Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

General engine tech -- Drag Racing to Circle Track

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houser45
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Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by houser45 »

I dont do a lot of street engines usually circle track engines so i am asking for advice on my shop truck build. Chevy 85’ square body 4x4. Nv 4500 3.73 gears 33” or 35” tires. 400 sbc. Cast crankshaft, prepped stock 5.7 rods, speed pro hyperutectic dished or flat top pistons. Depending on what chamber size. Compression ratio will be 10 to 1. Comp 268xe on 1.5/1.5 rockers. Budget Aluminum Assault sbc 200cc heads. 2.02/1.60. Possible Promaxx or Profiler 195’s? Just not wanting to break the bank on this one. Too much camshaft? Assault heads?
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by mdabbott2009 »

I’ve got one motor I did for a friend in his truck it’s 406 auto tech pistons eagle rods crowder crank got a smoking deal on it with hydraulic roller 225/230 about 560 lift and a set of 195 profilers with weiand air gap and it’s pretty awesome little motor. It will smolder the 33s at will and does really well on fuel
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by resurrectionjoe »

I just built something similar.

K-5 3.73's turbo 350 35" tires

400 .020 over, 9.5 to 1, LPC 200cc alum heads, Edelbrock eps intake, Scat 9000 crank, Scat 5.7's, AutoTec dish piston, lunati flat tappet 10120703

Little more cam then I would normally put in it but it was for a young kid and he wanted some lump and it's just a cruiser.

Little bigger head then I'd normally use to but they fit his budget.

He just came by yesterday after getting it running over the weekend and was smiles from ear to ear. Said it's a bit soggy down low (which I told him to expect) but once the rpm's get up a bit it's an animal.

It's just a nice weather hot rod to him but as a daily I'd back down a step or two with cam from the 1 I chose and get a smaller head dependent on your driving style/goals
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by RevTheory »

I wonder how the group would feel about going 262/268 adv. on a 108 LSA.
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by CGT »

RevTheory wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:43 am I wonder how the group would feel about going 262/268 adv. on a 108 LSA.
Virtually unnoticeable from the OP's suggestion is my opinion.
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by mag2555 »

If you do not already have heads then they Edelbrock E street heads would be my pick.
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by travis »

I’d use a little smaller head if it was mine...something in the 170-180 range, but other than that I see no problems.

My daily driver for several years was a ‘78 1/2 ton 2 wheel drive with a 9.4-1 355 with Vortec heads and an XE268, with a very mild 2000 stall converter and 3.08 gears. I swapped the performer rpm for a 2116 performer, and used a 9895 (iirc) Holley 650 vac sec spread bore...it was a great daily driver combo
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by Monza355 »

resurrectionjoe wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:21 am I just built something similar.

K-5 3.73's turbo 350 35" tires

400 .020 over, 9.5 to 1, LPC 200cc alum heads, Edelbrock eps intake, Scat 9000 crank, Scat 5.7's, AutoTec dish piston, lunati flat tappet 10120703

Little more cam then I would normally put in it but it was for a young kid and he wanted some lump and it's just a cruiser.

Little bigger head then I'd normally use to but they fit his budget.

He just came by yesterday after getting it running over the weekend and was smiles from ear to ear. Said it's a bit soggy down low (which I told him to expect) but once the rpm's get up a bit it's an animal.

It's just a nice weather hot rod to him but as a daily I'd back down a step or two with cam from the 1 I chose and get a smaller head dependent on your driving style/goals
Was this with a stock-ish 1600 stall converter ?
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by resurrectionjoe »

Monza355 wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 8:54 pm
resurrectionjoe wrote: Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:21 am I just built something similar.

K-5 3.73's turbo 350 35" tires

400 .020 over, 9.5 to 1, LPC 200cc alum heads, Edelbrock eps intake, Scat 9000 crank, Scat 5.7's, AutoTec dish piston, lunati flat tappet 10120703

Little more cam then I would normally put in it but it was for a young kid and he wanted some lump and it's just a cruiser.

Little bigger head then I'd normally use to but they fit his budget.

He just came by yesterday after getting it running over the weekend and was smiles from ear to ear. Said it's a bit soggy down low (which I told him to expect) but once the rpm's get up a bit it's an animal.

It's just a nice weather hot rod to him but as a daily I'd back down a step or two with cam from the 1 I chose and get a smaller head dependent on your driving style/goals
Was this with a stock-ish 1600 stall converter ?
2200 stall
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by mag2555 »

Many moon's ago I did a 364 cid build for a fellows C20 .
I mildy ported a set of trick flow heads , it was 10 to one comp if I recall right and 2 different Cams where dyno'ed.
The key to this making the big usable wide range torque and good hp that it did was the Holley 2 bbl single plane Intake I moded for the guy to take a 4bbl.
This Intake has very long runniners yet with normal porting tweaks flows good enough to make well over 400 hp and 450 ft with a 650 Carb .
I will tonight if I have the dyno sheets still on file and the Cam info.
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by Wannabe »

Just pulled mine off the dyno. Made something like 50 pulls.
1975 K5 getting an NV4500 with a 205 case. 35" with 4.11 gears.

412 CI SBC with 10:1 even.
I used the EQ 180cc heads and did a little love to clean them up. Dual plane with a VS carb with full choke in tact. Hydraulic roller and nothing super fancy. One E85 tune up and one pump gas.
The engine did exactly what I wanted. It made 468 ft lbs and 442 horsepower. The torque curve was a plateau! It crossed over 400 ft lbs at 2400RPM.
The thing made great power and peaked HP at 5900RPM. The horsepower stayed pretty flat to 6200 and fell slowly after that.
But I didn't want an engine that needed or even wanted rpm. I wanted instant torque without lag for this truck. Everyone and their dog told me that the heads were way too small. But the dyno told me they were just right.
Inexpensive head. Durable and they work.
I have to go to the shop to get the cam specs. I can post them if you want.
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by RevTheory »

Wannabe wrote: Wed Oct 10, 2018 10:41 am Just pulled mine off the dyno. Made something like 50 pulls.
1975 K5 getting an NV4500 with a 205 case. 35" with 4.11 gears.

412 CI SBC with 10:1 even.
I used the EQ 180cc heads and did a little love to clean them up. Dual plane with a VS carb with full choke in tact. Hydraulic roller and nothing super fancy. One E85 tune up and one pump gas.
The engine did exactly what I wanted. It made 468 ft lbs and 442 horsepower. The torque curve was a plateau! It crossed over 400 ft lbs at 2400RPM.
The thing made great power and peaked HP at 5900RPM. The horsepower stayed pretty flat to 6200 and fell slowly after that.
But I didn't want an engine that needed or even wanted rpm. I wanted instant torque without lag for this truck. Everyone and their dog told me that the heads were way too small. But the dyno told me they were just right.
Inexpensive head. Durable and they work.
I have to go to the shop to get the cam specs. I can post them if you want.
Please do, assuming it's not a PITA. Shoot, can you ballpark it?
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by Monza355 »

Wannabe wrote: Wed Oct 10, 2018 10:41 am Just pulled mine off the dyno. Made something like 50 pulls.
1975 K5 getting an NV4500 with a 205 case. 35" with 4.11 gears.

412 CI SBC with 10:1 even.
I used the EQ 180cc heads and did a little love to clean them up. Dual plane with a VS carb with full choke in tact. Hydraulic roller and nothing super fancy. One E85 tune up and one pump gas.
The engine did exactly what I wanted. It made 468 ft lbs and 442 horsepower. The torque curve was a plateau! It crossed over 400 ft lbs at 2400RPM.
The thing made great power and peaked HP at 5900RPM. The horsepower stayed pretty flat to 6200 and fell slowly after that.
But I didn't want an engine that needed or even wanted rpm. I wanted instant torque without lag for this truck. Everyone and their dog told me that the heads were way too small. But the dyno told me they were just right.
Inexpensive head. Durable and they work.
I have to go to the shop to get the cam specs. I can post them if you want.
Cam specs would be real interesting to see !
I assume this was on an engine dyno ?
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by rfoll »

I have a junker 400 SBC that I have been using for a couple of years. I have been pretty lucky finding these engines with the bores in real nice shape for $200 or less. The pistons are the ones without the chamfer on the od allowing some semblance of quench. With a standard rebuilder head gasket and a set of Vortec heads, compression comes out to 8.8:1. I used a performer rpm and a Comp XE268 cam along with the factory QJ, and put it in my 79 Impala. I pulled the 2.41 10 bolt rear and installed a 3.42 cop car rear axle. The headers were a $30 swap meet find that I removed from the race car when I exchanged them for something with larger primary tubes. At 4200 lbs. These cars are not what most think of for hot rod material, but it is my daily driver. The car ran 13.20 @103 mph, and was a blast to drive on the street. The converter was stock, and the cam had enough lope to make it a little nervous at a stoplight, but as soon as you stabbed the gas, the tires would go up in smoke all the way through the first 2 gears. It also got 15 mpg if you could keep your foot out of it. When gas got over $4/gallon, I pulled the engine and replace it with a freshened L31 350. Last June I pulled the 402 out of my 71 C20 and installed the 400 using the a Crane 113941 cam. The 400 is a huge improvement over the big block. It has much more low end and midrange torque, and I picked up 2 mpg in the bargain. I think the ready to run engine was about $500, mostly because I shop hard for good used parts. A few recent drives down the freeway gave me a good mpg read. I was in a hurry to go a long distance so I ran with the lunatics at 70+ mph. The truck got 13 mpg. Gearing is a 3.73 Dana 60 and the tires are 235/85 16. I have another identical engine and have considered building it and doing a better job, maybe deck it to get another half point of compression. My $500 wonder does a great job of towing the race car, or the car trailer with several tons of firewood, or dragging the ski boat to the water. I have bigger heads and cams I could of used, but it wasn't what the job required The key here is application. Are you building a racer, or are you going to drive it.
So much to do, so little time...
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Re: Input needed on daily driver sbc truck build

Post by Carnut1 »

vortec 5.jpg[/attachment]
eq vortec 5.jpg
I did a quick cleanup port for Marvin at a D.V. seminar a while ago for a street 355 ftc pickup project. Theses are EQ vortecs and are a nice casting and would work well on a project like this. These were cut for 2.02" 1.6" valves, flows are cleaned up vs. just larger valves. Thanks, Charlie
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