I would like your suggestions on the above question. I am looking to rebuild a '67 327 and would like to hear your thoughts and comments on how to attain streetable HP. Please include specifics including head kind and size. Somewhere in my mind I am thinking I would have to go to a retro roller setup. Thanks!!!
You should be able to do that without breaking the bank. Read up on NHRA stockers. A 67 Z-28 Camaro with somewhere around 11.5:1 compression runs 11.0s in a 3300# car. A little compression, good flat tappet cam . 2.02" intakes, roller rockers, good balance and attention to detail, a 650 carb and I like an old Edelbrock C-3B intake or stock Z-28. Keep it under 7500 RPM, and you will have a motor you can be proud of. Good Luck, Pat
Not a real problem to do this, are you going to use traditional heads? The old "double hump" heads are good and traditional. They won't make the power a set of aftermarket heads will, though. Even Summit has a set of thier own (cast iron) for well under 1k. You would have almost that much in an old set by the time they're done at the machine shop. Intake? Remember the 327 loves to rev, and there's not a lot of torque down low. Unfortunatley that's where streetable power come in. Torque is king, that's why it's big blocks for me now.
My O/T 350 SBC NHRA Stocker makes 380 hp with dished pistons, .390 lift hyd cam, cast iron intake, and a Q-jet, so its definitely doable. As others have said, the aftermarket heads are where its at. You can find them used for a pretty reasonable price. Call the head manufacturer of your choice and get a recommendation which is free. The other thing you'll want to do is call a cam manufacturer and get a rec from them. Combination is everything and the head flow and cam are the biggest part of that. The manufacturers offer free assistance. Other than that, I would go with 10 to 1 compression and a 750 Holley vacuum secondary carb. Good luck!
As said already the heads and cam is where all the power is at. Thats where you want to spend your money. If its in your budget go with a retro roller cam from comp cams. Thats what i have. Its alittle pricey but worth every penny. You can run a bigger roller cam to be streetable then you could a flat tappet. Also for heads I use AFR heads. They are best aluminum on market but you could be just as happy with edelbrock or something to save some bucks. You could buy a set of Vortec heads and machine them to work with a higher lift cam. They are the best steel heads on the market but you have to use a special intake with them.
get a good set of heads and a nice hot cam and It will be that or more man.go with like 208's heads which Is border line too big for that cubic Inch or you can go with a good set of better flowing aftermarket 2:02's.cam size for a 327 would be like a 5:00 lift or so.would scream and talk to ya pretty good.also depends on what kinda car your throwing this In a heavier car could use more cam a lighter car less.also your transmission has to be up to par and with the right combo you will need a stall convertor and all as well.street cars dont get too much over 3000 stall or so.how heavy Is car?anything around 2600 or so pounds Is borderline needing 350 or 400 anything lighter u can use a powerglide very well.
I would not even try to build a street 400 HP 327 and expect it to run on pump gas. I have hidden a few 383 strokers in small journal 327's & topped them off with early Camel humps and no one had a clue why it ran so strong on pump gas.
Careful selection of camshaft, precise control of ignition timing and spark, good fuel (premium), good heads (small valves would be OK if you use anything flowing as good as a vortec, big valves in old school heads with some porting), mid range intake, balance it and look for every chance to eliminate parasitic losses (windage tray, roller valvetrain, aluminum flywheel, electric waterpump, etc.)
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