brookiez28

I have a '66 327/300. Can't afford to put in a built 350 so I'm thinking about rebuilding my 327. Would like to get 40-50 more HP if possible without harming the value of the engine (it's the orig motor). I plan to use an after market intake and carb, but want to be able to revert back to stock look someday and have the car run right when I do so. I also have so short headers. Would greatly appreciate any ideas on best things to do for engine work. I have a budget of about $2000-$2500 for the engine work/parts. Thanks much.

woodsdesign

I think it would be possible to get 30 to 40 more hp. Edlebrock has a guaranteed HP matched set of components that would do the trick. However, you won't be able to rebuild and add these components for 2,000. You are probably better off saving for a crate engine or just going for a rebuild with a different cam.
jmho
Larry

Tintin

I just rebuilt my engine , a 327-300 and what you will probably find is that you need a bucket load of parts when you take it apart. I needed valves, pushrods, rockers. springs, lifters, a cam, timing chain and gear, pistons and a valve job, crank polishing, new cam bearings and main bearings. I had a 30 overbore and honed the cylinders. The block was decked leaving the serial numbers and hot tanked. This is not unusual wear in a 45 year old engine. I got a great deal on the machining work because business is very bad right now and with the new dominator intake and 790 Holley it was a lot more that $2500- ...

You will want to do the clutch when you have the engine out as well, I did a centerforce and a new lightweight flywheel. I did the water pump because the seals get wrecked when they dry out for a while when everything is apart. These are the small things that you leave out of the equation...

I do not work on my car because I can earn more money in the time it would take me to do it than it costs and , quite honestly I would rather have an expert do this sort of thing. The guy who did the work for me is a world expert at vintage race car restoration and he is very fair with the pricing - $60 per hour and he uses the flat rate schedule to set his hours.. very fair because I know he didn't get all of this done in 21 hours.

It cost $6600- to get all of that done and back together and the labor was less than $1600 of it...

I forgot to add - you will get a lot more than 40 hp if you do this right, more like 140. The 300 engine in the tired state that they are probably makes about 200hp, my car is really quick now, almost as fast as a 911 up to about 60...

MikeM

Working within your budget, keep your stock intake and carb, pocket port the heads, install an L-79 cam in it. Work on the distributor advance. You'll get the increase you're looking for or close to it.

Your machine work costs can vary greatly due to your location or even the shops within your area. If you don't have to turn the crank, bore the block (it could have a fresh bore job in it) buy a bunch of valves, springs, rockers, pushrods. If you decide not to balance it(if you retain all the totating parts and the balance suits you), don't have the rods rebored/straightened and you do the assembly labor, you can get by for less than $1000. If you bore it, balance it, put money in the other stuff, even if you do the labor I'd guess the price would/could stretch your budget. It just depends.

Maybe a better option might be to buy a running engine of your choice that someone has removed in favor of another engine for their project. Freshly rebuilt engines tend to lose their value after they get a few miles on them and the new orange paint job fades even though the engine is still good and tight.

Don't forget the incidentals. You'll likely want a new fuel pump, spark plug wires, ignition components, clutch, paint, etc. and all those little things add up quickly.

You have options here, just depends on what you want or need. You usually will get what you pay for but on the upper end of the scale, it's sometimes money tossed out the window.

ptwohey

May I suggest that you keep your original as it is and find another engine to work up! All of my originals are prepped, crated and shelved and I have a blast with the replacement motors that are in the cars.

I had a local high school rebuild an engine and all it cost was the renew kit ($699), a trip to the machine shop ($525), and a few pizzas (ate the cost). A few $100's more for new WP and carb (Autozone). It is a 350 and not a 327 but from the outside no one really knows and I did get a boost in HP without touching the original.

So if you want more HP without the risk of modifing the matching numbers block, look around and network on places like Craigs List to see just what you can find within your budget.

chris ritchie

It's cheaper to buy a 350 crate engine than to have your 327 rebuilt. The crate motor is under $2K, and comes with a warranty. Take all the parts off your 327, and switch them over to the 350. You may have to buy a flywheel. Price it out. You should be pleasantly surprised.

NEVERL8

Getting 350 HP out of your 300 HP engine will cost you far more than the cost of a crate engine. You will need to put in an L-79 cam, bump up the compression ratio, a better intake, etc.,etc, but you would essentially be building a complete L-79 engine, including the 2.02 heads. The 1.90 heads will not support 350 HP without a serious amount of work.

I went overboard on my L-79 build. It does put out a dynoed 345 HP on 9.7:1 91 octane friendly compression. It did cost more than $6K to do it, not including the conversion to roller rockers and roller cam.

highschool67

I'm not a huge advocate of Ebay but have talked to several guys in the hobby lately that got a real good deal ion a rebuilt 350. In these hard economic times some machine shops and small race builders are putting out some pretty reasonably priced motors. We just put a 350 in a friends 68 that was rebuilt with a 12k warranty. It was $2200. Most machine shops will install "like" engines for around $600. Do it yourself and save the dough.
Just a thought.

RGGregory

Definitely put your original motor away and get a crate one. You'll have less costs, head aches, etc. up front, and you'll have the comfort of knowing the original motor is safely tucked away, for your to rebuild at your leisure.

DZAUTO

All of the above is good info, BUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, keep one small detail in mind.
The LAST year for a hole in the rear of the block for crankcase ventilation was 67.
OK, so what's the big deal about that??????????
The deal is up through 67, SB valve covers were solid (no holes). Beginning in 68, when that rear hole was eliminated, crankcase ventilation was done through valve covers with holes for the PCV valve and a fresh air intake!
I realize that it will be slightly costly, but my personal preference would be to use either your block, OR, locate another good, rebuildable 327 block, and stroke it with a 350 or even a 400 crank. The easiest and cheapest stroke would be with a 350 crank. ONLY the main journals would need to be turned down to small journal size, plus, you could use the stronger 350 rods. Also, to fit a 350 crank into a 327 block, it is necessary to slightly turn down the diameter of the flange between the rear main journal and the rear seal journal, so that it will fit into the slightly smaller groove of the 327 block/bearing cap.

Sean Dunshee

My vote would also be to tuck the original block in the corner of the garage and do a different engine. I have my original motor all rebuilt sitting on a stand in the garage and a 383 stroker in my vette. You will be surprised how reasonable you can get a whole motor. I know the shop who does my motors will sell you a 383 stroker motor for $2500 or so. My 383 has the original 461 intake and a 2818 carb on it with the original valve covers so my motor appears all stock but they did have to do some different venting to use the stock valve covers etc. If you are using an aftermarket intake and carb and headers I am assuming that original appearing doesn't matter as much so you could use the Z28/LT1 volve covers and have it still look kinda original.

Bluestripe67

No one here has asked the big question. Does your motor NEED to be rebuilt? If a definitive yes is heard then all the above could be blended together to give you want you want at a price. If the engine does not need to be rebuilt, you can still make resonable changes and gain some real seat of the pants power. Do a basic physical on your engine, perform a cylinder pressure test or a leak down test. Both of these will tell you a lot. If your engine is burning oil visibly and/or by having to add a quart in less then 800 miles, you may be headed for a rebuild, but if not, here are a couple of things to do. Have a basic valve job done, include bronze guides, three angle cut on the valves, check the springs. Install the 327/350 cam/ lifters more commonly refered to a
"151" cam. Don't forget a timing gear set. Get the Edelbrock 2101 Performer intake, and your choice of carb, but no larger than 700CFM at the most. Have your distributor set up for best initial and centrifigal advance along with a performance coil. Make sure you have new wires, and plugs. This is my .50 thought. Dennis

brookiez28

Thanks very much for all of your feedback! Lot's to consider. I have an estimate of $2500 for a total rebuild from a trusted source. Have to weigh that vs. saving for a crate motor....

toddalin

If you want to stick with the stock block, the real gains are in the heads (pocket-porting, good 3-angle valve job, maybe bigger 2.02/1.60 valves), the cam (327/350 hp), a good intake/carb combo, and headers with good exhaust.

BTW, when he machines the block, have him notch it to unshroud the valves if it is not already that way. Lots of people don't think of that.

My combo is based on the stock block/heads, simple to copy, and works well on 91 (and lower) octane:

331 CI, pump-friendly 9.5:1 CR
K&N 14"x4" air filter, Corvette drop base and lid
Holley 600 dp, choke horn milled, polished
1/2" Aluminum open spacer port matched to manifold, exterior polished
Edelbrock Performer RPM, port matched, exterior polished with all extraneous castings and lettering removed
Homemade lifter valley splash shield to keep hot oil off manifold bottom
Camel hump 1.94/1.50 heads hogged out to 2.02/1.60, pocket ported, port matched, pump-friendly hardened seats, 3-angle valve job
Cylinder bores clearanced to unshroud the valves
Comp Cams 1.52:1 roller-tip rockers
Crane Cam Vintage Muscle 327/350 hp cam, 222 degrees @ 0.05, 0.447" lift (with 1.50 rockers)
Doug Thorley headers, dechromed and ceramic-coated
2.5" mandral-bent exhaust (including tips), 2" cross-over just before rear axle
DynoMax stainless Ultra Flow mufflers
Mallory Hyfire IV CD ignition box triggered off Accel points
Mallory high voltage chrome coil
Mallory spiral-wound coil wire
Mallory solid copper plug wires, ends soldered to wires
Champion plugs
37 degrees total ignition advance
Carter high volume fuel pump
Melling high volume oil pump
Open breathers
Polished aluminum high flow water pump
Flex fan with polished aluminum spacer
Polished aluminum one-wire 100 amp alternator
Muncie M-20 CR 4-speed (now Keisler TKO600 5-Speed)
Hurst shifter (Now Keisler With Hurst Tower)
3.70:1 positraction
225/60/15 Firestone Firehawk SZ50s on 7”-wide Western 30-spoke Turbine Wheels

BTW, it cost me ~$3K to have the engine built from my stock engine..., about 20 years ago.

These are at the rear wheels:

Tintin

If you look at it, mine was a lot cheaper than this one.. I used absolutely top level parts like JE, Crane, ATS, Edelbrock, Holley, Centerforce, Milodon etc and not the weird stuff in a crate motor. I know what I have and the car goes like mad. The clutch, flywheel, Z-Bar and all of the rods in the clutch linkage are brand new... How do you actuate the clutch with the new blocks? Do they have the threaded receptacle for the actuator ball? The venting is another problem as others have pointed out.. I can't imagine what sort of rebuild you can get for $2500-.. my machine work was pretty cheap, about $800- at King Balancing - a guy I am sure Sean knows. The parts were $4200-... at shop discount..

Donny Brass

I take a lot of pride in telling folks I have a 327.... it's magic.

anyone can plop a 350 in any car... where is the fun in that ??

MikeM

About 25 instant horsepower.

But I prefer the 327 myself.

65Maroon_Coupe

I have to agree....there is something about the 327 that just WORKS. I built up a L79 way back for my first car, a 71 Chevelle. Car ran like a champ.

Not dissing the 350's or 383's, etc. Just something special about those 3 numbers!

Good luck!

DZAUTO

And a SB400 is even MORE fun! Also, the 400 is a drop-in, bolt-in swap for any SB.
There just is no way to dispute the old saying "There is no replacement for displacement". OR, if you're from an even older generation (and I am), "There is no substitute for cubic inches". If you've never don it, you won't understand it!

Tom Parsons

Sean Dunshee

Totally agree with the "There is no replacement for displacement"!!! If u are wanting HP then go with a 383....keep the original engine in the back of the garage