves
1.250'' Valve Springs, .560'' Max Lift for Hydraulic Cam
***embled, Sold Individually

 

decker, those are the ones. It's pretty much those and the Vortecs for heads for the small bores. they used to list a S/R Torquer 305, now the 305 just shows up in the S/R on their website...kinda weird.
As far as I know they're the same casting though; and I know the Torquer's are very similar to the vortecs in shape and flow numbers. The World heads are a little beefier but that's not going to make a bit of difference under 500 hp.

I keep going back and forth between those two heads for my TPI 305 in my '56...whenever I have to tear into that engine. I like the small bore stroker engines!

 

I'm thinking it should bump the compression ratio up a notch which shouldn't hurt it too awfully bad.

We probably aren't going to see a lot of these on the big "online-auction" sites any time soon... the price seems pretty reasonable for what you are getting though.

Anyone had of any problems any World Castings products yet?

 

haven't heard of any problems with World. they've been in the racing side of the sbc casting business for a long time. main reason they got into the s/r and s/r torquer lines was for the racing cl***es that required factory or 'stock'/direct replacement heads. they're built pretty beefy; they work good with power adders, hold the gasket in place really well.

 

I came across an aftermarket set of OE replacement heads a while back. It was at a local machine shop, they claimed they were bsically the Vortec head, but the ports and bolt pattern matched up to the older style intakes. They supposedly outflow the vortecs (slightly) and are also supposed to be cheaper (slightly). If anyone's interested I can ask them what they were. I will have to wait till tuesday at least as they are closed for the long weekend.

 

know what size valves they are? I'm thinking they're likely 2.02's but they could have kept the 1.94's. do you recall if they were Pro Action, RHS, World or somethin like that? if they 'do' outflow the Vortecs, they should have a flow chart print out, get that before you buy them...I've personally heard some machine shops make some pretty blatantly wrong statements just to try to sell some junk to someone...start asking the right questions about it and some of 'em backpedal like crazy...not to say all the machine shops are dishonest, just a few bad ones wreck your trust in all of 'em, ya know?

 

The rod journals are the same. 2.100. Rod length is 5.565 for a 400 Chevy.

 

Don't I know it!

I don't remember the valves being 2.02's I was interested in them at the time as I wanted to build a 400+ CI truck engine and the smaller valves would definitely benefit torque.

The machine shop in question is the most respected here. Not sayin they couldn't be wrong, just their rep is to be the straightest shot in the area.

The guy I was talking to was the longest term employee there (I don't count the owner as an "employee"). He has always told me the straight skinny before and the difference flow wise between these and the Vortecs was supposed to be minimal, if nothing else they shouldn't flow worse.

The big benefit for me was here was a head that after freight (cause they bring them up with other stuff) I could buy a pair for about what Jegs wanted for the Vortecs, but that's in my hands, no shipping, no handling. They would already have the hardened seats, the chamber looked like the Vortec, and all my hop up parts would fit (had perimeter bolts for the valve cover, so if you wanted to run a stud girdle that should fit too).

No they weren't RHS or any other name brand I had herad of before. The castings were in a magazine about 3-6 months ago, they were used on a buildup, touted for the same reasons, cheap, older speed parts fit, comparable (if not SLIGHTLY) better flow. Already has hard seats. I will look to see if I still have the magazine, probably not. I just cleaned a bunch out and I don't recall anything other than those being of interest in that issue.

 

if you had pistons for a 3.905 bore (3.85 .030 over), mine are from venolia ,you use a 6" h beam rod and a 383 stroker crankshaft you get 359 cubic inches it takes a lot of grinding on the block , about the same as you would in making a 434 of of a 400block or 383 out of a 350 block
i bought this combination from local dirt stock car racer who was running it in his late model stock car using a 70' 307 block
was told it was a pretty gutsy motor ran right up there with the big motors
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there's a hamber on here who sold a fellow hamber what he claimed to be a 350 but was really a 307 and the seller wouldn't do anything about it as far as refunding or throwing in a ****** or something. seller hamber said the 307 is worth the same as a 350. what do you think?

 

We had a 307 block engine in a Dirt Late Model one time that was a screamer. We we had a 312 cid. rule and used a JE 3.905 bore piston with a billet 3.25 stroke crank. The valve size was an issue because of the bore, but you don't need a huge valve with 311 cubic inches anyway. I've always said that it would have made a killer street engine. Kinda high strung but would be great with a straight shift.

Later,
Kevin

 

I've driven a couple cars with retired circle track motors. 355's. Cranky street motors but if you can deal with it they're a friggen blast.

You can get plenty out of 307 but as per your question... I'd think a 350 was worth more than a 307 just because of parts availability but it really depends on the condish of the motors.

 

Just to be certain here... the KB165's will not work with the std. rods... correct?

"Stock compression height for a 307 is 1.675". The KB hypereutectic pistons for a 283 are 1.805". Add this to the 5.565" rod and the 307 crank arm length (1/2 the stroke) of 1.625", & you get 8.995".

Aftermarket cast pistons for 307's run 0.013"-.020" shorter than stock, and they cost close to $300/set, and correct-height forged 307 pistons cost ~$400/set. The KB 283 pistons are $260 (pn KB165). Don't know about 400 rods, but they get thrown away a lot, don't they?

Rod-to-stroke ratio for stock 307 = 1.75, with above combo = 1.71, stock 350 = 1.64."[/I]

from another 307 thread... http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/307-chevy-build-up-56333.html

Here's some flat top pistons... but should I avoid them with the 58cc heads???
https://secure.pawengineparts.com/shoppingcart/ShowItem.cfm?itemid=76609&catid=862

 

first things are get rid of the heads. in 68 they did smog **** which made really bad heads. (thats why 68 chevelles are very uncommon) Hot rod magazine I think did a article on de-stroking them and using them as a 9k rpm screamer. I have had experience with them in late 60's Chevy's fun motor. Just get diff heads and you should be fine. Use a 2 barrel if you go with stock design heads and it will run better as I found out the hard way.

 

Heres what I used on my wifes 307:

Flat top pistons
64cc Vortec heads w/ 1.94 intake valves/ steel shim Fel-Pro gaskets
Comp Cams Dual Energy cam 265DEH-10 442/465 lift 265/ 269 duration
Edelbrock Performer intake
Double roller timing chain
Edelbrock 600cfm carb.
Summit self centering roller rockers 1.5 ratio
Flowtech Afterburner headers/ Flowmaster exhaust

This lil ***** cackles at idle, pulls like a mother from 1500 rpm up and is reliable as hell.Nice lively street motor that won't let you down in the stoplight grand prix (she's got the tickets to prove it ! )

 

Great distributor if you got the cash.I have one installed in the injected 65 comet g***er I built.

 

I may be mistaken, but one of the "bad wrap" flaws of the 307 was that is had a low-nickel block that wore barrel-shaped pretty quickly. Some have spoken of bad rings, but low-nickel may have been the real culprit.

Shoddy heads gave tham a bad name, too.

 

You answered your own ? perfectly

 

At the circle track I used to run at they had a weight/cubic inch cl*** (305 powered cars were lighter than 350 powered cars etc). The guys that consistently won were running 307's. Forged flattops are available. World products heads are quality built heads but that pattern was developed in the 80's and you can do a lot better today, although on a strictly street car who really cares about a few horsepower either way. I am sitting on one I want to build, but haven't found a good car for it yet.

 

i recently found a free 307 and need to rebuild it
are the torque specs for 307s the same as any other
small block chevy or are there special specs for this one??