81blue-shark

To whom it may concern:
I currently ran into a problem with my old stock 350 engine. The problem started last week when my engine start ticking and decreased in power. I was informed yesterday that I might have a bad cam and lifter that may be sticking. Being that I know very little about engine repair, I'm hoping you guys can help me make a decision on a new engine or cams and lifters? I was told that to replace the cams and lifts, there's a lot of work involved. Naturally I'm thinking it will be more cost effective to drop in a new engine then piece together my old one. Please give me your suggestions on best engines that will give me 300 to 330 hp and won't cost me my arm?
:beatdeadhorse: [IMG][/IMG]

Boofers

It depends on how much $ you want to spend. You could replace your cam (there is only one cam in your engine), lifters and associated parts for a lot less than the cost of a new engine. &200 for new cam&lifters compared to $4000 for new crate engine (labour not included). If there is nothing else wrong with your engine than I would go that route.

If you want a little more power from your engine put in a bigger cam, a new intake manifold and some exhaust headers. Maybe a few years down the road put on some new cyliner heads... VROOOM BABY YA!

You may find that you end up enjoying learning about and working on your engine and if you buy a crate engine you won't learn nearly as much as if you do it all yourself. My friends and I have a saying - speed costs money how fast do you want to go?

any4xx

I think you need to find out where you're starting from before you decide where you're going. Having a cam lobe go flat isn't an unusual occurance for a 350. If that's all that's wrong, swap in a new cam/lifters & have fun. You need to do a leakdown test to figure out if your pistons/rings/cylinders are doing okay. A regular compression test will be affected by a bad cam so you need a leakdown instead.

Lots of good grinds out there if a cam swap is only what you need. Just don't be tempted to go too big. You need to match the cam to the compression ratio, transmission type, & final drive ratio of the car to be happy with it. Most major cam manufacturers have tech lines with folks more than willing to answer all your questions & get you the right stick.

Hope this helps, Tom

81blue-shark

Thanks Boofers for the good suggestions. Another question, where do you suggest I buy good cam/lifter? :iagree:

81blue-shark

Thanks tpiini for your suggestion. What manufactures do you suggest I call for cam/lifters? I would like to increase my horse power for 190 to around 260 hp. Anymore suggestions would be great. :iagree:

any4xx

I'd start with Crane, 386-258-6174, and Comp Cams, 901-795-2400.

Tom

Boofers

The forum's search feature is an invaluable tool that contains an insane amount of knowledge. I imagine you will find previous posts about this subject with advice from people much more knowledgable than me. :cheers:

COMMANDER370

After doing a lot of research on a cam,i am going with a CompCams Magnum 270.p/n 12-211-2.you should consider changing lifters (p/n 812-16) and springs(p/n 981-16).i am also changing intake,carb and adding headers. i have 80 model L82.